Get the Message Out

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.”

Isaacson believes that a company should treat its Web site just like it would treat its office or manufacturing facility if a major customer was coming in for a visit because it can be visited 24/7 by existing or potential customers from anywhere in the world. “A company has to have good, well organized, and timely information on its Web site to make a good impression on any visitor at any time,” he advises.

How about PR

Public relations (PR) can play an important role in a company’s efforts in getting the word out. “My personal belief is that PR should be the cornerstone of any marketing effort,” says Gurland. “I think it has the highest return on investment (ROI), and it’s a tool that can be used well by small companies as well as large ones.

“Perhaps the best aspect of public relations is that you need to have a good story to tell,” she continues. “Creating a public relations campaign can help bring an entire marketing program into focus by helping you zero in on the story of your company and your products.”

Wegman also believes a company can get a lot of mileage out of PR, without a major investment in company resources. “Singing one’s praises is a normal and expected past-time in marketing,” he says. “However, PR should not be a time-consuming effort unless the company is underperforming or has had a problem that is evident within the industry.”

As far as ROI, Wegman believes there is an even better tool than PR. “The least expensive marketing—and therefore the highest ROI—will always be word-of-mouth referrals,” he says. “That presumes, of course, that you are meeting or exceeding the customers’ expectations.”

As Gurland noted, PR can be used effectively by both large and small companies. However, marketing strategies depend on several key factors in addition to size, such as market segments being targeted and technologies being used.

“Companies such as CCL and Multi-Color are very large and offer a full complement of label methods to a wide variety of markets,” notes Dan Muenzer, VP of marketing for Spear. “Their marketing strategies will have to be different than ours at Spear, as we are very targeted in a few markets and one technology type. Public relations is much more important for local and regional printers than it is for multi-national companies.”

As in just about any industry, smaller companies typically have to keep things simple, with many people wearing different hats. At Rose City Label, company President Scott Pillsbury says that his company uses only very basic approaches to its marketing. “We have a pretty good Web site that we do get a fair amount of inquiries from, and we have outside sales people in the Portland area,” he reports. “Although they should be selling, some of their job involves just getting the word out and stopping by to see potential prospects, leaving cards and samples when appropriate. This, to me, is almost a marketing component of their jobs.”

Rose City Label is now considering using an e-newsletter, which Pillsbury believes would serve as a good tool to stay in touch with its smaller customers. “We are a very old company, and we have several hundred customers,” he says. “But, as with all companies, it is the top 100 that we really stay in touch with. The others do not get the same level of attention, so hopefully the e-newsletter will help with that.”

A strategic endeavor

Marketing for any company is a multifaceted endeavor and involves many different activities and degrees of corporate commitment. Muenzer believes that some people don’t have a good understanding of what marketing really is. “They consider advertising, trade shows, direct mail, etc. as a marketing plan,” he contends. “These are just tools that fall under the marketing umbrella. Real marketing involves strategic decision making based upon true market assessment. At Spear, we spend more money on market research and industry data than we do on advertising. Our targeted approach allows us to use vastly different tools than someone who is trying to build brand awareness or top-line growth.”

Wegman is a another person who views marketing as a strategic corporate function that should be focused on the longer term goals of the company. “I’m not convinced that all companies have a strategic plan,” he says. “If they don’t, marketing should be driving an effort to establish one. After all, marketing is a strategic discipline and by necessity needs to be focused two to five years out to be effective.”

Developing a strategic plan requires an honest assessment of where a company’s leadership wants the company to be in five years, says Muenzer: how big, what markets, what technologies, what geography? “Once the five-year goal is established, you need to work backward to determine how marketing can support or, better yet, drive that vision. A detailed first-year marketing plan is mandatory, with a fairly detailed second year in addition. These plans need to have full support and buy-in from the ownership and executive team. Consistency is critical. If advertising is part of the mix you can’t turn it on and off.”

Gurland emphasizes the importance of a marketing campaign based on a strategic focus. “If you want to develop a marketing campaign, you must develop a written strategic plan based on research of customers, competitive analysis, and market conditions,” she says. “From this you will gain insight to narrow your focus to specific target markets. You must then develop a value proposition and an action plan with specific benchmarks. Finally, you must get all of management behind the plan.”

For implementing marketing plans, outside agencies can be a valuable resource for companies of any size, but especially for those that might not be able to commit to dedicated resources. “Unless you have a full-time marketing person or marketing department, you must use outside agencies for everything from designing your Web site to writing your press materials to creating a booth for a trade show,” says Gurland. In addition, she notes that it can be helpful to get the opinion of someone outside the company.

Pillsbury offers a perspective of the value that outside companies can bring for many package printers that are operating lean and mean. “To do [marketing] right, I think you need an outside agency for sure—the day to day fires really make it difficult to do a serious campaign internally,” he says.

The big picture

In any business, marketing is closely related to sales and these two functions must work in concert to fulfill the goals of the company. For package printers, Isaacson offers a broad perspective of how these disciplines should be viewed.

“The most important thing is to realize that what [package printers] should market and sell is not package printing,” he advises. “They are looking to sell their expertise and capabilities to brand managers. Brand managers are interested in what they can apply to their brands to enhance them. To differentiate themselves, printers should talk about the value they can provide to the brand in terms the brand manager can relate to—value such as greater convenience, brand security, greater shelf appeal, speed to market. Avoid using terms such as packaging, folding carton, etc. Packaging is a commodity.” pP