Packaging and Labeling

PACKAGING
Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution,
storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and
producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for
transport, warehousing, logistics, sale, and end use. Packaging contains, protects, preserves,
transports, informs, and sells. In many countries it is fully integrated into government, business,
institutional, industrial, and personal use.

Packaging has four distinct marketing functions, according to the book “Essentials of
Marketing,” by Charles W. Lamb and colleagues. It contains and protects your product. It
promotes your product. It helps consumers use your product — for example, by allowing them to
reseal it between uses. Finally, packaging facilitates recycling and reduces environmental
damage.

Packaging Types
Packaging consists of several different types. For example, a transport package or distribution
package is the package form used to ship, store, and handle the product or inner packages. Some
identify a consumer package as one that is directed toward a consumer or household.

It is sometimes convenient to categorize packages by layer or function: “Primary,” “secondary,”

etc.

(i) Primary packaging is the material that first envelops the product and holds it. This usually is
the smallest unit of distribution or use and is the package that is in direct contact with the
contents. Primary packaging examples- Aerosol spray can, Bags-In-Boxes, Beverage can,
Wine box, Bottle, Blister pack, Carton, Cushioning, Envelope, Plastic bag, Plastic bottle.

(ii) Secondary packaging is outside the primary packaging—perhaps used to group primary
packages together. Secondary packaging examples– Box, Carton, Shrink wrap

(iii) Tertiary packaging is used for bulk handling and shipping. Tertiary packaging

examples– Bale, Barrel, Crate, Container, Edge protector, Intermediate bulk, container, Pallet,
Slip sheet, Stretch wrap.

LABELING
Your product’s label delivers your sales message. You can explain what benefits you offer that
competitors don’t, for example, or promote a prize or discount. You also can develop brand
goodwill by showing customers you share their values. For instance, images of happy families,
healthy athletes and green pastures each speak to different types of consumers.

Labels also must fulfill your legal obligations. Food manufacturers, for example, must publish
detailed nutritional information in a specific format and employ marketing terms — such as
“low-fat” or “reduced cholesterol” — that conform to federal regulations. Finally, your product
might need a UPC, or universal product code, especially if it will be sold in high-volume retail
outlets.

The objectives of packaging and package labeling

(i) Physical Protection: The objects enclosed in the package may require protection from,
among other things, shock, vibration, compression, temperature, etc.

(ii) Barrier Protection: A barrier from oxygen, water vapor, dust, etc., is often required.
Package permeability is a critical factor in design. Some packages contain desiccants, or oxygen
absorbers, to help extend shelf life. Modified atmospheres or controlled atmospheres are also
maintained in some food packages. Keeping the contents clean, fresh, and safe for the intended
shelf life is a primary function.

(iii) Containment or Agglomeration: Small objects are typically grouped together in one

package for reasons of efficiency. For example, a single box of 1,000 pencils requires less
physical handling than 1,000 single pencils. Liquids, powders, and flowables need containment.

(iv) Information transmission: Packages and labels communicate how to use, transport,

recycle, or dispose of the package or product. With pharmaceutical, food, medical, and chemical
products, some types of information are required by governments.
 (v) Marketing: The packaging and labels can be used by marketers to encourage potential
buyers to purchase the product. Package design has been an important and constantly evolving
phenomenon for dozens of years. Marketing communications and graphic design are applied to
the surface of the package and (in many cases) the point of sale display.

(vi) Security: Packaging can play an important role in reducing the security risks of shipment.
Packages can be made with improved tamper resistance to deter tampering and also can have
tamper-evident features to help indicate tampering. Packages can be engineered to help reduce
the risks of package pilferage: Some package constructions are more resistant to pilferage and
some have pilfer-indicating seals. Packages may include authentication seals to help indicate that
the package and contents are not counterfeit. Packages also can include anti-theft devices, such
as dye-packs, RFID tags, or electronic article surveillance tags which can be activated or
detected by devices at exit points and require specialized tools to deactivate. Using packaging in
this way is a means of loss prevention.

(vii) Convenience: Packages can have features that add convenience in distribution, handling,
display, sale, opening, re-closing, use, and reuse.

(viii) Portion Control: Single-serving or single-dosage packaging has a precise amount of

contents to control usage. Bulk commodities (such as salt) can be divided into packages that are
a more suitable size for individual households. It also aids the control of inventory: Selling
sealed one-liter bottles of milk, rather than having people bring their own bottles to fill
themselves.

Adoption Process
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Adoption process is a series of stages by which a consumer might adopt a NEW product or
service. Whether it be Services or Products, in today’s competitive world, a consumer is faced
with a lot of choices. How does he make a decision to ADOPT a new product is the Adoption
process.

There are numerous stages of adoption which a consumer goes through. These stages may
happen before or even after the actual adoption.

Philip Kotler considers five steps in consumer adoption process, such as awareness, interest,
evaluation, trial, and adoption. On the other hand, William Stanton considers six steps, such as
awareness stage, interest and information stage, evaluation stage, trial stage, adoption stage, and
post-adoption stage. We will follow six steps.

1. Awareness Stage
Individual consumer becomes aware of the innovation. He is exposed to innovation but knows
very little regarding the innovation. He has only limited information about it. He is aware of
 either by discussion with friends, relatives, salesmen, or dealers. He gets idea about a new
product from various means of advertising like newspapers, magazines, Internet, television,
outdoor media, etc. At this stage, he doesn’t give much attention to the new product.

2. Interest and Information Stage

In this stage, the consumer becomes interested in innovation and tries to collect more
information. He collects information from advertising media, salesmen, dealers, current users, or
directly from company. He tries to know about qualities, features, functions, risk, producers,
brand, colour, shape, price, incentives, availability, services, and other relevant aspects. Simply,
he collects as much information as he can.

3. Evaluation Stage
Now, accumulated information is used to evaluate the innovation. The consumer considers all
the significant aspects to judge the worth of innovation. He compares different aspects of
innovation like qualities, features, performance, price, after-sales services, etc., with the existing
products to arrive at the decision whether the innovation should be tried out.

4. Trial Stage
Consumer is ready to try or test the new product. He practically examines it. He tries out the
innovation in a small scale to get self-experience. He can buy the product, or can use free
samples. This is an important stage as it determines whether to buy it.

5. Adoption Stage
If trial produces satisfactory results, finally the consumer decides to adopt/buy the innovation.
He decides on quantity, type, model, dealer, payment, and other issues. He purchases the product
and consumes individually or jointly with other members.

6. Post Adoption Behavior Stage

This is the last stage of consumer adoption. If a consumer satisfies with a new product and
related services, he continues buying it frequently, and vice-versa. He becomes a regular user of
innovation and also talks favorable to others. This is a crucial step for a marketer.

In every stage of consumer adoption, a marketer is required to facilitate consumers. He must take
all possible actions to make them try, buy, and repeat buy the innovation. Be clear that every
type of consumer (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, or laggards) follows
all the stages of adoption process, but takes different amount of time to adopt the innovation.
Digital Marketing: Meaning
and Types
 

Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the
internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and
their websites to connect with current and prospective customers.

Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the
right time. Today, that means you need to meet them where they are already spending time: on
the internet.

Enter digital marketing — in other words, any form of marketing that exists online.

Digital marketing is defined by the use of numerous digital tactics and channels to connect with
customers where they spend much of their time: online. From the website itself to a business’s
online branding assets — digital advertising, email marketing, online brochures, and beyond —
there’s a spectrum of tactics that fall under the umbrella of “digital marketing.”

The best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each digital marketing campaign supports
their overarching goals. And depending on the goals of their marketing strategy, marketers can
support a larger campaign through the free and paid channels at their disposal.

A content marketer, for example, can create a series of blog posts that serve to generate leads
from a new ebook the business recently created. The company’s social media marketer might
then help promote these blog posts through paid and organic posts on the business’s social media
accounts. Perhaps the email marketer creates an email campaign to send those who download the
ebook more information on the company.

Scope and Importance

Digital Marketing industry is booming not just in India but all parts of the world. The year 2016
took the industry by surprise with over 1.5 lakh job opportunities in the Digital Marketing
domain. Well, the following was a bigger surprise when only the first quarter of 2017 marked for
8 lakh job opportunities.

The surveys conducted by several forums have predicted this number to grow with Digitalisation
in the nation. Our Prime Minister has been actively promoting the idea of Digital India. PM
Modi’s digital India campaign gained massive popularity. The initiative of Government of India
is aimed at providing easy services to its natives.
 Now imagine when a nation’s government is promoting the digital interaction, what do you think
will be the Digital Marketing scope in that nation.

Types of Digital Marketing

We’ve arrived! It’s time to dive head first into 9 types of digital marketing. Types of online
digital marketing include:

1. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO refers to the process of growing your online visibility in
non-paid (organic) search engine results. SERPs or search engine results pages appear to users
after they search for a given set of keywords using a search engine like Google or Bing. Each
user receives an individualized results page based on keywords, the user’s location at the time of
searching, and their browsing history.

Organic search results appear in a list and are ranked using the search engine’s algorithm. As
users change the way they search and engage with online content, these algorithms change. The
higher you rank on a SERP, the more traffic is directed to your site and the more chances of
making a passive visitor an active customer.

2. Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing or SEM covers the ground SEO ignores, paid traffic from search
engines. With SEM you purchase advertisement space that appears on a user’s SERP. The most
common paid search platform is Google AdWords. Next, is Bing Ads.

The search engine charges a marketer a predetermined amount to display an advertisement in a

number of places on a SERP generated from specific keywords or phrases. One example of SEM
is pay-per-click advertising or PPC. PPC refers to a digital marketing method wherein search
engines charge a company each time their advertisement is clicked.

3. Social Media Marketing

By now you know that social media is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. But do you
know the ins and outs of social media marketing? Social media marketing gives you increased
exposure. It allows you to connect with your consumers in a more intimate way. From this
interaction, you can gain valuable customer feedback that allows you to improve your customer
service, product, or service.

Using social media marketing you’ll gain more reach when you post quality content. Everything
you do to increase traffic or business on your social media channels is social media marketing.
Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or LinkedIn these efforts all amount to social
media marketing.
 Most everyone benefits from social media marketing, but B2C companies stand to gain the most.
Pay attention to what your target audience talks about on social media. Engage in the
conversation. Use social media marketing as a way to gauge what content you put out does well
by monitoring shares and likes.

4. Content Marketing
Content marketing refers to the practice of delivering a quality piece of content to your users to
generate sales and leads. This content can live anywhere online. Tweets, a YouTube video, and
blogs on your website all comprise content marketing. Content Marketing works because it
melds together exceptional content with other types of digital marketing like SEO and Social
Media Marketing.

5. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing refers to the process of paying for conversions. Think of it like hiring a sales
person for your product or service. That affiliate earns a commission. You determine the rate for
affiliate marketing.  You only pay for conversions. This means there is no upfront cost to affiliate
marketing. Many bloggers or e-commerce websites use affiliate marketing.

When you choose to use affiliate marketing ensure that all of your terms and boundaries are
discussed beforehand. The affiliate represents your brand, so you want them to carry your
brand’s message close to them. Think about the kinds of words you want the affiliate to use. Of
course, you need to make the deal work for the affiliate, too.

6. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is among the newer types of digital marketing. Influencer marketing uses
people with an enormous online reach considered experts by your target market to drive traffic
and sales.

Influencer marketing is popular on social media channels like Instagram and Snapchat.
Companies hire Instagrammers with large followings to promote their brand by posting one or
more photos with the product. Companies now engage in Instagram or Snapchat “takeovers”
where the hired influence controls the company’s social media platform for a given amount of
time, most often a day. These social media takeovers drive the influencer’s following to your
social media channels increasing your new followers and unique views.

7. Email Marketing
Email marketing allows you to update your email subscribers on a regular basis about your
company. This fosters a relationship unlike any of the other types of digital marketing. Your
email updates provide value to your consumer. As a result, you build brand trust and brand
loyalty.
 The best email marketing campaigns involve a list of subscribers earned by your content and
company, not paid for by your company. People who opt-in to your email subscription prove
more likely to become active buyers.

8. Viral Marketing
Viral marketing refers to a post of some sort that is trendy, funny, or strange enough to garner a
massive amount of shares online. Viral marketing causes an enormous spike in website traffic
over a short period of time. This is hard to do but the benefits alone make the effort worth your
time.

B2C companies stand to gain the most from viral marketing. B2C companies can use social
media to reach an enormous audience across all of their active platforms.

9. Mobile Phone Advertising

Each of the types of digital advertising can happen on a mobile device. Some types of marketing
using a mobile phone do not fit the above types of digital marketing.

These include SMS advertising which could prove an asset to local marketing efforts. You can
prompt your consumers to use SMS to receive special offers, coupons, and updates from your
company.