Visual Branding for Tech: How to Make Offerings Fly off the Shelves
People shop for tech offerings like they shop for any other big investment: They weigh their options, do their homework, and read reviews, comparing and contrasting until they ultimately land on the item they want the most.
The process is the same for TVs, refrigerators, cars — you name it. And it’s no different for tech offerings like ERP systems or cloud platforms.
The reason people choose one thing over the other is the same reason the water manufacturer Liquid Death is worth 700 million.
Look at the little coffin! This is so much more than bottled water.
So, how did Liquid Death transform the bottled water business?
The answer is packaging design.
What is packaging design?
Packaging design is more than just wrapping a product — it’s about creating a powerful first impression, shaping perception, and standing out in a crowded market.
The truth is that you make decisions based on packaging design all the time.
Dressing for the job you want is packaging design.
Staging a house to be sold by a realtor is packaging design.
Making your resume look a certain way so you stand out is packaging design.
Just look at Liquid Death. They have taken something as simple as water and turned it into a multi-million-dollar brand by pouring their creativity into the package itself.
How did they do it?
They leveraged the art of branding and storytelling through design.
They added emotion and personality sprinkled with audacity, boldness, and a complete disregard for the norm.
Liquid Death’s design challenges expectations and creates a unique, memorable identity, and they are disrupting an entire market because of it.
Their can, which looks more like a craft beer or energy drink, stands out on the shelf among clear and blue plastic and glass water bottles, making it impossible to ignore.
This is the power of packaging design. It’s more than just a container — it’s the story and personality of the product wrapped in a way that connects emotionally with consumers.
How does packaging design apply to B2B tech offerings?
Admittedly, a technology offering is not the same as sparkling water. However, the same principles apply. Visual branding for tech is as important for B2B tech consultants as it is for B2C retailers.
Think of your market like a shelf in a grocery store.
Photo: Metaweb / CC-BY
On the shelf where your offering sits are all kinds of similar offerings. They use the same standard fonts and colors. They may even say the same things in the same technical and lifeless tone.
Your potential buyers are walking up and down the store aisles, looking at a bunch of products that look exactly the same.
So, how do you get a CTO, CIO, CEO, CISO, or anyone else to stop, choose your package, and head to the checkout counter?
The answer is simple: Have better packaging.
4 steps to a successful tech product launch
When it comes to technology offering differentiation and standing out among a sea of competitors on a crowded shelf, there are four main things to consider.
Your tech offering needs to be:
Different
Clear
Compelling
Memorable
There are four ways to do this.
Bring marketing and product teams together
Start by gathering your product and marketing teams in one room. Aligning these two teams ensures that your offering’s "packaging design" truly reflects its core identity.
Remember, this isn’t just about graphic design — it’s about presenting the product to the world in a way that resonates. To do this, you need product and marketing experts to work together. Get the right people in the room, then roll up your sleeves and get started.
Create a compelling name
A memorable name is key to differentiating your offering. It should be short, hint at what the product does, and tap into the emotional state of your audience.
Run strategic workshops with your team to unlock creative ideas. Do your homework and make sure the name is legally available for use. Secure relevant URLs and hashtags to ensure your brand's presence is consistent across platforms.
Develop a unique visual identity
Think beyond typical tech visuals. Your product’s appearance should look and feel premium, even if your main brand is simple.
Avoid common fonts and colors that blend in with competitors. Instead, design a guide with distinctive elements that still align with your overall brand. Every touchpoint with your audience is an opportunity to stand out.
Craft clear, targeted messaging
Build a messaging framework that speaks directly to each audience persona. Define clear and compelling value points that can be used across sales and marketing materials. Make sure your campaigns touch your audience at every stage of awareness.
This framework allows your team to quickly produce consistent, high-quality assets, from landing pages to demos, tailored to each buyer’s journey. Then you can get your product on the shelves!
An offering packaging case study
Imagine you are the proud owner of an enterprise technology consultancy with a large HR practice.
(not a real business)
Your firm, FakeTech Consulting, is great at self-service HR portals.
You’ve done hundreds of them for different industries, so your CMO and product team have made a business case for selling HR portal consulting as an offering. Now, marketing and product are ready for a successful tech product launch.
There’s just one problem.
You have two competitors who offer the same product, sitting right beside you on the shelf.
Meet Competitor A
They have an HR practice, and your buyers found them on Google. Like most B2B tech pages, theirs is generic, with a stock background image — nothing unique or compelling.
Here’s their landing page:
Competitor A: Fake & McFake Consulting
Meet Competitor B
They are a team of experienced HR consultants who also build self-service portals as an offering. Similar to competitor A, their landing page doesn’t say anything compelling, and their branding is generic.
Similar to competitor A, this is the page for their “offering” around self-service portals:
Competitor B: Faux Partners
In a crowded market, your tech offering will be competing with dozens of similar products that look and sound nearly identical.
So how do you make your tech offering fly off the digital shelf?
Imagine if your potential customers encountered your product and noticed:
A standout packaging design — an experience that grabbed their attention, connected with them emotionally, and communicated its value within seconds
A name that was both compelling and memorable
A brand that conveyed an emotion, not just a function, and offered clear, direct messaging that made it easy to instantly understand the product’s purpose
That’s the power of strategic packaging design for tech. It’s not just about being seen, but about being chosen by someone looking for a standout solution.
What if FakeTech Consulting rebranded as Happy Portals?
Your marketing and product teams decided to do something different. They rebrand as Happy Portals and offer custom, self-service portals designed to keep smiles big and turnover small.
(This is not a real offering or a real business.)
How Happy Portals stands out:
Emotion-packed, memorable name: The name "Happy Portals" evokes positive emotions, conveying a sense of satisfaction and ease right away.
Relatable imagery: They feature photos of real, smiling people to visually represent the positive impact their portals have on users and HR departments.
Eye-catching colors: They use bold, distinctive colors that make the product pop against competitors.
Clear, jargon-free messaging: The messaging is straightforward, free of B2B jargon, and focused on benefits that resonate with their audience.
Direct call-to-action: The CTA is specific and simple. Instead of a gated demo, they offer an instant, free demo so potential clients know exactly what to expect with one easy click.
They even created 2-minute demo videos for how Happy Portals works for HR departments in different industries.
Happy Portals for Manufacturing demo video
You might not be in the HR consulting world, but the principle still applies. If you want your offerings to stand out and fly off the shelves, you have to take seriously how they are presented to the world.
It’s not just graphics, fonts, and colors that make Happy Portals’ packaging radically better than its competition. It’s the careful positioning, essence, emotion, and strategic messaging working together that give it the four key ingredients of great offering packaging.
What can we learn from Liquid Death and Happy Portals?
You might not be selling sparkling water or HR self-service portals, but you are selling offerings that sit right next to your competitors’. Great packaging design can be the secret to winning demos, deals, and loyal customers.
With the right approach, your offering can fly off the shelves.
