In 2026, Revenue Growth Will Require New Investments
Corrugated manufacturers keeping their eyes on the global market will be well aware that various political and economic shifts have created new complexity. These range from higher material costs and tariff concerns to general uncertainty about what the next year will look like.
With the cost of capital still high, the investments and moves of recent years don’t have the same appeal today. At the same time, it’s clear that corrugated manufacturers can’t afford to sit still — new business initiatives are needed to sustain and grow revenue.
Examples of such initiatives include streamlining sales processes, implementing more refined structures in sales cycles, investing in more effective marketing channels such as answer-engine optimization (AEO, or SEO geared toward feeding AI), and more.
The key challenge is that these capabilities must often come from the outside, as the resources, talent, and even time required simply don’t exist within businesses today.
Existing teams are already time- and resource-constrained. There is little to no time to rethink and refactor existing sales processes without impacting current revenue. And the expertise needed to strategize, build, and launch new marketing efforts is often too expensive to bring in-house — to say nothing of the time it would take to stand everything up from scratch.
The Corrugated Packaging Marketing Agency — The External Perspective Needed to Make a Change for the Better
The best way to deal with these problems while simultaneously making meaningful progress on new business initiatives is to bring in outside help. Hiring a corrugated packaging marketing agency might not have been on your list of strategic priorities in today’s environment, but if any of the issues mentioned above have been plaguing your business, step back and consider the possibilities.
But first, let’s tackle the elephant in the room: cost. Of course, there is an investment involved, but let’s do some comparisons:
- Consider the cost to hire a new sales leader, a marketing leader, and supporting team members. Or, you could have this expertise instantly — across multiple experienced individuals and teams — by hiring a packaging marketing agency.
- Consider the cost of buying the required CRM solutions, digital marketing tooling, marketing automation platforms, and organic research tools. Or, all of these tools could be ready to go for your business without the need to research them, go through costly implementations, and train internal staff who don’t have the time anyway.
- Consider the cost of time as all of these resources get up to speed. You’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a year, if not more. Or, you could have it all for a consistent monthly fee that is a fraction of the cost of an in-house approach — with the talented experts and requisite tooling ready to rock from day one.
So, which is better? Spend a million dollars on building a new team and standing up tooling to support digital marketing for packaging manufacturers that you don’t know how to use — all in the hopes that these resources will “get it right” a year from now? Or, spend perhaps 10 to 20 percent of that on hiring a packaging marketing agency and immediately have access to a full team armed with the tools and experience?
Let’s Get a Bit More Tactical
What does a packaging marketing agency provide? We’ve already discussed what you receive at a high level — talent, experience, and tools. But what is a packaging marketing agency actually going to do?
- Lead Generation — This is absolutely the highest priority for any packaging marketing agency worth its salt. If new opportunities aren’t coming in, you aren’t going to grow. Digital marketing for corrugated packaging manufacturers must be the sole strategic focus. Everything else supports this.
- Sales Structure — Not all firms offer this, but those that do will be able to implement a structured front-end sales process that alleviates many of the pressures on your current sales team. They will handle initial outreach, nurturing, and filtering, so what your core sales team receives is qualified and ready to quote. The result is greater focus and productivity for your core team.
- Sales Coordination — In addition to the above, the outbound-focused arm of a packaging marketing agency will also work in tandem with your team on all new opportunities to keep them moving forward in the pipeline. No more deals stuck and languishing — only constant movement toward resolution, and more revenue.
- Marketing Expertise — People don’t buy the same way they used to. Properly engaging online tools and solutions ranging from SEO and AI referrals requires expertise and careful attention to ensure you’re showing up where people are looking and providing answers.
- Combined Inbound and Outbound — While inbound marketing positions your business where people are already looking, there is always a need for introductions. Outbound marketing makes your target audience aware of you, your capabilities, and your value — and ensures they stay aware over time.
- Analysis and Iteration — With the right agency, digital marketing for packaging manufacturers isn’t a rinse-and-repeat process. It’s a cycle of executing, learning, and applying that intelligence to consistently better, more effective campaigns. This ensures that every effort — from organic SEO content to paid search — is designed to move the needle that much closer to success and growth.
Now Is the Time
With so much still uncertain in the corrugated packaging industry, instilling certainty where you can is critical. With a packaging marketing agency, you’ll have confidence that the work needed to achieve growth despite uncertainty is being done by an experienced team, using the right tools and processes to move the needle.