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Craft Brewery Branding: 6 Ways to Build Trust Through Beer Labels

In a crowded market, beer drinkers want to feel confident that they’ve made the right choice. The problem is that without any nearby samples, the average consumer has to judge a book by its cover.

Fortunately, that cover can do a lot to build confidence in your craft brewery’s brand. There are multiple factors that play a role in beer selection. Your beer label is the perfect tool to make a first impression and tell interested consumers what your product is all about. Here are six ways that your beer labels can help you build trust with your customers.

A craft beer bottle with custom craft brewery branding.

Brewed on and Best By Dates

No craft beer lover wants to drink something that’s past its prime. While you can print date codes on the neck of your bottle, adding more details on your label is one way to engender trust with consumers. Including a brewed by date or a best by date will help potential buyers feel confident that your beers are still fresh.

Serving Facts and Ingredient Information

While beer labels are exempt from listing ingredients and nutritional information that doesn’t mean you can’t add them anyway. There’s a reason why massive beer industry brands like Bud Light chose to add serving facts labels in 2019 – it makes them look good.

Simply put, consumers like having as much information as possible. Including your ingredients, serving facts, or other nutritional information is just another way to add transparency about what’s in your beer. Even something as simple as tasting notes will give customers more details to digest before deciding if your beer is right for them.

Local Pride

A little local pride can go a long way toward attracting new customers. Brewery location is one of the top factors consumers consider when choosing craft beer according to Craft Brewing Business – and your labels are a perfect opportunity to play up that local connection.

Just how much does amplifying your local roots boost confidence for regional buyers? Craft Brewing Business learned that “locally brewed” was the most attractive claim to Americans in a survey of craft beer drinkers. Fortunately, your label is the perfect place to proclaim your local pride. There are multiple ways to do this – emblazon your labels with “brewed in [blank],” adjust your design to highlight local ties, etc. – and each can be the extra edge you need to attract new customers.

Craft Beer Sustainability

One major purchasing trend in recent years is the push to support green businesses. That trend is no stranger to craft beer branding. According to a Purdue University study, roughly “75 percent of beer consumers are willing to pay premiums for beer brewed using environmentally sustainable practices.” These practices include:

Water conservation
Energy use reduction
Landfill diversion

Your label is the perfect place to showcase your sustainability initiatives and create consumer confidence in your products. There are a few ways that you can communicate your sustainability efforts. The Environmental Protection Agency allows businesses to add ecolabel seals to their packaging if they meet certain environmental performance criteria.

You could also take sustainability to the next level with certain label materials. Utilizing paper materials made with post-consumer waste, including those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). By marking your products with an FSC label, you can show your consumers that your labels came from responsibly managed forests and that your company is doing its part to take care of the world’s forests.

Your Craft Brewery’s Personality

Remember when we said that brewery location was one of the top factors people consider when buying craft beer? It turns out that the brewery itself is another major consideration for potential patrons.

People naturally like to have a connection with the brands they support. Using your label to tell your brewery’s story is one way to get people to grow closer to your brand. Don’t be afraid to showcase your personality through your label – that identity is a big part of what makes your brewery different than the competition. In turn, people can feel confident that they’re supporting a one-of-a-kind business instead of just another brewery.

Multiple cans with custom craft beer branding.

Consistent Quality

According to a survey from C+R Research, 76 percent of people who enjoy alcohol say that price doesn’t influence their decision to buy craft beer. Instead, the top two factors driving people toward craft beer are taste and quality. Simply put, craft beer drinkers don’t want to waste their time on a substandard product – they simply want a great beer.

Fortunately, your beer labels play a pivotal role in conveying the quality of your product. A quality, eye-catching label sends a clear message to consumers that you take your products seriously. Of course, your design is just one part of an attractive beer label. It takes a good label printing company to help your beers dress for success.

At Blue Label, we have the experts and technology to help you get the most out of your beer labels. Our team works with you throughout the printing process to not only enhance your design, but also protect your packaging from unsightly scratches and water damage. We also offer a variety of resources like our designer directory to help you find the right graphic designer to help you capture your brewery’s brand identity.

Ready to make the best first impression? Contact us today about quality, cost-effective beer labels for your brewery.

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Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves

At Blue Label, we’re subscribers to the idea of continuous improvement. This means we constantly strive to do a little bit better. Whether it’s updating a method to clean a printing press that prevents a breakdown, finding a new adhesive that is more reliable, or improving artwork software to catch more potential errors, we are always striving to improve.

That same principle applies to our name itself. Over the past few years, we have continued to work on what we do best: high quality labels and packaging with fast turnarounds. While doing this, we added new product lines. A few years ago, we started offering hang tags and keg collars. In 2019, we began producing shrink sleeves with the same high quality and quick turns our customers expect from us. All this to say, we are constantly evolving to better meet the demands of the people we serve.

With the evolution of our processes and product offerings, we felt our name needed to evolve too. From here on out, we are changing our name to Blue Label Packaging Company. We specialize in printing high quality packaging and labels with industry best turnarounds times, and that’s what we’ll always do. Blue Label will continue to focus on the customer service and the constant improvement that is the heart of our company.

A breakdown of the main aspects of Blue Label's new branding.

If you are taking the time to read this, I’d like to thank you for supporting Blue Label. This company has seen a lot of success over the past few years, and that success has made a lot of people’s (and quite a few dogs’ and cats’) lives better. We are very thankful for the opportunity to serve our customers and hopefully working with us has made your life a little easier.

So, allow us to introduce our new name: Blue Label Packaging Company. Just like the Blue Label you’ve always known, but slightly better.

Thanks for everything,
Andrew

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The Shelf Life of Labels: 6 Factors That Impact How Long Your Labels Last

Nothing lasts forever, and that includes your product labels. Even the most attractive packaging can lose its luster over time, whether it’s because of a preventable accident or an unavoidable change. Damaged or outdated labels won’t help your business, so it’s important to know the factors that can impact the lifespan of your labels so that you make sure you get the most out of your investment.

Sunlight

You may enjoy a sunny day, but long-term exposure to the sun is a problem for your labels. Ultraviolet rays break down the chemical bonds found in inks over time, which essentially has a bleaching effect. As a result, exposure to sunlight causes your label designs to fade.

While you can’t completely protect you labels from sunlight, you can delay its effects. Label laminates and UV coatings add a layer of protection that lessens the effect of sunlight, like how sunscreen shields skin. While fading will still occur over time, these solutions notably slow down the process so your labels stay vibrant for as long as possible.

Bottle labels protected from sunlight by a UV coating.

Water and Other Fluids

Paper labels don’t play well with water, which is a serious problem for any labels that are refrigerated, encounter water during the application process, or interact with any other slippery situations. Even paper stocks with higher wet strength will absorb water and other fluids over time. This can cause them to distort and even fall off eventually. For this reason, it’s strongly suggested to use film stocks and laminates for any labels that need some degree of water resistance.

Scuffs and Scratches

The quality of your product packaging says a lot about your goods. A big scratch or scuff on your labels won’t send the right message to potential customers. Instead of dealing with damage when it happens, there are ways to shield your labels from unwanted friction that can occurs during shipping and handling. Laminates and varnishes add a layer of protection so that your product labels can endure more wear and tear and customers pay attention to your branding instead of unsightly damage.

Adhesive Material

No company wants to get stuck with labels that don’t stick to its products. There are a variety of factors that can impact the long-term success of a label adhesive. Some adhesives are better suited for use with water, whether it’s for a product that’ll sit in a steamy bathroom or get submerged in a cooler full of ice. Sometimes the containers you use are better suited for a strong acrylic-based adhesive. No matter the environment, it’s important to work with a label expert who can identify which adhesive makes sense for your products.

Label Regulation Changes

Depending on your product, you’re not the only person who has a say in what goes on your label. Various government organizations have specific compliance standards for a wide range of products, covering everything from food and drink to beauty products and vape juice. These regulations can change over time, which means what were once completely compliant cannabis product labels could become obsolete after new legislation. As a result, it’s important to stay up to date on label compliance and to work with a label printing company that provides order flexibility.

Rebrands or Other Label Changes

Change isn’t always an unexpected development. At some point, you may decide that your business is due for a rebrand, or you may simply refresh your product label designs. In this case, you’ll need to transition from your old labels to new ones to show off your new logo, color scheme, or other design change you’ve made to the aesthetic of your packaging. Fortunately, you can plan for these changes and work with a printing company to have new, eye-catching labels ready when it’s time to update your labels.

Three variations of a product labels with different materials and varnishes.

Prepare for the Future with Long-Lasting, Durable Labels

Whether you need to guard your packaging or prepare for the unknown, it’s important to work with the right printing company to get the most out of your labels. Thanks to an investment in state-of the art digital label printing equipment and technology, Blue Label offers both protective label capabilities and order flexibility to help you prepare for long after your product labels go out to market.

If you need quality, cost-effective product labels that are made to last, we can help. Contact Blue Label today to talk to one of our experts about how we can help you get the most out of your durable labels.

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3 Augmented Reality Trends in Labeling

Good labels draw customers to your products. Thanks to technological advancements, augmented reality labels can now drive these same customers to interact with your products on a whole new level.

Augmented reality gives companies an exciting, new way to engage with customers. While we’ve seen augmented reality most commonly used to bring food and beverage labels to life, it may seem a bit intimidating for businesses unfamiliar with the technology. Here’s a quick breakdown of how augmented reality labels work and some popular ways that businesses are putting it to good use.

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3 Tips for Designing Natural-Looking Labels for Eco-Friendly Products

Eco-friendly products are making a splash in the market. According to Unilever, a third of consumers choose to purchase goods from brands that are involved in positive social and environmental change. A good green product label plays a role in making sure that the brand captures that eco-friendly look. Here are some things to consider when designing an eco-friendly product label that looks as natural as the products it contains.
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8 Steps to Great Label Design: Part 1

Blue Label is lucky enough to work with great clients, as well as talented designers during the process of collaboratively producing great labels. One of those designers, Madison McMullen has agreed to provide her insight into label design. Here are her 8 Steps to Great Label Design:

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