New Here! UGH, Right...Question about overall look of brand

[SouthernBelle]

2018 is the year I start my soy candle business. This will be my 2nd business. The first I owned for 8 years and just grew tired of. So I sold it! And here I am. 

 

So for the question: How did you choose the overall look/feel of your brand? 

I know "they" say to give the customer what they want. I feel that my area would want mason jars and a burlap bow.

The internal-me dies a little every time I think of a burlap bow. (no offense to the burlap, mason jar makers.)

When I think of my brand it has a clean, clutter free, basic font type of look. No dyes/colored wax. 

 

Being in the deep South I feel like I need a cotton boll on the lid to get in any local retailers.

So..do you do what the area feel is or step out and do what is more you?

 

[kandlekrazy]

Selling to retailers you sometimes have to do what they want.  So you have to decide if you want to stick to your guns and create just one design or cater to them.  Of course your logo can remain on everything unless they want private branded which many retailers do.  Every coffee shop I sold to wanted their own design as well as a few boutique shops.  Now for online or market sales, do what you like and see how it goes.  The beauty of the business is you can change your mind on labeling and logos and just introduce as a redesign with same great products.

[Candybee]

When I first started I really wanted more upscale look but quickly learned what sells in my area is 'countryfried' look. Sigh..... so its mason jars, jelly jars, etc. But there are ways to dress them to make your 'look' and branding. I think the biggest decision is deciding what you want and modifiying it for what sells in your area or for the target customers you want to sell to. That probably doesn't help you at all.

 

If you are good at research you can go to your local county clerks office and look through demographics and study what sells in your area. Then based on your research choose a look and develop your brand from that. I never did the demographics research, I just started selling and discovered through trial and error what sold and what didn't and modified it myself to improve my sales. But it you do it that way you need to be very observant and quick to fix what needs updating.

[NaughtyNancy]

You never know for sure until you try, I guess. Could do a small batch at first (in the style you like) and give it a try. Only part of it needs to tie in with a popular theme. The scent names alone could put the right twist on things, and then the items fit a theme, while also standing out as something interesting from the usual, too. 

 

There is also the case that, with something very popular (high demand), there will also be a lot of competition (high supply), whereas with something lower in demand, there will be less supply, as well. So it sort of evens out, if there is enough traffic overall. Someone with niche tastes that are not catered to much by the larger commercial scene, will often more eagerly buy up something that suits their tastes. Whereas someone who wants a 'country linens' scent knows that they can find that pretty much anywhere, and will tend to be much more selective, only purchasing if something really wows them or is a really low price. I have had that experience both as a customer, and as a seller (small sales only, no official big branding yet). I make mostly personal fragrance items, and have dabbled in candle making, but I much prefer to buy handmade soap than try to make it myself. So I am always hitting up the soap ladies at festivals and such, and I'm usually that customer that pops up and buys a bunch of something that most people weren't interested in. I love patchouli, for example, so if they have a strong-smelling patchouli soap batch in the mix, I'm gonna be all up in that tent like how many do you have? 

 

Anyway I personally like a sort of earthy and subculture look combined, when I decorate/label my items. The retailers in my area that would potentially be interested (as I've been scoping them out lately) are a split between "Pure Michigan" rustic themes and then gothic/head shop/subculture mashup themes. So the logo ideas I have been sketching and working on have been trying to get both worlds in a bit, while also being looks that I personally like (I like somewhat darker/mysterious and nature-themed designs, myself, and like to make items that are earthier, muskier and/or warmer). One example I have been toying with is a moth design and a dark background, black tins, and the moth design comes in a handful of colors (for different scents). They can be interpreted differently based on their surrounding context (other items and the feel of the overall shop), as either nature-themed (for the pure Michigan angle, which tends to be a lot of rustic mixed with outdoorsy), as well as sort of gothic subculture (for the shops that cater to that appeal). If I was faced with a "country" sort of market, then I would probably just tweak the texture of the logo in an online editor, give it a kind of rustic-vintage look and use more brown than black. And change the fragrance names up a bit. But the moth would stay, the brand name would stay, the shape/size of the container would stay. It would still be my brand's tastes, just with a bit of a twist on it. 

 

On 12/22/2017 at 10:14 PM, SouthernBelle said:

The internal-me dies a little every time I think of a burlap bow. (no offense to the burlap, mason jar makers.)

When I think of my brand it has a clean, clutter free, basic font type of look. No dyes/colored wax. 

 

Like with something like this, the names of the scents, plus a tiny, simple graphic that fits the market theme, again could cater to the higher demand, while still being unique. In an ocean of red candles with big burlap bows (or whatever is the case), you offer something sleeker that can blend in easily with almost any home decor style, but you've got this cute little logo or graphic on the candle that signals a personal appeal to the customer. Like a cute little pine cone (random example here) on a coniferous scented candle, it signals the customer with tastes that are rustic, woodsy, etc but still offers that sleeker and minimalist aesthetic. They can go just about anywhere in the area and find a bunch of mason jars with burlap (again if that is the case), but your candles provide options, and options feel like empowerment, and customers like feeling empowered (exercising choice is exercising personal expression). As an example. You can totally work it without having to completely sacrifice your own personal expression. 

Edited December 26, 2017 by NaughtyNancy

[TallTayl]

Brands evolve. I started out intending to make all natural, minimal packaging simple stuff. Turns out my market is not in my neighborhood. Once I stopped trying to please my neighbors everything clicked. I was within hours of closing up my business. A friend who had a neighboring shop to mine at an event opened a new door which I reluctantly stepped through. So glad we took the step. Now that I make what I like and found a market that likes the same thing it is energizing. 

[Candybee]

Definitely your branding can evolve. Especially if you are still trying to find your brand. I have been working at it for years and found much of it through simple coordination of a color theme. The rest sort of followed from that. Now I get lots of compliments on my display and labels. But it took a lot of trial and error and practice to get it right. I consider it a work in progress as TT says brands evolve so I tend to update every year to stay fresh yet not so different that my customers don't know me anymore.

[iansmommaya]

OH LORT. I am so glad my brand can, did, continues to evolve. I can't even explain to you HOW BAD the first labels were. I am not kidding, they were pixelated. Y'all, they were so bad!

[SouthernBelle]

Maya LOL! Before this adventure, I sewed. I remember being so so so proud of my first project...took it out a few years later and was like Oh, Lawdy! No!  Thank goodness we grow and learn. 

 

[Lighten Up]

I kind of stumbled into this whole candle making  thing in 2007, with no plan at all. My original jar is still my biggest seller and I don't believe I've ever changed the label on that. It might sound weird, but I was going for a non- descript, generic looking product. I wanted my candle to stand on its own and fit any décor. I am in a very agricultural/rural area, and I was fighting the whole mason jar movement that everyone else was doing. Now I have probably 12 different jars- I have everything from canning jars to more contemporary tumblers. So, I would say, do the jar you like, and add the embellishments later if you decide to. Everything will definitely evolve. Maybe look into some of the more rustic looking lids for the masons? They do add some character.