Packaging industry communications & marketing agency

Food packaging, packaging for industrial goods, medicine, cosmetics, etc. – the packaging market is divided into a large number of sub-sectors, each with its own specific requirements and priorities. This alone makes things tricky for a packaging PR agency.

A decision-maker for food packaging is usually interested in completely different advantages than someone who works in industrial packaging. The key is to develop targeted approaches as a packaging advertising agency.

In different countries and regions, there are different regulations and laws that apply to the packaging industry. This is especially true when it comes to environmental or sustainability regulations. This makes a standardised communication and sales strategy much more difficult.

While the EU, for example, sets strict requirements for sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging, state authorities in other markets tend to focus more on aspects such as durability and stability. For companies in the packaging industry, it is essential that the agency is aware of these requirements.

Decisions in large packaging companies or at packaging buyers (food manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies) usually take a long time and often entail complicated processes in which an entire buying centre is involved.

In addition to the purchasing department, technical managers, sustainability officers and the marketing department also play an important role. Identifying the main decision-makers and key communication channels in this network is a major challenge for every packaging agency.

The packaging industry is highly competitive, with countless competitors worldwide offering similar equipment and services. This leads to high price pressure, making it difficult to stand out and make an impact on the market with a better quality solution.

In short, the price pressure is high, especially for standardised packaging solutions. Reconciling all of this while still offering a cutting-edge, competitive positioning is a real challenge for a packaging advertising agency.

Packaging solutions have to meet a wide range of highly complex requirements. This makes the entire process highly sensitive. As a result, many users are hesitant to implement new technologies or materials that could disrupt existing processes.

This makes it difficult to generate leads with new ideas and concepts, as even the most innovative solutions are often met with scepticism and reluctance. Convincing these very ‘conservative’ customers of an innovative solution is one of the main challenges for a packaging PR agency.

Global cultural differences and local preferences also complicate lead generation. It is precisely these differences that require a careful adaptation of product offerings and marketing strategies to the respective target country.

In summary, it is the fragmentation of the market, the different regulations, complex decision-making processes and the inertia towards innovation that make accessing potential customers just as challenging as generating leads. Nevertheless, there is no reason to despair. Read on.

As a PR agency for the packaging sector, we use search engine optimisation (SEO) to ensure that our clients’ content in the packaging industry is found by decision-makers . This is how we increase visibility in search results and organic traffic from qualified prospects.

We use an extensive keyword analysis to find out what our clients’ target groups are looking for.

SEA is a good complement to SEO for targeting niche decision-makers who are currently looking for packaging solutions. As an advertising agency, we place paid ads in the search results and generate attention and awareness.

SEA is ideal for achieving short-term results and directing traffic to the company website. Particular care must be taken here to ensure that the ads contain the relevant keywords and are tailored to the needs of niche decision-makers.

Social networks offer many opportunities – including for entering into a dialogue with the industry. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Xing and X (Twitter) are especially useful, as they are where many industry experts and decision-makers can be found:

LinkedIn is the platform for B2B communication. Here, niche decision-makers can be addressed directly via targeted ads and content.

As an advertising agency specialising in the packaging sector, we can reach our clients' target group with relevant content in specialist articles, white papers or videos. Tools such as LinkedIn Ads are also useful for segmenting the target group by position, industry, company size and location. Another important function is the LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which can be used to identify and target potential leads.

Social media is the place to initiate or participate in discussions and use relevant hashtags to make the company's content, opinions and positions accessible to a wider audience. This is especially true for opinion multipliers such as journalists, who are present here in large numbers.

We use email marketing as an effective method of contacting niche decision-makers on an individualised basis. Here, a personalised address, relevant content and a clear call-to-action are decisive in attracting the attention of the addressees.

Moreover, segmenting the addresses by industry, company size and needs allows you to send targeted, relevant messages. What's more, automated actions such as downloading a white paper can be used to deepen the dialogue and convert leads into new customers.

For many companies, lead generation consists primarily of identifying potential customers and decision-makers. However, this approach makes little or no use of the potential that lies in the addresses. After all, valuable leads need to be nurtured.

With a well-thought-out lead nurturing process, we at the packaging agency ensure that potential customers continuously receive the relevant information and incentives to make their purchase decision on this basis. In this respect, it is important to ensure that leads are also managed and qualified in the long term.

Customer relationship management systems (CRM) such as Salesforce, Zoho or Microsoft Dynamics 365 are essential for keeping track of all interactions with leads. This is the only way to ensure that all leads are fully leveraged and that no potential customer is lost.

This isn't as difficult as you might think, because each of these software solutions offers countless proven, successful functions for managing and controlling leads. This is how you convert curious prospects into convinced, paying customers.

Marketing automation tools such as HubSpot, Marketo or Pardot are used to create automated email campaigns that are tailored to the behaviour of the leads, enabling you to reach them in an individualised, effective and conversion-oriented way.

This is especially important because each of these software solutions enables you to segment leads based on their interactions with your website, various email campaigns or company content in social media, and to address them in a targeted manner.

Content marketing is one of the best ways to find and appeal to niche decision-makers. Since they are usually proactive in their online searches for detailed information before making their purchase decision, providing them with excellent, relevant content demonstrates expertise and builds trust.

There are several options for distributing the content. These range from blog posts and specialist articles, webinars and videos (perhaps on a dedicated YouTube channel) to white papers on technical innovations, case studies or trends and tips for optimising packaging processes.