“We’re not selling boxes, we’re selling solutions for the food service business,” said a marketing manager for a food service packaging company, I recently met with at the NRA Show.

How you define your business impacts everything about your marketing, including your content.  And while a narrowly defined product category helps customers recognize what you do, it can also mean a missed opportunity when customers fail to think of your busines as a solution provider.

Content needs vary based on your definition. Content for companies who manufacture food service packaging might include specifications based on materials and performance. Content for companies that sell packaging solutions to the food service industry could easily be expanded to include a wider variety of topics:

1)      Improving  brand sales with innovative packaging

2)      Sustainable packaging  to satisfy environmentally conscious consumers

3)      Increasing profitability with creative packaging solutions

Food service operators are interested in saving money, increasing profit and driving sales. They want to keep customers happy.  Packaging may not be on the top of an operator’s  “to do” list. In fact, they would probably rather not worry about it at all. Who, among your customers, has the time or resources to become experts in food service packaging?  Not too many, I would guess. Other companies and products face similar constraints.

Without education or motivation B2B buyers will often look for what appears to be the lowest cost solution, which is often not the best solution or even the most cost-effective.

The best content writing defines your business as a solution provider.  It educates, informs and appeals to the motivations of your audience.

Vic Miceli of DesPlaines Office Equipment (DPOE) has figured out that businesses need solutions, not office equipment.  He explained in a recent meeting  I attended, that business owners often purchase printers without giving a thought to the cost of cartridges or maintenance. By advocating a solutions approach from DPOE, Miceli saves clients a significant amount of money, while freeing up their time to worry about things other than the copiers, cartridges and printers.

Moral of the story: Professional content writing can help define your business. Will you be a solution provider or just another product?

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