With over 43,000 products lining the store shelves of your local supermarket, it can be difficult to make your product stand out. So, what can you do to make a customer pick up your product and put it in their cart? The answer lies in the packaging. Here are two things your bottle label should tell your potential customers:

1: Your Company Personality

Do you remember the early days when you were trying to get your business off the ground? Although you might be tempted to try to blend in with those big-brand competitors, people like a little personality. Consider incorporating your company mission into your packaging design so that you can connect with your consumers on a personal level. Here are a few ways you might be able to accomplish this:

• Your Story: Were you prompted to create a completely lactose-free milk product after your daughter had a bad reaction? Did you start your small business in your own kitchen after working a second job? Use your packaging to tell people why your business is special. If you have room, print a picture and a tiny blurb about what makes your company tick. If you don't, consider adding a single line of text into your design. If a customer reads "straight from our kitchen to yours," they might get the message. 
• Your Values: Are you trying to make the world a better place by making people happy or donating a percentage of your revenue to charity? Talk about your mission so that people understand why you are different from those other guys.   

Creating packaging that tells consumers what makes your company different might help your carefully developed product to stand out on that store aisle.

2: What's Inside

After consumers connect with your company, it is time to sell them on the product inside that container. Here are some ways you might be able to do that:

• Why It's Great: What makes that artisan juice so incredible? Use carefully chosen text to tell your customer why they should try your product. Think about it—you probably wouldn't pay top dollar for a premium burger if the restaurant menu just listed the item as "hamburger with pickles and cheese." However, you might be persuaded if you started reading about aged cheddar, Kobe Beef, and Butter lettuce. Think about each ingredient in your product and use colorful, descriptive words to make that bottle pop.   
• Who Should Use It: Customers use packaging to decide whether or not your product blends with their lifestyle. Think carefully about your targeted audience, and which aesthetic would appeal to them. For example, if you are trying to sell gourmet chocolate milk to adults, you wouldn't want to make the package look like it is meant for kids. Work with professional graphic designers at sites like http://www.northwestlabel.com/ to develop packaging that blends with the lifestyle that you are promoting.
• Where It Came From: Don't be afraid to state where your product came from and why that matters. For example, if you are selling jars of pre-made Chicken Tikka Masala sauce, you could talk about how the spices you used were imported from India and crushed by hand. People like to know about the journey products take and how they were made.

If you really want to show off your product, ask your local grocery store if you can have your item demonstrated right in the aisle. A savvy demo professional can talk up your product, give out samples, and direct consumers to your product's location on the store shelf.

Choosing thoughtful, effective packaging might help you to edge out your competitors so that you can continue to develop new, exciting products.