The coffee market is saturated on almost every level of the coffee supply chain. There are plenty of substitutes to choose from – from suppliers, through coffee beans resellers to local cafes. How can newcomers make themselves visible and heard in such a crowd? The first thing one should focus on is providing a superior product. A product that others don’t offer. Next is branding. How to get it right though? Have a look at these three tips.
Tell your story
Why did you start your coffee business and brand? It wasn’t out of boredom, was it? And, most probably, it wasn’t simply for money-making purposes, right? Our best guess is that you really like coffee and wanted to work with it as it brings you pleasure. But what is the exact story?
To you, it might not seem important to share it. But once your target audience hears your story, your brand will almost immediately become more relatable and meaningful. Your current and/or potential customers will get an opportunity to feel connected to your story and, therefore, your brand. Share it on your website, packaging, etc.
Brand identity design
Many businesses underestimate the importance of brand identity design. What is it anyway? In short, it is a logo extension with additional elements such as specified colors and fonts, designed business cards, letterheads, envelopes. In the case of coffee business, it could be extended to menus and, for example, take away products like coffee cups and napkins.
Why should a coffee business invest in the brand identity design? Wouldn’t logo be sufficient? No, it wouldn’t. Brand identity creates consistency among all brand-related products, stationery, web elements, merchandise etc. Nowadays, brand consistency is the number one element influencing the perception of how professional a business appears to the customers. If you want to be seen as a coffee pro, you know what to do.
Differentiated packaging
Standard coffee packaging design is relatively boring. Usually, it’s a brown bag of coffee beans with a few added colors for sophistication such as black, red and gold. The choices available in a local supermarket don’t differ much from one another. Most often, the buyer’s decision making is driven purely by price and quality of the product.
In reality like this, why wouldn’t one try to differentiate themselves with their coffee’s packaging? Hiring a freelance graphic designer, or heading to a graphic design platform, to capture the brand essence as well as offer something new to the clients doesn’t involve much effort or extraordinary costs. Invest in branding items that could potentially bring you lots of profit.
