Marketing Paper and Packaging

People say marketing is part science, part art. For the Paper and Packaging Board, charged with supporting the paperboard, containerboard, kraft, and printing and writing papers sectors, marketing means identifying motivators common to consumers of our industry’s products, creating awareness, and then turning that awareness into consumption. How can industry participants do the same?

1. Start with research. If you have limited marketing funds, research is a great way to help determine what your customers want to hear. Conducting a simple survey, checking feedback on call sheets, or doing quick “desk research” is very helpful. The Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds™ campaign used research as a foundation to translate product attributes into emotional stories highlighting product values important to consumers. Research showed us that consumers have an appreciation for how paper helps them achieve at home, at school, and at work—and that boxes and packaging are unsung heroes delivering quality and safety that they value. It’s likely your customers value the same things about your products.

2. People need a reason to choose one brand over another. Although appealing to their logic—think features and benefits—seems to be a standard sales plea, marketing a brand as a whole can help establish an emotional reason to buy. Combining sales information with a personal relationship helps create that connection. It’s a handshake and a sales sheet.

3. Build on strong product appreciation. Did consumers or customers talk about the brand? Did they recommend it to a friend? Today’s marketers are lucky. We have real-time data available at our fingertips to help us see how customers and consumers appreciate our products. We can measure responses in social media, see whether potential customers click on a paid online ad, or learn if they watch a video with our messaging.

4. We can also measure advertising’s impact on attitudes about our products. The most recent data*, from 2016, about the people who have seen the Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds™ campaign shows positive impact on attitudes:

• 82 percent agree that they can rely on corrugated/cardboard boxes to get merchandise shipped/delivered safely (steady since 2015).
• 77 percent agree that they love finding ways to reuse corrugated/cardboard boxes (significant improvement, up 10 percent from 2015).
• 68 percent agree that paper-based product packaging is an essential part of everyday life (significant improvement, up 9 percent from 2015).
• 64 percent agree that when a company decides to package its products in paper-based packaging, they think more highly of that company (significant improvement, up 20 percent from 2015).

To learn more about Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds™, the industry-funded campaign to advance appreciation for and consumption of paper and packaging, sign up for the newsletter at www.paperandpackaging.org.

Joan Sahlgren is director of public relations at Paper & Packaging Board.