Get the Message Out
A focused, consistent marketing strategy is one key for success in package printing.
September 2008 by Tom Polischuk
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What’s it take to be a successful package printer? There’s a simple, one-word answer—everything. The right product, technology, engineering, management information systems, sales and marketing, and sometimes even a little luck. And if you believe in the adage, “The harder I work, the luckier I seem to get,” you can throw in hard work, too.
It does take an awful lot of factors to be successful in business these days, not the least of which is top-notch marketing strategies. The annals of business school studies are probably teeming with examples of great products that failed only because they weren’t marketed properly. It’s real clear—having a great product doesn’t mean customers will line up at your door. You have to get the message out.
Doug Wegman, marketing manager for Hammer Packaging, highlights two important points that could be considered fundamental to product marketing. “As always, having a credible, relevant, and differentiated brand identity is the best place to start,” he states. “The next step is crafting a message that goes out to one’s target market.”
Getting the message out—that’s where marketing comes in. Leslie -Gurland, president of Logotech Inc., lists some of the basic approaches she considers as part of the company’s marketing efforts. These include advertising in trade publications, exhibiting at trade shows, co-marketing with complementary products, and having up-to-date Web site content.
As an example of co-marketing, -Gurland points to the relationship Logotech has with Plastic Packaging Corp., a container manufacturer. “We recommend each other’s company to customers,” she says. “Logotech’s design team created a label with both company logos. We then produced labels that Plastic Packaging put on its containers to show its customers a finished product … Our salespeople go out and show not only our label, but Plastic Packaging’s container. When we leave the container with our customers, it has the label and reminds the customer about Plastic Packaging Corp.”
A company’s Web site is a key element in the overall marketing effort and has obviously been growing in importance during the last decade. Alan Isaacson, president of public relations firm ABI, believes Web sites play a unique part in companies’ identities. “When people see something about a company, one of the first things they do today is visit its Web site,” he says. “When you create the interest [from any source], you need to have content ready to make it easier for them to reach out and get the information they are looking for.”
It does take an awful lot of factors to be successful in business these days, not the least of which is top-notch marketing strategies. The annals of business school studies are probably teeming with examples of great products that failed only because they weren’t marketed properly. It’s real clear—having a great product doesn’t mean customers will line up at your door. You have to get the message out.
Doug Wegman, marketing manager for Hammer Packaging, highlights two important points that could be considered fundamental to product marketing. “As always, having a credible, relevant, and differentiated brand identity is the best place to start,” he states. “The next step is crafting a message that goes out to one’s target market.”
Getting the message out—that’s where marketing comes in. Leslie -Gurland, president of Logotech Inc., lists some of the basic approaches she considers as part of the company’s marketing efforts. These include advertising in trade publications, exhibiting at trade shows, co-marketing with complementary products, and having up-to-date Web site content.
As an example of co-marketing, -Gurland points to the relationship Logotech has with Plastic Packaging Corp., a container manufacturer. “We recommend each other’s company to customers,” she says. “Logotech’s design team created a label with both company logos. We then produced labels that Plastic Packaging put on its containers to show its customers a finished product … Our salespeople go out and show not only our label, but Plastic Packaging’s container. When we leave the container with our customers, it has the label and reminds the customer about Plastic Packaging Corp.”
A company’s Web site is a key element in the overall marketing effort and has obviously been growing in importance during the last decade. Alan Isaacson, president of public relations firm ABI, believes Web sites play a unique part in companies’ identities. “When people see something about a company, one of the first things they do today is visit its Web site,” he says. “When you create the interest [from any source], you need to have content ready to make it easier for them to reach out and get the information they are looking for.”
Companies Mentioned:
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