Ideas For Branding Yourself and Your Products

We truly enjoy working with our accounts to find clever and creative ways of branding their products, their shops and themselves. We thought we might share some ideas for branding yourself and your products that might just get the wheels turning. But first it might be a good idea to define what we call branding. We define branding as any way you can define yourself, your brand and your style. This can be in the form of a logo, packaging style, color choices, product design, product style and labeling. While branding in some industries is truly about the logo, label and packaging, we find that branding can mean so much more in the creative, DIY, handmade and gift market. If you have your own product line, create your own art or are a maker of things, these ideas might just be what you need to take your products to the next level. Have you ever thought about custom prints?

merchandising bags

Whether you are using them to give to customers when when they check out or your ship the goods or maybe at a local trade show or event, placing your logo on a unique tote bag is a great way to brand yourself. The tote bag can be a reflection of your style and if done right, is then used by your customers, helping to spread the word about your brand. Think about your style, look and brand and bring together the elements to design a custom tote bag.

product labels

Large brands do it, some government regulations require it and strong brands don’t miss an opportunity to place a tag or label into their products. This can be done in so many different ways and with so many different materials. Labels that are sewn into a product can be fabric or paper, depending on what you want your customer to do with them, if you want them to stay there permanently fabric is a good choice, if you know the item won’t be washed or you want the client to easily remove the label paper works very well. Adding a tag is a bit different as they are generally on the outside of the product to explain features, product more details and often have a UPC Code. You can make your own label and tags in your style and they will give your products a professional look. Keep in mind that you don’t need to follow the rules of standard, boring packaging, you can design them to suit your style.

colors and fabric choices

If your brand is recognized through fonts, color choices or style, you can carry that through in your packaging and product design to continue to promote your brand. Even if the logo or the packaging is not in play, the look and feel of the items you offer can truly be a strong branding statement.

product names

A person will live up to their title and is proud of their name, so should your products be. Give them strong, descriptive names that bow well with your brand and are noticed by your customers and new customers.

LOGOS

Logos are the center of branding for most product lines and while important, should not overwhelm the brand. A logo can be a name, an icon or something completely unique, keep in mind if you use your name or personal data, everything you offer is an even stronger reflection of you, consider a unique name or something catchy that gives you the flexibility to do a variety of things down the road.

MERCHANDISE BRANDING

The products you offer, the sayings you use, the art choices are all a reflection of your branding. In some cases you want to include your item on your brand, as Nike does on everything they do and in other cases you want the art, style and design to be front and center and the logo and branding can be found on the label so that the customer can track you down. How you present your products is a big reflection of you, but offering merchandising that has your branding on it should be considered if it is right for your brand, organization or business model. The more people wear, carry and talk about your brand the better, why not give them something that is a conversation starter. People are going to talk, why not have them talk about you.

product branding

Many businesses are created by buying goods from other companies and brands and offering them in a cohesive collection that makes a great statement and focus for the customers, such as, a wine store that offers wine products from a wide range of suppliers and brands. One thing to consider is to listen to what your customers are looking for and the items that are doing well and create the product yourself, in your style and something that is unique. There are so many ideas, there is not a need for duplication, the key is finding a void and bringing to market what is missing, in this case, wine bags with funny sayings or coasters that represent your store name.

LOCAL BRANDING

A growing market is your local market. Many areas around the country are focused on updating their downtown areas, fixing up certain regions, adding new recreating and creative spaces or working hard to bring tourists and new business to the area. You can be a part of that by offering unique, creative custom items that are all about your local area. The more unique the products the more interesting they are to buy and share with others. You might even find that other shops are interested in carrying your local branded items. You might consider what you make local, but also consider other items with local art, sayings, town names and more.

ONLINE BRANDING

Your social media sites, website, Etsy shop, should also be content with your brand and have a strong look across all platforms so that your customers become familiar with you and your work is easily recognized. Consider logos and tag lines that are square and long so that you have options for all media outlets. If your look is clean and modern, you will want to make sure that is presented across the board.

So if you are a DIY Bar, Local Shop or online Etsy store, you can choose a range of different ways to brand yourself. Just because you don’t have a traditional retail location does not mean that they way you package your goods for sale is not important, take every chance you can to brand, brand, brand.

The team at Canvas Corp Brands is inspired by the brands they work with and the unique marketing ideas they are asked to do every day. They also work with clients to give them ideas of new and exciting ways to expand their brand. Canvas Corp Brands is soup to nuts when it comes to offering branded merchandise bags, custom printed products, labels and more. Canvas Corp Brands produces a majority of the products they offer in Springdale, Arkansas. Along with paper and fabric, they also offer screen printing, labels and more. If they don’t make it in-house there is a great chance they can lead you in the right direction to find what you are looking for.

If the ideas are flowing and you would like to reach out to the team at Canvas Corp Brands you can reach them at 866.376.9961 or email them at sales@canvascorp.com. You can also visit their shop to learn a bit more about what they do – Canvas Corp Brands Shop