Tag: Reuseable bags

8 Social Media Hacks For Your Custom Packaging

8 Social Media Hacks For Your Custom Packaging

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Social media has seen an incredible boom in usage over the last few years, (NO KIDDING!) with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter dominating a substantial portion of our everyday online communications.

It’s not so much that practically everyone from all walks of life is on some kind of social media platform, but more about the depth of social media’s integration into our lives, reaching a level never seen before. And it will only continue to influence our lives more each day. Social media interactions have now become so intrinsically a part of day-to-day life, that it now seems completely normal and even essential to our lives.

In the context of marketing, many believe the rise of social media has effectively displaced many traditional marketing tactics. While there’s certainly some truth to this belief, traditional marketing and social media marketing (SMM) need not be mutually exclusive, not when there are many ways to make them feed off another.

Take for example, custom packaging materials, which offer several opportunities for bridging the gap between your offline and online marketing campaigns. Below are a few ideas to play around with.

1.      #Hashtag Your Package

One of your many new tools is the hashtag. Most notably used by Twitter for identifying and cataloguing tweets on specific topics, plenty other social media platforms followed suit, and have adopted the criss-cross symbol for similar purposes.

Coca Cola’s use of the hashtag is perhaps one of the most memorable of them all, what with the #ShareACoke hashtag quickly becoming a top trend worldwide – proving the #success of the social media gimmick.

Place a considerably-sized hashtag related to your product or brand on the face of your packaging. Make it creative, hip, and post-worthy (something we’ll get more into later). This will, most importantly, encourage your customers to post about your product online, raising awareness for it, and encouraging others to join in.

Be sure to make your brand’s social media page the most prevalent user of the hashtag, and these will practically indirectly “link” to your page.

2.      Place a QR Code

The QR code is a type of matrix barcode that can contain any type of electronic message, be it a URL, plain text, direct link, virtual purchase, and so on. These can come in the basic 1:1 form, or even stylized to taste as Snapchat and Messenger have done.

Having a QR code on your product package can serve a whole multitude of purposes. The simplest and most apparent among these is linking to your brand page (be it on social media or a standalone website). Most people are too lazy to type a whole URL to access a page and even if they aren’t, a QR code is just so much simpler and more inviting. You could also use a QR code for a referral system, banking on the symbol and its current users to extend your reach.

3.      Link to Your Product Pages

Specifically, your Facebook page. Using a direct URL may still be more advisable than a QR code given that not everyone knows how to scan one – or even what it is. Place links to your brand’s social media pages on your product packaging for quick reference – both for your customer and people they may want to share with.

4.      Make it Post-worthy

Social media is good for… well… socializing. That means people sharing with people – a vast resource with an even more vast potential for putting your brand out there. If you’ve ever witnessed anything go viral, you’d know that the now-popular material only became so because of its appeal to social media users.

Additionally, no matter how good something tastes, sounds, smells or feels to the touch – if it doesn’t look good, it’s just not going online.

Give your product packaging an appealing, striking, or witty design. Make your customers want to post about it and show it to their friends. Make them want to endorse your products for you, and you’ll make an advertising agent out of everyone who buys your product. This tactic, I might add, can only be made possible by custom product packaging.

5.      Personalized Packaging

One way to make your product package post-worthy is to offer personalization options. If there’s anything that Coke has taught us, it’s that people love posting about themselves. The sheer success of the #ShareACoke campaign proves that personalized packaging has a permanent place in strategy. Offer to personalize your product package – as in a custom shopping bag, or what not – with a name or statement, and expect your brand’s social media presence to soar.

6.      Collect Them All

Another tactic to get your product package on social media feeds is to gamify it—a.k.a make it collectible. You can do this by offering packaging in a variety of designs that click together. Using a bunch of identical shopping bags distinguished only by colour scheme could work.

7.      Vox Populi

An extension of previous tactics would be calling for a vote, with each of your product packages serving as a “ballot” of sorts. This tactic has proven to be extremely lucrative, with AKB48 – a 100-member Japanese girl group – employing a voting system through their physical records that lead to a revenue of US$226 million from Japan sales alone.

To do this, create a set of options for a customer to choose among, letting specific product packages represent the option they’ll be voting for. Every purchase of that particular package would be equivalent to one vote. Customers may be proud of their vote, or may want to call on others to cast their votes as well, leading them to post about your product package, the product itself, and your brand online. Employing previous tactics, you should associate each vote option with a hashtag.

Bank on the division and social groups that will necessarily form from the “election” by creating sub-communities that may want to discuss and express amongst themselves. You could create separate social media pages catering specifically to a voter group that links back to the original brand page.

What’s great is that none of these tactics have to be used in isolation. In fact, used together, they can form a formidable marketing strategy to boost your brand to all-new heights. If anything, just be sure to employ the single greatest take-away from this list – make it post-worthy.

Contact Smartbag today to discuss this article or your retail or wholesale bag needs.  1300 874 559

4 Ways Custom Shopping Bags Will Benefit Your Bottom Line

4 Ways Custom Shopping Bags Will Benefit Your Bottom Line

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As 2016 comes to a close, now is the perfect time to put out all the stops and ensure you hit your revenue goals by the end of Q4. If your profits are growing but not at the speed you want, you may have considered a number of strategies to get into the black, such as expanding online, changing your store hours, or holding new promotions.

While these strategies have been known to work, have you considered personalised packaging solutions in the form of custom printedshopping bags? While not exactly new, custom shopping bags are a tried and tested solution for improving your bottom line. And with the holidays fast approaching, they can be a timely investment. Below are a few of their benefits.

1.       Custom Shopping Bags Help to Build Brand Loyalty

A 2003 marketing study in Bangkok found that “…packaging reminds consumers of the quality of their purchase, and thus plays a role in satisfaction. Packaging also reminds consumers of their past purchases, so influences (sic) brand loyalty.”

Shopping bags designed with your brand’s logo and messages can serve as powerful advertising tools with incredible mileage. Imagine how each person that buys something from your store carries one as they return to their homes, and think of how many people see that branded bag along the way. Moreover, you can extend your bags’ mileage by producing them to be reusable.

Creating custom shopping bags boils down to thoughtful and clever design. Be sure to include your business logo, your brand colours, and your slogan. If possible, add your contact numbers and links to your social media channels.

Bottom line? Your shopping bags shouldn’t be just shopping bags. Think of them as walking billboards for building awareness and word of mouth marketing.

2.       Custom Shopping Bags Can Be Shareable

A reusable shopping bag is a blank canvas just waiting to be used as a visual marketing tool. According to Dotcom Distribution’s 2013 eCommerce Packaging Survey, “4 in 10 consumers would share a picture of an online order via social media if it came in a unique, branded or gift-like box, and 83 percent of those consumers would do so on Facebook.”

So clearly, product packaging can be a powerful factor for creating a solid first impression, with a practically limitless potential for online virality. With numbers like that, you’d be foolish not to be a little more thoughtful with how your design your shopping bags and other packaging materials.

Almost all retailers recognize the importance of making their shopping bags their own, which is why it’s rare for a retailer not to have some kind of personalised shopping bag for customers. Your job is to make sure you offer something creative and unique whether it’s in the choice of colour or material, you want your customers to feel excited when they shop at your store. 

And if your brand-centric shopping bags truly stand out, this excitement just might spread across your customers’ own circle of followers.

3.       Custom Shopping Bags Help Establish Credibility

In the retail sector, image can make or break customer loyalty. If you want people to take your company seriously, offering flimsy plastic shopping bags won’t help your case. Taking the cheapest packaging option might be the economical choice, but it also gives the subliminal message (and a deadly one at that) that you’re cheap and that you don’t care about the quality of your product. Of course, this may not be true at all, but you never know how people make their conclusions based on what they see. 

Personalised shopping bags help give your brand a more upscale image, which in turn helps to establish your credibility—a crucial factor if your business is relatively new. If you want to build trust with your customers, you need to show that you’re worth trusting. In other words, you need to look the part, whether it’s by fixing up your store premises, offering a wide product catalogue, or by ensuring your packaging reflects your brand’s desired image. 

4.       Custom Shopping Bags Can Capture Repeat Customers

As mentioned earlier, the potential mileage you can get from custom shopping bags can make them worth their weight in gold. Besides having the power to attract new customers whenever your shopping bags are spotted on the street, custom shopping bags made from durable materials like polypropylene or fabric are bound to get reused in some way, expanding their marketing value even further. 

And if you integrate your social media marketing (SMM) campaign into your custom packaging, you open the door to the possibility of your bags being seen on social media—provided that their designs are unique enough to be shareworthy, of course.

One way to make your shopping bags “work for you” and capture repeat customers is to offer an incentive program that gives discounts or some other special reward around your packaging. Not only will this encourage customers to reuse your shopping bags, it could also translate into multiple repeat purchases. 

For example, you could offer a limited-time 10 percent discount to shoppers who reuse your shopping bags on their purchase. Alternatively, you could encourage shoppers to bring in at least 5 of your reusable shopping bags to qualify for a similar discount. 

Not only will this help build brand loyalty, it also shows your community that you care about reducing your environmental footprint. 

In Summary

Of course, these are just 4 of the more obvious benefits you can get from using custom shopping bags. Bottom line? Investing in personalised shopping bags is as much a marketing decision as it is a branding one. Perhaps the one catch with buying custom shopping bags is that it doesn’t always come cheap. Fortunately, there are ways to save on your investment, one of which is to order your bags in bulk and have them shipped to you directly.

If you’re not sure about what kind of bag to get or how to design your bags, talk to the experts of Smartbag to find out how we can help you. Call us at 1300 874 559. 

Expect These 5 Trends to Make Waves in the World of Product Packaging

Expect These 5 Trends to Make Waves in the World of Product Packaging

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Trends come and go—that’s a fact.

And when it comes to product packaging and branding, some trends tend to stick around. As we’re now in the middle of 2019, now’s as good a time as any to look at the trends expected to make waves in the world of product packaging.

  1. Sustainable packaging

Being more environment-friendly is on everyone’s to-do list—businesses included. So, it was only really a matter of time until retailers thought of ways to make their product packaging greener. We’ve already seen retailers transition to sustainable packaging last year, and we expect it to become a more prevalent practice in 2018, with companies using recyclable materials to reduce their carbon footprint and minimize the amount of plastic that makes it to the world’s landfills and water systems

  • Minimalist Designs

Say goodbye to cluttered graphic designs in product packaging. This is the year for minimalists—a trend that also extends to product packaging. We live in a fast-paced world where people can’t be bothered to read unnecessary product information. And so, you can expect to see brands simplify their packaging, conveying the most important information in a way that’s quick and easy for customers to understand.

  • Large Text

The transition to minimalist graphic design in product packaging will be accompanied by larger and bolder fonts. Again, the goal is the same: to save space and convey the message in a quick and concise manner. The attention span of the average consumer, combined with an increasing aversion to advertising, means that excessive product information will only turn your customers off. The fewer words you use to send a message, the better. And that often requires doing it with large, eye-catching text.

  • Experimental Designs

Over the last few months, we’ve seen more and more companies play around with unusual product packaging, especially in the food industry. This is the year to embrace experimental and revolutionary product packaging designs.

We’re not saying that you should be unusual just for the sake of unusual. After all, if you’re going to experiment with your product packaging, whatever design you come up with should still make sense and not confuse the consumer.

  • Feminine Aesthetic

Finally, expect a more feminine aesthetic to dominate product shelves in supermarkets and department stores. Alongside the minimalist designs that are expected to trend in the retail sector in 2018, soft edges and cool colours that are usually associated with women are going to make their presence felt.

Remember, product packaging is the last advertisement your customers will see before they make a final purchase decision. So, make your product packaging count. To learn more about packaging updates and insights, be sure to follow this blog. If you would like to learn more about our packaging solutions, get in touch with the Smartbag team by calling us at 1300 874 559.

Advertise Your Business, Save The Environment and Pay Less To Do It!

Advertise Your Business, Save The Environment and Pay Less To Do It!

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It’s common practice to protect each car you work on by using car seat covers – paper and plastic sheeting to protect the vehicle. Now there is a cost effective, eco-friendly alternative that not only looks better, it also promotes your business in a unique, original and effective way. Customers like to know their car is being looked after in every way when they take their car in for service or repairs. Reusable NWPP (non woven polypropylene) car seat protectors, floor mats, steering wheel covers and multi lever covers will not only allay their concerns, but upgrade your protective items to longer lasting, reusable and recyclable options. Displaying your business name, logo and corporate colours will ensure your company is portrayed as one which cares for each and every car, for every customer that comes through the door. At the same time this will ensure you are doing your bit to reduce landfill and the impact your business has on the environment. The key is that these products are reusable and portray an image of quality – not one of disposability. So in the long run costs to your business are reduced and exposure is increased. Brightly coloured reusable seat protectors and floor mats displaying your business name might not be visible when in use, but they can be given their own hanging space on a nearby wall which is visible from the road, or by customers who visit your premises. This not only saves space but again gets your message out in a completely unique and original way. Reusable car seat protectors can be designed to match the floor mats. NWPP -the material they are made from – has proven to be a magnificent medium on which to print. Reusable protectors will not only protect the car seats, they will also provide you with an eye catching and brilliant branding opportunity. They may cost a little more initially, but you will save money over a short period of time, as well as increasing your business exposure and saving on landfill. Even better, at the end of their life they are all recyclable. What a great message to send to the community. The branded guard and fender cover set will complete your car protection solution, protecting the vehicle from scratching and scuffing as the mechanic or technician works on the motor. As your logo or message is again positioned prominently on the covers, any passers by will not only get a glimpse of the care taken, but of your logo as well. All businesses need to save money, increase exposure and marketing, convey that they care and do their bit for the environment. It’s a rare opportunity when you are able to do all of this and save money! Simple ideas are usually the best, and when used properly these products are a must have for anyone in the automotive industry. Just ask the mechanics and technicians that use these products already and you will soon find there is no turning back.

Using Promotional Ideas That Benefit Your Business, Your Customers and the Environment

Using Promotional Ideas That Benefit Your Business, Your Customers and the Environment

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Advertising your business is a must if you want to keep your business name and brand in the forefront of your customers’ minds. So why not invest in a promotional method that is built to last? The perfect item to use is a bag. But not just any bag – one that is reusable and has the potential to become an indispensable item. A good quality cotton bag can have many uses, and has plenty of benefits which will improve your business profile. Just think – have you ever seen someone carrying an eye catching bag with something written on it? Your reaction was probably to move in for a closer look at that message. The potential a reusable and recyclable cotton bag offers to your business is immense. You could create a catchy slogan which highlights your commitment to being more environmentally friendly. The best slogans are those which aren’t time sensitive. Instead, promote a key value of your business which holds true whatever time of year it is. Bags that are of excellent quality will of course cost more initially, but they will last much longer and afford your business a more professional image that will be noticed and remembered by your customers. Putting your logo on a top quality bag means your advertising has even more potential. You will be demonstrating that your business is actively reducing the amount of landfill waste it generates. You can also use different styles of reusable bags for different promotional purposes. Why not create a different slogan for each one? And just think of the image you are projecting by using the best quality reusable bags you can afford. That level of quality refers not just to the bag, but to your business as well. When you think of it like this, can you really afford to put your logo on a poor quality bag? In short, there are really no downsides to making use of outstanding quality bags that will last a lifetime. The cost to you initially will be paid back in the increased business, visibility and image you will attain. So plan for a better business future today – and help your customers and the environment at the same time!

Why Reusable Seat Covers Have The Power to Send Your Business Skyward!

Why Reusable Seat Covers Have The Power to Send Your Business Skyward!

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If you want to stand out from the crowd and get involved in actively promoting your car repair business, the solution could be right under your nose. Those single use protective seat covers you currently use to prevent damage to your customers’ cars are on their way out. Reusable covers made from NWPP – non-woven polypropylene – are rapidly taking their place, and they provide the perfect medium for printing your name and logo on. This is an excellent and unique branding opportunity that many garage owners are only just catching on to. These covers make the task of promoting your business easy – and what’s more they are much preferred by every single mechanic who uses them. NWPP is also available in a wide range of colours, which makes these covers far more eye catching than their flimsy plastic counterparts. Just imagine the promotional effects of having excellent quality, long lasting, bright red seat covers bearing your own business logo. What a striking image to send out! You could even add an eye catching slogan to your covers to really pull the attention in. Don’t forget these covers can be hung on the wall when they are not in use, giving you another golden opportunity to promote your business to everyone who walks by. Reusable seat covers may cost more per piece, but their reusable nature means you will save substantial amounts of money very quickly, not to mention greatly reducing the amount of waste your business sends to your local landfill. They are also the perfect way to raise your company’s profile by becoming more environmentally friendly – an excellent message to send out to your customers, both past and present. Introducing these reusable seat covers to your business has the double impact of benefiting your image as well as your profits. You won’t need to re-order continually as they have a far longer shelf life than single use covers, and your logo will look just as stunning weeks after you buy the covers as it did on the day you received them. In short, by using top quality car seat covers that use nothing but the best materials, you can show you take care of your customers and their cars.

The Portable, Long Lasting and Environmentally Friendly Way to Promote Your Business!

The Portable, Long Lasting and Environmentally Friendly Way to Promote Your Business!

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Supermarkets do it, shops do it, and more and more independent retailers are doing it too. We’re talking about promotional bags, which have the potential to raise your profile and boost your business at the same time. To get the best results it’s important to invest in a quality design that is built to last. This will ensure your marketing message is a strong one that will be remembered for all the right reasons. But why pay for a good quality promotional bag in the first place? The biggest benefit is in the way it represents your business. By using the best materials you are telling your customer you care about your products. Reusable tote bags have a long shelf life, and will be actively used by your customers. Just think, the next time they go shopping they will want to use a good strong bag to carry everything in. Your logo and business name could be on the side of that bag! Not only do reusable promotional bags last a long time, they also remove the need for people to keep using plastic bags, which tend to be binned after just one or two uses. By investing that bit more into a large batch of reusable and recyclable cotton tote bags, you are raising the profile of your business. You will be seen as a company that is pro-active in making sure their activities don’t have a negative impact on the environment. What better marketing message could you send out than that? Another big advantage of investing in quality reusable bags is that their reach extends far beyond the people who will use them. Think about how many other people will see the bag – and your company name and message – over the lifetime of the bag. That’s why it pays to make sure you use the best materials possible. Tote bags are ideal as they are long lasting and offer outstanding value for money over the long term. So you can see it really is possible to give your customers an environmentally friendly product that is useful, promotes your business and reduces the impact your activities have on landfill waste. Quality is the keyword here – and by investing in quality bags you will be investing in the profile of your business for a brighter future.

Build Awareness of Your Logo and Be An Eco-Friendly Business

Build Awareness of Your Logo and Be An Eco-Friendly Business

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Whether your logo consists of words, pictures or both, it is an instantly recognizable part of your business. It has the power to evoke positive feelings in previous clients, and perhaps even curiosity in people who could use your services in the future. So just imagine being able to put your business logo in front of your clients on a daily basis. What’s more, this form of advertising has the potential to last an extremely long time, promoting your business for years to come for one initial price. If that wasn’t enough, you can also promote your business as an eco-friendly company that puts the environment’s needs first, and makes a conscious effort not to add to the already overworked landfills. You can use your company logo in plenty of creative ways, but for a long lasting promotion that has real value you should put your logo on items which tend to be kept and used again and again – such as tote bags, for example. A tote bag is indispensable for many people, and has a variety of uses – from taking it to the beach on holiday, to carrying the shopping home. It’s a fantastic item to have handy as it folds up conveniently and tucks away when not in use. All in all it’s a great item to have your logo and business name on. Every time the bag comes out to be used, there is your logo – ready to promote your business in a positive and dynamic way. All of which means your logo will be constantly seen – putting your business in the minds of your customers over and over again. Even though reusable bags will cost more initially, the message they send to your customers is a powerful one. Not only is your business portrayed as a caring one, it also places a high value on its customers needs by providing them with a useful reusable bag that will prevent plastic ones being used once and then thrown away. Now that is a powerful image to send out to your clients. Don’t forget, your logo represents your business, and if you are using it to build awareness in this positive and dynamic manner, it’s important to make sure your logo catches the eye. It might be worth getting a professional design company to revamp your current logo for you, in order to convey a more dynamic image. Logos are meant to be seen. They form a vital part of the whole marketing and branding area of your business. Buying reusable tote bags that bear your logo will ensure you make a good impression, both now and long into the future. What other item promotes your business as eco-friendly and customer friendly at the same time? You’ll more than recoup the initial cost and the end product is also recyclable when it finally does wear out. All in all, it’s the perfect message to give to your customers.

Owl Paper Bag Gift Bag

Owl Paper Bag Gift Bag

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This cute little gift wrap design is a grown up version of the paper bag puppets you made as a kid. It’s perfect for presenting DIY teacher gifts. Learn more by visiting Lisa Storms.

DIY: Paper Bag Tiara

DIY: Paper Bag Tiara

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This was one of those crafts that you have a vision for, but you’re not entirely sure what it will really look like until it’s done.  Actually, that’s the way it is with most of the stuff we do here, so when the hooligans finished their tiaras today, we were so excited. They were gorgeous!

I always pick up artificial flowers when I’m second-hand shopping.  The thrift stores that I visit always have loads of them whenever I’m there, and they’re always super-cheap!

Read Full Article here: http://tiny.cc/p33e6y