DIY branded packaging for small business - Ideas and tips to save you money when launching your business.
Starting a small business with strong branding can be a challenge when you haven't got a lot of money to invest. So I'm giving you 4 DIY branding tips to help you get started without blowing your budget.
Step #1 for DIY branded packaging for small business
Define Your Brand
1. Get clear on what your business is about, above and beyond what you sell or offer to your customers. Think about what you want to be known for (affordable, boutique, etc.), what will your brand voice and personality be, and who is your target audience. Write it all down so you can refer back to it later.
2. Do some colour psychology research to determine the colours that will be the best match for your brand. Plan your logo and brand colours to incorporate these.
For example, I want my brand to represent our unique and quality jewellery as well as reflect down-to-earth personality - so I chose purple. Purple in colour psychology represents creativity (which ties in with our unique style) and luxury (which ties in with the quality metals we use).
Step #2 for DIY branded packaging for small business
Get a Logo
1. Make a logo using Canva. They offer a free subscription which is a great starting place to DIY your branding if you enjoy playing around with graphic design.
While I personally appreciate good design and have some design experience, I'm no professional graphic designer but with Canva you can actually create a pretty decent and professional looking logo.
Tip - start from scratch instead of using a template to avoid having too much of a generic logo.
1.1. If design isn't your cup of tea you can find someone to create your logo for you for a price that fits your budget on websites like Fiverr or Unicorn Factory.
2. Before designing your logo, have a look at different logo styles on Pinterest to get ideas and inspiration.
Keep in mind the points from Step #1 above to ensure your logo is aligned with your brand. For example, if you sell antique furniture a modern, sleek logo wouldn't align with your product and might confuse people about what you offer.
Step #3 for DIY branded packaging for small business
Get packaging
Okay, so now that you’ve got a logo and brand that you LOVE you can look at your options for packaging your awesome products.
For me, I know I wanted keepsake bags for my customers to keep their jewellery in and also boxes to pop them in to elevate my packaging, make the opening experience more exciting for customers, and also to protect the jewellery while in transit.
I ordered plain white gift bags and boxes in the sizes I needed since plain ones are far cheaper than branded and you’re not limited to large minimum order quantities which can be a stretch financially with a new small business.
Step #4 for DIY branded packaging for small business
Customise your packaging
1. Grab some custom logo stickers. You can use them to:
• Hold tissue wrap together to make your customer parcel opening experience even more exciting for them
• Give your courier bags a bit of extra branding (I use plain eco friendly ones from R3Pak)
• Sealing envelops (instead of getting a yucky postage stamp tongue)
• As a security seal on boxes
• Put on your actual product (depending on what you sell)
I got my stickers from StickerDot - they arrived super quick and I'm really happy with the quality of mine (my ones pictured below are done on art paper with a matte finish). They have heaps of different options to choose from so that you can get the perfect sticker for your brand including shape, colour, and finishing options. You can even get fancy on it and get embossed stickers or if you can be adventurous hologram ones (so cool!!).
These stickers are priced really well, making their stickers a great affordable DIY branding option.
If you sell clothing items you can get yourself some cool swing tags too! Such an easy yet effective branding element for your clothing business.
If you sell beauty items, you could self-label using their waterproof vinyl stickers.
StickerDot also has super affordable business cards so you can order your biz cards and stickers at the same time (one shipping fee for the win!).
2. Get a custom logo stamp. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll use it to brand your:
• Gift boxes
• Fabric and paper bags
• Anything else a stamp will work well on.
• If your logo doesn’t have fine print or detailing like mine, you can even stamp plain card stock and make your own branded cards to write thank you notes on.
I got my custom logo stamp from Stamps Plus. They offer great value, are made in New Zealand, and have a huge range of sizes so you’ll be able to find the perfect stamp. Ordering was really simple too which is great - who needs extra work right?!
Try choosing a size that will work for multiple purposes, I chose mine so that it works for the gift bags and for the various sized boxes I have.
And there you have it, your DIY branding solutions to save you money!
If you've got a good DIY branded packaging for small business idea or tip please let me know, I'd love to hear it!
