What we eat has a lot to do with what we see, especially when it comes to food labels. Your customer may have a sinfully delicious product, but no one will taste it if they don’t see it first.

Food labels need to help that product jump off the shelves, or out of the refrigerator or freezer sections. Consider these ideas for making the outside label as tantalizing as what’s inside:

• Dare to be different. Give the label a unique design that stands out. Think of ways that label can enhance the package or product itself.
• Less is best. Keep the label’s look simple, specific to the product and easy to read. An overly designed label with too many graphics and microscopic copy takes away from promoting the actual product.
• Add flair. An effective, stylish label makes smart use of colors, themes, seasonal accents, and space for important data like nutritional information.
• Make it scentsational. What better way to showcase a food product than with a scented label? It adds another sense to the consumer’s sensory experience that’s also an alluring way to boost sales. In fact, we can encase the exact fragrance or smell onto a printed label. Pique interest and opportunities with your customers—order your complimentary scented label sample.
• Consider food safety. When you are launching a new food or beverage product, listing possible allergens is one of the most important steps on your to-do list. This makes food safety product labeling an absolute must for food and beverage producers. Most allergen issues are clustered around eight major allergens that must be labeled per Food and Drug Administration rules: milk, fish, eggs, shellfish, peanuts, wheat and soybeans. Diligence also goes beyond checking foods but consideration of cross contamination with relevant items. That is cause for labeling attention as well. Whether labeling takes place at the production, manufacturing or distribution stage of the supply chain, this is one responsibility that's impossible to set aside.
• Combine fun and function. The label shouldn’t just look amazing; it should be amazing. This means it should withstand the rigors of its environment, whether that’s a store shelf or a freezer.

Label sales growth in the food and beverage industry is as hearty as consumers’ appetites for innovation, choice and new flavors. Tap into this hungry market or expand your existing opportunities with a little help from Western States Envelope & Label. Download your free tools for marketing labels to the food & beverage industry.