By Mary Oquendo
Private labeling is much more than providing products and services with your logo and contact information on them. Private labeling has everything to do with branding.
Branding is simply the perception of how clients view your business. How your business is seen is what attracts the type of clients you currently have. Change that perception, and you will find yourself with a different clientele. Branding creates an emotional connection to your business.
You have control over how your business is perceived, and one of those tools is private labeling. There is a reason large companies, such as Target, Walmart, and Costco, use private labeling:
1. It increases customer loyalty. They can only buy your products from your business.
2. It’s profitable. Nielsen reports that there was over $115 billion in sales from private labeling in 2014.
What Exactly Is Private Labeling?
Private labeling is taking a product manufactured, marketed, and sold by another company and having that company put your logo and name on the label.
Every time a client uses the item you private labeled, your business comes to mind. As it will be a direct reflection of your company, ensure it is useful and of high quality.
“Private labeling helps me advertise my salon. It also looks very professional & specialized for my clients.”
—Angela Kumpe
There are three categories in which you can utilize private labeling: retail, gifts, and services.
Retail
The sky is the limit; shampoos, conditioners, colognes, treats, food, spa products, to name but a few. If there is a product you personally like, contact the manufacturer to find out if they offer private labeling. You may be surprised at the number of companies that offer such a service.
There are clients that like to bathe their pets in between professional grooming. Send those clients home with the shampoo and conditioner that you conveniently sell in your grooming shop. That private labeled product has a built in reminder that their pets really need your professional services.
Gifts & Other Promotional Materials
Everybody loves a present. Gifts make your clients feel special and appreciated. However, they must be useful or they end up in the junk drawer never to see the light of day. If your gift is not being used regularly, you are wasting your marketing dollars.
“You know your groomer believes in what she does when she gives you holiday all natural dog treats for my Lucy with her private label on it. #PawsitivelyPretty #legit.”
—Casey Gallagher (Lucy’s and Beauty’s owner)
Give your clients a small bottle of cologne after grooming and every time they spritz their dog, they have a visual reminder that they need to make that next grooming appointment. How about a magnetic calendar for their refrigerator to mark their upcoming grooming appointments? Maybe include some paw print stickers to make that appointment stand out.
What does a lead, reusable shopping bags, and umbrellas have in common? Other people will see them when your clients use them. An idea for the reusable shopping bag could be a shopping checklist with a Set Grooming Appointment checkbox and your contact information on the bag. The umbrella could read “Got Wet, Smelly, Muddy Dog?” and your contact information.
Personally, I love writing notepads. I use them for shopping lists and reminders. Any variety will do as long as it has your contact information on it. Do you see the underlying theme?
Make it useful with your contact information clearly visible.
Services
You can offer an upsell spa service using your private labeled products. Examples of upsell packages include nose, paw, or callous conditioning, therapeutic baths, mud treatments, facials, wraps, soaks, scrubs, aromatherapy, and so on. These private labeled spa products could be marketed as meeting your exacting criteria you have for your clients. After all, only the best will do!
And wouldn’t you know it; we have several small owner operated companies within our own pet industry that offer private labeling. Keep in mind that most companies offering private labeling will have a minimum order.
Private labeling can be a cost effective means of increasing loyalty among your current clients, as well as attract new clients when your private labeled products are used, shared, and bragged about. ✂