The industrial sector is looking for a few good firms, Solutions!, Online Exclusives, November 2004

Try this: go to Google and type in the phrase "Industrial Marketing" or "Industrial Public Relations" and see what links pop up. You’re likely to find a rag-tag grouping of listings that make you wonder if you punched in the right keywords. What you aren’t likely to find, however, are PR and marketing firms that specialize in the industrial sector. This is a shame, because with the recent recession and intense domestic and international competition, the industrial sector could benefit immensely from professional marketing and promotional programs delivered by firms that are already familiar with—and dedicated to—their market.
          The industrial sector, comprised of general manufacturing, electric utility power generation, pulp and paper, water and wastewater, plastics, rubber, mining and a host of other market segments, comprises roughly 25% of the total economy of the United States. Unfortunately, this sector has also been hit hardest by the most recent recession, which started in 2000 and shows only minimal signs of improvement. According to recent reports, growth in industrial production was surprisingly weak in December 2003, rising by only 0.1%. Most of the major market groups experienced modest declines in growth in December, even though manufacturing did expand by 0.3%.
          In light of the economic climate, many companies that sell industrial products and services have had to make difficult decisions that include scaling back operations, closing facilities and laying off staff. Still others have incorporated lean manufacturing and supply chain management techniques to more efficiently run their operations. Despite such efforts, most organizations are still finding the pace of economic recovery too slow and, as a result, are instead embracing the most powerful marketing tools available to them to improve their ability to compete domestically and internationally and (hopefully) outpace their rivals.

To market, to market
“Industrial firms today need to take a much more proactive posture when it comes to marketing and promotion,” says John W. Elliott, president and founder of Power PR, www.powerpr.com. Eliott’s firm specializes in a unique form of marketing called product publicity that involves writing feature articles and customer testimonials and getting them placed as editorial in trade publications. “Firms must create stronger demand for their product or service and expand upon that demand. They must establish higher perceived value for their products so their customers and prospects are willing to pay more. This must be done with ‘industrial grade’ marketing that is very powerful and is performed by personnel who are familiar with industrial products and understand these markets.”
          Yet, when it comes to professional marketing and promotional services there aren’t many choices that serve this sector. Elliott suggests that many marketing and PR professionals are drawn to more “sexy” industries such as the entertainment and software industries. But this is wrongheaded, according to Elliott.
          “The reality is the industrial sector has all the elements of big business: a staggering pace of development, intense competition to sell products and services, big ticket items, and a need to aggressively promote their product or service in order to cut through the clutter and reach the prospect,” says Elliott.
          Elliott has been putting this to the test since 1991, when he started Power Marketing in Torrance, Calif. Later, in 1995, he changed the name to Power PR and narrowed the company’s focus to product publicity. Although there have been a few exceptions throughout the years, Power PR’s primary focus is the industrial sector. At any given time, 85% or more of their client roster is comprised of industrial clients.

Advice for industrial companies
For industrial companies looking for a marketing specialist, Elliott offers the following advice:

Beware of firms that only give lip service to specializing in the industrial sector.
Manipulating a search engine to list your company web site under the keyword “industrial” is easy; truly servicing the industrial sector is a different matter. If you find a company that claims to be an industrial specialist, don’t stop there. Further investigation often reveals that these firms simply list every market segment they can think of in an attempt to snag additional customers.
          If this appears to be the case, investigate further to find out just how much experience they have in your market. Ask for a list of industrial clients, along with testimonials and samples of recent results. Also ask for samples (advertisements or editorial articles, for example) that have appeared in the recent issues of the key trade publications you want to target. If the marketing firm can produce ample evidence of their expertise in your industrial sector, you may have a winner. If not, you may have a firm that only claims to be an industrial specialist, but doesn’t have the background to back that statement.
          “A lot of marketing and PR firms are willing to take just about any kind of client,” says Elliott. “They may be very professional in their approach, but that doesn’t mean they have the background and experience with the market to be truly successful. Plus, there can be a significant learning curve. Many underestimate the complexity of the industrial market.”

Choose a PR or marketing firm that has the ability to understand complex, technical products and services.The pace of development in the industrial sector is as staggering—and technical—as anything in the hardware or software industry. As microprocessor and software technology gets smaller, faster, and more powerful it is immediately applied to industrial computers, process controls, test and measurement equipment, quality control devices, and the like. PR or marketing firms that work in this industry must be able to deal with “high tech” products and services so that they can create and run an effective promotional campaign.
          According to Elliott, one of the main reasons companies avoid outsourcing to marketing and PR firms is that they feel their product or service is too technical for them to understand. “Having a staff with the ability to handle extremely technical products is critical in the industrial sector,” says Elliott. “In our experience, there aren’t many ‘low tech’ industrial products. If a writer, media relations specialist, or account executive has a hard time understanding and interpreting the information they need to run a campaign, it’s very difficult to have any level of success.”

Look for a PR or marketing firm that speaks your language. Your newly hired representative shouldn’t respond with a blank stare when you mention variable frequency drives, PLCs, actuators or SCADA systems. They should already be familiar with organizations and standards such as OSHA, EPA, AWWA, and ISO 9001; concepts such as lean manufacturing, the supply chain, and just-in-time manufacturing; or sales channels such as dealers, distributors, and manufacturers reps.
          “With every client that we bring on board, there is going to be some form of learning curve to learn the specifics of a product and how it applies to the market,” says Elliott. “However, if you are dealing with a firm that doesn’t understand some of the most basic terminology or market issues, then the learning curve is much steeper.”

Don’t assign marketing or promotional writing tasks to in-house personnel.With the absence of dedicated attention to the industrial sector, many industrial firms take a stab at creating their own marketing and promotional materials, such as press releases and feature articles, and distribute them (usually through a mass e-mail) to trade publications. At first blush, this might sound like a good solution, particularly with extremely technical products—after all, nobody on the planet understands the product better than Joe in engineering. Why not ask him to write up a feature article? Unfortunately, this can be a disaster if the assigned engineer or technophile has no experience or training in the writing of such material.
          Although industrial engineers know their product inside and out and could talk for hours on the subject matter, they typically know little about how to craft a promotional document. The result is, instead, often a technical and expert dissertation on a product that doesn’t use any of the known marketing or promotional techniques for communicating a message quickly and expertly to generate response.
          “Many of our clients have engineers that could write a 20 page technical white paper about their product, but they aren’t trained to write a feature length press release in the specific format that an editor demands,” says Elliott. “A white paper is great information for fellow engineers, but won’t find its way into trade magazines or the local newspaper.”

Find a marketing or publicity firm that shares your attitude and sensibilities. At first glance, the words “industrial” and “marketing” taken separately seem to go together like oil and water. According to Elliott, this perception was recently illustrated in a recent survey conducted by Power PR that showed that most prospects envisioned public relations professionals as fast-talkers with slicked back hair. This stands in stark contrast to the industrial crowd—engineers, support personnel and executives that prefer straight talk; not to mention denim shirt and jeans over suit and tie any day of the week.
          “Most of our clients in the industrial sector are staffed by personnel who are extremely talented and innovative, but at the same time are also down-to-earth and often conservative by nature,” says Elliott. “They aren’t interested in ‘glitz and glamour.’
          “When selecting a company that will be responsible for communicating their core messages to their prospects, they prefer to work with a firm that shares their attitude and sensibilities—not a firm they are unable to relate to,” continues Elliott.

In these economic times, many industrial firms desperately need professional marketing and PR services, but they also see added value in hiring a firm that not only specializes in this type of promotion, but also understands their market and has experience in it. Make sure that you do your homework, and find a firm to represent you that truly specializes in your market.

For more information contact John W. Elliott, Power PR at (310) 787-1940 or e-mail at johne@powerpr.com. Power PR is located at 3711 Lomita Blvd. Suite 200, Torrance, CA 90505.