4 Reasons Why Agencies Need a Packaging Partner

Marketing agencies enlist design, copywriting, advertising, and web development partners to carry out the marketing campaigns they develop for their clients. However, they often overlook the value of establishing a relationship with an experienced packaging partner that’s committed to their success. Here are four reasons why your agency needs a packaging partner.

1. Stand Out with Increased Capabilities

A strategic packaging partner lends marketing strength to your agency. When you can harness the knowledge and capabilities of a packaging company, you can differentiate your agency and offer unique solutions to help your customers stand out.

For example, you can:

• Cater to boutique clients who need small runs and large companies with larger run requests
• Offer rapid turnaround times
• Provide CAD services and packaging mockups
• Create small, artistic packages for seasonable marketing and special promotions

Some suppliers are transactional in nature, only concerned with selling packages to bolster their bottom lines, but a true packaging partner will collaborate with you to enhance your agency with creative capabilities that lend a competitive advantage.

2. Bring Your Creative Innovations to Life

Many packaging companies try to squeeze their customers into existing die lines, but that limits your creativity and your client offering. A good packaging partner unbinds your creativity with practically limitless options:

• They won’t try to force you to choose between pre-existing packaging options
• They can bring your napkin design to life and offer end-to-end support
• They can help you develop beautiful, one-of-a-kind packaging for your clients

You don’t want your clients’ packaging to look like every other competitor out there. With a strategic supplier, you can innovate with unique shapes, sizes, die-cuts, and designs for unforgettable branding that influences perception and motivates sales.

3. Add Sustainability to Your Offering

A strategic packaging partner can help you meet corporate social responsibility standards for your company and your clients with:

• Recyclable materials
• Eco-friendly production processes
• In-house recycling
• Energy saving practices
• Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification

Sustainability is more important than ever to businesses and consumers, so establishing a relationship with an eco-friendly packaging partner can differentiate your agency and create a competitive advantage.

4. Identify Manufacturing and Cost Efficiencies

A lot goes into choosing the right packaging materials, designs, and production processes. While transactional suppliers are happy to sell your agency the first thing that will work, a strategic partner will collaborate with you to identify the best solution.

For example, one of our customers needed boxes for seven different types of candles at 500 quantity each. We could have simply run their order, but it would have carried a high unit cost, so we recommended an alternative: they could make a single box type with a window that would reveal the unique candle scents inside. This strategy enabled the customer to minimize the set up and change over costs of producing so many different boxes and simultaneously gave them a unique rose top closure design that differentiated their brand.

A good packaging partner has your agency’s back. They can:

• Identify ways to increase manufacturing efficiency and save money (savings you can pass on to your clients, making your agency more attractive)
• Help you choose product-compatible packaging materials and cartons that protect your clients’ investments
• Collaborate with your agency to develop unique packaging designs
• Bail you out in emergencies with rapid turnaround to meet tight deadlines

Great packaging partners are just as beneficial to marketing agencies as great design, development, copywriting, and advertising partners. Consider establishing a relationship with an experienced, knowledgeable, strategic packaging supplier to expand your offering, better serve your clients, and gain a competitive advantage for your agency.

Discover more packaging tips: 6 ways to grow your business with innovative packaging