From a small school project started in a student’s kitchen to a multi-award-winning company worth millions dominating the online space in the packaging Industry, here is how IMPACK Packaging experienced 5X growth in traffic, hit 95,000 total web visits, and was recognized globally for disrupting the packaging industry.
IMPACK Packaging is a world-leading Folder-Gluer Packaging Equipment supplier for carton board and corrugated cardboard box manufacturers.
Put simply, IMPACK makes all kinds of packaging equipment that are added to folder-gluers to automate their case packing process.
Their Folder-Gluer Packaging Equipment includes Packers, Stackers, Pre-Packers, and Pre-Feeders.
Growing rapidly, IMPACK has over 500 folder-gluer packers manufactured and installed in 27 countries and projects in over 55 countries.
In 2019, discussions about revamping IMPACK’s website began with Parkour3 which led to preliminary discussions with HubSpot without a concrete plan yet in place.
In 2020, Stefan Badertscher, IMPACK’s Director of Revenue, stumbled upon an Inbound marketing strategy that was rapidly growing in popularity during an INBOUND event organized by HubSpot that brings together thought leaders from over 160 countries to talk about the latest and greatest marketing strategies.
It was during that event that everything clicked for Stefan. Stefan realized that there was a whole world to Marketing that IMPACK had never dove into.
Since the conception of IMPACK and up to 2021, IMPACK did not have much of an online presence for over 20 years.
Stefan shared “Our online presence was close to non-existent. Because our business model ran almost entirely on word-of-mouth and agent representation, we did not see a need for having an online presence in our industry and always saw the online world as something not so relevant for the packaging industry.”
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic that rocked our economy and changed the way we thought of Marketing.
“We had the terrifying realization that we might face yet another great crisis like we did in 2008 where had to make some really difficult decisions. That was the moment we knew it was time for us to explore alternative means of generating new business” says Stefan.
Stefan saw the value of Inbound Marketing but wasn’t sure how to implement it for IMPACK, especially when IMPACK never needed to have an online presence to generate revenue for the past 20 years.
“We knew that we had to completely shift our mindset in the way we do business or risk losing a huge opportunity in the long run. I decided it was time that we explore and effectively implement Inbound Marketing.”
IMPACK decided to step out of their comfort zone and do something that no one else did before in the packaging industry.
First, they hired Hani Hallal at the end of 2020 as a Content Writer to lead IMPACK’s content production and then brought the leaders of every key department onboard.
They then re-strategized their mission to become the #1 educational resource in the packaging industry for everything about folder-gluers and folder-gluer packaging equipment.
IMPACK’s goal became to help carton and corrugated board manufacturers solve their most pressing folder-gluer problems so that they can increase their folder-gluer output and improve their folder-gluer productivity.
In the first week of 2021, IMPACK Packaging launched their Learning Center which provides hundreds of articles, videos, guides, and many more resources that help solve box manufacturers’ top folder-gluer problems and answer their frequently asked questions.
“When we first started our journey with Inbound Marketing, I was, to be totally candid, not so sure about where we’re heading, how we’re going to get there, or whether we’d be successful. But we had this roadmap to a treasure hunt and we decided to take a leap of faith and trust the process!”
IMPACK decided to step out of their comfort zone and do something that no one else did before in the packaging industry.
First, they hired Hani Hallal at the end of 2020 as a Content Writer to lead IMPACK’s content production and then brought the leaders of every key department onboard.
They then re-strategized their mission to become the #1 educational resource in the packaging industry for everything about folder-gluers and folder-gluer packaging equipment.
IMPACK’s goal became to help carton and corrugated board manufacturers solve their most pressing folder-gluer problems so that they can increase their folder-gluer output and improve their folder-gluer productivity.
In the first week of 2021, IMPACK Packaging launched their Learning Center which provides hundreds of articles, videos, guides, and many more resources that help solve box manufacturers’ top folder-gluer problems and answer their frequently asked questions.
“When we first started our journey with Inbound Marketing, I was, to be totally candid, not so sure about where we’re heading, how we’re going to get there, or whether we’d be successful. But we had this roadmap to a treasure hunt and we decided to take a leap of faith and trust the process!”
IMPACK’s website traffic, which had been stagnant for 20 years, increased immediately.
14 months after launching IMPACK’s Learning Center, their website traffic grew 4X from less than 400 visits per month to over 1600 visits per month.
In February 2021, IMPACK was awarded “The Biggest Disruptor Award” recognizing IMPACK for disrupting the packaging industry through Inbound Marketing.
9 months later, IMPACK’s website traffic grew from less than 400 visits a month to 2000 visits in 2022. That is a striking 5 times growth in website traffic.
Source: Number of Web Sessions on IMPACK’s website as reported by HubSpot data.
“What was most surprising for us is the amount of website traffic we generated that was 100% organic. We didn’t pay for Facebook Ads, Linkedin Ads, or Google Ads. All we did was answer clients’ most asked questions openly and honestly on our Learning Center. And traffic flooded IMPACK’s website” shared Stefan.
While IMPACK was taken back by their growth in website traffic, it was the influenced revenue that confirmed to IMPACK that they were doing things right.
When we hired a full-time HubSpot Specialist to help us build reports that track our Revenue, we were astounded to see that 27,910 visits to our website were 100% from the Search Engine. And this influenced over 30% of IMPACK’s revenue. We doubled our revenues in 2 years and hit our highest record.”
Stefan Badertscher
Director of Revenue, IMPACK.
IMPACK Packaging credits their success to re-inventing their marketing strategy and launching Inbound Marketing.
When Stefan was asked about what was the most influential tool that helped IMPACK achieve their success, Stefan shared:
“HubSpot, period. It was with Parkour3’s help that we found HubSpot. HubSpot was pivotal in helping us become a data-driven organization. We learned to understand the behavior of our clients and cater to them the content that they are searching for. HubSpot analytics helped track and break down what the data all meant.”
Everyone on IMPACK’s team is very familiar with HubSpot and utilizes it as their CRM and CMS in their day-to-day business.
Thanks to Inbound Marketing, IMPACK went from having no online presence to almost 28,000 new website visits, 5X growth in website traffic, and over 30% of revenue influenced by IMPACK’s Learning Center.
IMPACK’s Linkedin hit 51,971 impressions just in the last 12 months.
In 2020, IMPACK’s Marketing department was a one-man show.
Today, IMPACK has 5 full-time Marketing specialists creating content on the daily for IMPACK’s Learning Center.
Visit IMPACK’s Learning Center to learn more about IMPACK Packaging. Now available in 6 languages!
Hani Hallal, Marketing Project Manager at IMPACK, shares IMPACK Packaging’s journey with Inbound Marketing.