Startups are known for their innovative and disruptive products, but the packaging and delivery methods that come along with those products are often left to chance. In fact, startups spend a considerable chunk of their marketing budget on shipping and delivery options that don’t necessarily reflect the quality of the product itself. The good news? There are more affordable and custom packaging options out there than you may realize. Read on for more reasons why every startup should be using custom-printed kraft boxes and packaging.  

• Custom printed kraft boxes are a lot more affordable than you think  
• A package is not just what holds your product; it’s how you meet the expectations of your customers  

• Startups and small business owners alike can benefit from custom printed kraft boxes and packaging  
• What are the most important things to consider when choosing startup packaging?  
• How do you balance your budget and branding with the needs of your delivery packaging?  
• How do custom printed packaging help startups achieve their branding goals?  
• Why should a startup choose custom printed kraft boxes over other packaging options?  

• How can you be sure that your custom printing is on-brand?  
• What are some of the hidden costs in using off-the-shelf shipping and delivery options for startups?  

What are the most important things to consider when choosing startup packaging?  

First and foremost, you must consider the type of product you’re selling. If you’re selling food or beverages, you’ll want to use packaging that is hermetically sealed, air-tight, and watertight.  

Products like kitty litter boxes, hard drives, baby items, toys, and electronics should all be hermetically sealed so that the contents won’t come into contact with any one of the contents during transit. If you have these same types of products, you’ll want to use a high-quality print and packaging solution that protects your confidential trade secrets and adherence to food and beverage regulations. In the online and tech industries, there is a clear trend toward virtually guaranteeing product quality with 3D printing.   

If you’re launching a startup in this arena, non-custom pieces of data, instructions, and earmarked budgets will not be allowed to be produced. Even if you end up producing the custom components for your product, remember that 3D printing comes with a whole raft of industry-specific specifications that you need to abide by. For example, 3D printing plastic components should not be used to create components for printed circuit boards unless you’ve done so, especially for the circuit board manufacturer.   

Also, in aerospace parts, carbon fiber cuttings cannot be 3D print due to the fiber’s volatility. An alternative way to ensure product quality and reduce risk is to use drill-for-plywood or laser-engrave for less expensive pieces of plastic, metal, wood, or plastic. The best way to minimize the risk that products will be treat poorly during transit. And arrive at their destination smelling like plastic is to work with high-quality couriers.   

Good news: Startups can preemptively check if a courier will ship a product before they purchase it. Rapid delivery couriers, such as Amazon Local and Postmates, are becoming much more affordable. But it’s still important for startups to pick one of these solutions and to ensure the correct contract has been execute with the courier to protect their business.  

How do you balance your budget and branding with the needs of your delivery packaging?  

When it comes to the needs of your delivery packaging and how it affects your branding, it’s really not that hard to balance. First, you want to make sure that your brand is consistent across all your packaging. For starters, most startups use the same basic shipping/formats. Smaller companies or eCommerce sites can easily roll these things out, but it’s important to stick with them in the long run.  

How do custom printed packaging help startups achieve their branding goals?   

Custom printed packaging is a great way to stand out from your competitors in a really crowded market. When you put in the effort to make your packaging unique, you make your product memorable. It’s also a great way to make your brand memorable because it’s an opportunity to express your brand’s personality through colors and design.  

There are several ways to go about custom printing your shipping box. A line like colors, add a splash of design, or go the whole nine yards and go crazy, but today we’ll focus on the three most common options: Blue & Yellow Choose cheap shipping options The first option is to pick an easy hope of saving money. Blue and yellow shipping boxes are among the cheaper options out there, but they’re also a bit open to interpretation.   

For example, small boxes tend to be more expensive because they’re more labor-intensive to ship. If your company releases something on a Friday, and it’s a Friday, and you have a Thursday turnaround time and a couple of extra boxes to move, you may opt for a smaller box. You may also want to consider options like UPS Transit Trucks or Canada Post.   

If it’s a really large box with lots of contents, you might consider hiring a custom printing company that can print longer product labels or custom shipping boxes for a higher price. If you’re shipping to the US, Amazon does allow you to use free Prime shipping, but you will have to pay for it each time.   

Why should a startup choose custom printed kraft boxes over other packaging options?  

If you’re a startup, you probably only have a limited amount of money to spend on the packaging. But traditional packaging options (cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and Styrofoam peanuts) can be expensive. In fact, packaging can cost up to 20% of the sale price of your product. You can use these costs to your advantage by choosing custom-print premium packaging using environmentally-friendly renewable resources.  

But, before getting to the greengrocer, here are five efficient shipping and delivery solutions. It’s no good sending a bunch of boxes to a customer with ginormous hold times. It’s much better to pick up and ship a dozen boxes at a time. Even better, online retailers like Amazon have begun to offer curbside pickup. When you buy plain boxes at the grocery store or at the drugstore, these boxes typically fit into a standard size driver’s license size.   

But if you buy the long boxes at the online retailer, the boxes are larger and come in different sizes (one box can contain several pounds of product). If you’re selling a smallish product or one that doesn’t need much to send, like kitty food, you might opt to use the online option.   

But if you’re a larger item, like a 12-ounce plain box of cranberry sauce, your best bet is to meet customers at their location and have them pick up the boxes at the store. Yes, shipping is expensive. But there are alternatives. If your product is large, it may make sense to send the big box to your clients. When offering online or local pickup, you’re offering an eco-friendly option that may be just as much or more cost-efficient than shipping.   

If it’s a large item or one that needs to ship to multiple cities, you may even be able to use air shipping. When this happens, air shipping companies don’t require the box to travel as far as traditionally delivered products. However, custom print kraft boxes and use these to wrap the products. This offers a simple solution to make your shipment green.  

How can you be sure that your custom printing is on-brand?  

When you hire a design agency to create a custom printed product for your brand. You’ll want to be sure that the design they come up with is on-brand. If you want to be sure that your printed product is on-brand. Check that it’s consistent with your logo, your colors, and other design elements. Customize your box with products from your competitors. There are a few reasons that you’d want to do this before outsourcing to an off-the-peg manufacturing partner.   

Firstly, when you hand your competitor’s product off to a random printing house for labeling, you’re sure to lose branding. Even though they’ve marked which side of the box the product comes in on, if you look closely. They could have put the product into whichever box the user felt best. The user wants to feel like they’re sticking directly to their high-end brand.   

After you hand your competitor’s product off, consider customizing the packaging with your competitor’s products. If one in every six boxes you hand off contains your competitor’s products. Then you are saving them hundreds of dollars in the long run. Similarly, if one in every five boxes contains your competitor’s, you’re saving them thousands of dollars. If you hold a bulk sale with your other product lines, it’s a good opportunity. To try out a new custom font or design on a box you’re giving away.   

Data analysis is still at the heart of best online marketing. In marketing, it’s easy to forget that people are looking at your brand. And searching for information about the product they’re looking at; this is called relevance. Your competitors may be ranking for terms that are about your product. But never thought of as part of their products’ keywords.   

This is called runaway brand search. If the same four products are ranking for three of these keywords, you may have a problem. To keep your own visibility as non-overlapping publishers. You need to make sure that you are never mistaken for your competitor.