You Engineer, I Write, We Win!
Face it, you would much rather solve technical problems to help customers or improve your product than write about it. Magazine articles are either too generic to read, add nothing of value, or are only for the big guys with advertising budgets and PR agency spin doctors.
Advertising
Advertising can be a great option if you have the right kind of targets, budget, and also proper research. Let us assume that you have a budget of $5000, and you buy a full page of four-color advertising space in a national-class trade magazine that you and your customers like.
That's space, not the ad itself.
You get quotes from local or regional ad shops that might charge two or three times more to develop your message, pitch some creative ideas, and bring together the words and images to your liking. Then your ad runs one time in one magazine, and you hope the phones ring or website hits increase.
Articles Live!
Consider spending $5,000 on a couple of things like a customer case study or a technical update on one of your products. These stories could be sent to several trade magazines who are interested in publishing them the way you want or including them in their next industry roundup.
After publication, they can live on as article reprints for your sales force or as industry recognition on your website. And once these magazines hear from new voices with something of interest and value for their readers, we can bet more invitations will come to participate in future article opportunities.
Your name in print works is nothing short of magic, and the right customers willing to talk about how your product benefits their production operations delivers invaluable third-party credibility that separates industry visionaries from the me-too crowd.
Let's Talk
Interviewing engineers, product managers, customer executives, and assembling value-rich feature articles and technology updates is an experience that never gets old. Let us collect some samples, discuss the opportunities, and build an industrial-strength PR program worthy of your product innovation and customer support.
