Do-It-Yourself retailers are “hot,” and they should be on the radar screen for your brand. But it’s not enough just to win a spot on the store shelf. If your packaging doesn’t work in this retail environment, consumers can leave the store feeling annoyed and without having bought anything, or with having purchased the wrong product.

Jackie DeLise is Director, Business Development at Liljeqvist & Wargo, Westport, CT. She says the following steps should be prominent in any packaging effort designed for D-I-Y retailers.

1. Understand your consumer— increasingly, she’s female. Purchase motivators will be different for novices compared with professionals. Toward the novice end of the spectrum, packaging communications should appeal to the consumer’s confidence to get the job done.

2. Create brand harmony. Identify a compelling point-of-difference and develop a brand “personality” for your core audience. The message should be something memorable. Build brand addiction—“I’ve got to have it” over the long term and “I need it” over the short term.

3. Communicate at the point of decision. A man foremost wants to get the job done but for a woman, a successful D-I-Y project is equally lifestyle issue that should be part of the brand message. Consumers begin to feel confident in their ability to use a product when packaging communicates project information.

4. Innovate. Integrate package design aesthetics with engineering/ergonomic factors. D-I-Y is one category where consumers always seem to want something new and better. Make sure your packaging communicates the value in your brand.