Marketing in a Digital Era

The World Wide Web went live on August 6, 1991. A lot has transpired in the 25 years since then. For those who worked in box manufacturing back then, the changes are almost mind-blowing. From websites to mobile devices to smartphones, digital apps, and augmented and virtual reality, marketers now find themselves faced with myriad new options to get their businesses, products, and services in front of customers—not just down the street but literally around the world.

These new digital marketing opportunities mean different approaches for box manufacturers. Here we look at how three different companies are taking very different approaches to their interactions with existing customers and their efforts to attract and engage new customers.

Digital Delivers

Guy Ockerlund is president of Ox Box (www.oxbox.com) in Addison, Ill. For more than 60 years, the company has manufactured shipping and storage containers with a focus on heavy-duty industrial packaging for customers primarily in North America. There have been a lot of changes over those 60 years; in recent years, one of the biggest changes has been the advent of digital marketing. Ox Box launched its website in 2004 and has continually modified it since then to keep up with trends and client needs.

Because its market is narrow, says Ockerlund, they’re typically looking “for those needles in a haystack.” Or, more specifically, they’re trying to help those “needles” find Ox Box online. The internet has had a dramatic impact on how Ox Box markets to and interacts with customers. Most of their business, says Ockerlund, comes through online inquiries.

We’re a small company, and we don’t have a marketing budget. The internet has enabled us to do thing we could never have done and reach people we could never have reached 20 years ago. — Guy Ockerlund, Ox Box

In terms of marketing strategy, according to Ockerlund, the internet was a natural decision. They were actually ahead of the curve in terms of their market recognizing the value of the internet for finding the kinds of products Ox Box offers. “It just took the internet time to mature and get to the point where people were actually using it to find industrial stuff.” That strategy, he says, has saved both time and money. “We’re a small company, and we don’t have a marketing budget. The internet has enabled us to do things we could never have done and reach people we could never have reached 20 years ago.”

Without the internet to reach customers, Ockerlund says, they would have been challenged to advertise to the extent they would need to in order to raise awareness of their products. Digital marketing means not only that they are able to be found by those few, but important, industrial customers, but that they’re also able to save significant time that would previously have been spent going physically back and forth between the client location and their manufacturing facility.

The production cycle, he says, “is super abbreviated for our internet customers. We can go from initial inquiry to shipping product out to them in about three to five days.” That includes designing, quoting, processing, manufacturing, and shipping.

Addressing Communication Challenges

Communication throughout the purchasing and production process for Ox Box’s customers also typically occurs online—not through direct sales calls or face-to-face conversations. That can be a time- and money-saving process, but it can also create some challenges and the potential for miscommunication.

Ox Box has leveraged technology in its marketing communication efforts to help minimize miscommunication and ensure that customers understand what it is they’re ordering. For instance, there is a glossary of container styles on the website that provides descriptions—both written and visual—of the various types and styles of containers that customers might need.

But technology can’t solve all communicationso Ox Box has taken additional steps to minimize confusion and miscommunication between its staff members and the customers they serve—most notably, the disconnect that can occur between customers who don’t speak the language of box manufacturing. “We use industry-speak, and our customers don’t,” says Ockerlund. Recognizing that, and the potential for service breakdowns and product miscommunication that could result in delivering something that doesn’t meet client needs, Ockerlund has taken steps to ensure that the staff speaking directly with customers speak the customers’ language. They convey information in terms that the customer can understand.

Effective communication is key to building relationships and business, says Ockerlund. Martha Haddon agrees. Haddon is secretary and treasurer of Packaging-Atlanta Corp., a small, full-service sheet plant based in Canton, Ga. The company has been in business for 33 years, starting initially out of her house. Their website (www.pkgatl.com) is currently under construction—a process she expects to take three to six months. The onset of the digital world, she says, has really changed how they view marketing. “We’ve known for a good four years that we really need a good website,” she says. But, it’s a process that has required a lot of consideration about exactly how to build it and who to turn to for assistance in the process. She’s spent a year and a half finding and reviewing various options and ultimately coming back to a firm she had talked to at the very beginning of her search.

The goal, Haddon says, is to make the website fun. “I think people think that packaging and purchasing are boring.” She intends to change that. The vendor she selected is a full-service firm that will handle every aspect of the web design. One key piece of this is writing copy that will be appealing not only to her potential customers,but also to search engines. “I pride myself on being able to write a good paper or a good letter, but it’s a different language, and I’m not ever going to claim to even want to do that.”

The site will also be designed to appeal to a new generation of customers—the millennial generation. But, she adds, she doesn’t know that they’re really that different from other generations when it comes to making the move from traditional to online interactions with companies they do business with. It may have taken some age groups a bit longer, but Haddon and others agree that doing business online is the dominant way of interacting these days. Still, Haddon believes that relationships are best developed face-to-face. “It’s all about trust,” she says. “We do a lot of email, but we really still try to get in front of a customer. If we have a sample, and it’s local, we’re definitely going to hand-carry it. We really try to pick up the phone and call people instead of emailing.”

Taking Digital to an Entirely New Level

Greg Tucker is taking digital marketing to entirely new levels, leveraging new technology to make a big impact. Tucker is Chair/CEO of Bay Cities in Pico Rivera, Calif. (www.bay-cities.com), an employee-owned company that designs and manufactures packaging and displays. The company was founded 60 years ago, says Tucker. “We purchased the company from our founder Bill Hanan who began his career with National Container.” At “the Bay,” they’re marketing in a completely different way. “Our marketing strategy is to educate folks on the power of mobile at retail and how augmented reality can help drive business back to the retailer and keep all of us employed designing and manufacturing industrial packing, retail packaging, and point-of-purchase packaging,” says Tucker.

Tucker has recognized the value of mobile marketing and the widespread use of mobile devices by consumers of all ages. “Our current marketing strategy is centered on augmented reality,” he says. Why? “We’re putting much more effort there, as we believe as a company and as an industry, that driving consumers back to the retail environment to buy again and again is the most important thing we can do for all of our survival.”

The Bay Cities app has been used to launch a series of augmented reality (AR) tools. “We can launch cool new games through the app,” says Tucker. In addition, he notes, “We can post coupons, newsletters, and just about anything we want. I call it the Trojan horse for brands.”

“Our marketing strategy is to educate folks on the power of mobile at retail and how augmented reality can help drive business back to the retailer and keep all of us employed designing and manufacturing industrial packing, retail packaging, and point-of-purchase packaging.”

— Greg Tucker, Bay Cities

By now you’ve likely heard of “Pokémon Go”—the wildly popular location-based AR game that lets users track down and capture Pokémon that appear on the screen as though they’re in the real world. The concept is certainly nothing new to Tucker, who’s been using the same AR gamification-based apps to engage his market. For example, one app involved a leprechaun running through a retail store while being chased by shopping carts. The app, he says, demonstrated “how we can create a map of a particular retailer to help folks be directed toward cross-branded opportunities within the store.” Once consumers reach the brand, he says, “they get the opportunity of powering up more energy to keep playing the game—and they’re introduced to a brand offering at retail that can include a coupon redeemable at the cashier in real time. This is all done with the mobile device.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. “Something else we did for Christmas was pretty wild,” he says. Every year, Bay Cities designs a gift for clients, prospective clients, friends, and families. This year, Bay Cities designers created a treasure chest that included instructions on how to download the Bay Cities app. “Once the app is downloaded, a person can point his or her mobile device at the treasure chest, and an animated octopus opens the chest and begins to place ornaments on palm trees while jingle bells play.” When the song is over, the octopus grabs everything and drags it back into the chest and shuts it. A crab that didn’t quite make it back in time knocks on the chest and is let back in by the octopus. “This is what we call a product demonstration using AR,” says Tucker.

Monitoring Results

The big question, of course, is: Does digital make a difference? Do these marketing efforts pay off? These manufacturers believe that they do.

Digital marketing makes tracking ROI relatively straightforward, says Ockerlund. “Every lead that comes in goes into our marketing database.” The leads are tracked down to the sales level and indicate the source of the leads.

At Bay Cities, says Tucker, they use “a whole boatload of analytics that allow us to know how many folks downloaded the app, who they were, where they were, and even if they are male or female.” The analytics provide important details that can be used to continually improve marketing efforts. “We feel very strongly that using this type of mobile technology will obviously drive business for Bay Cities,” says Tucker.

Haddon is looking forward to the analytics that her new website will be able to provide. Part of the planning process, she says, is specifically focused on identifying what she wants to track so the web developers can make sure those numbers can be delivered.

It’s not like the days before August 6, 1991, when marketing often took place face-to-face and tracking involved spreadsheets, coupon codes, and asking customers, “How did you hear about us?” Today, marketers—in any industry—need to put digital marketing near, or at, the top of their lists of marketing tactics to connect and compel consumers to action!

Lin Grensing-Pophal is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin. She is a frequent contributor to BoxScore.