Read the Article, Buy the Product
At Witte Co., a timely news story and good art landed a story that made every sales rep’s day
By Christine Kent, as published in Ragan's Media Relations Report
PR people like to say that placements in trade publications are a slam dunk. But media relations folks who spend a lot of time with the trades know they can be just as tough to pitch as the mainstream media. Good trade journalists are savvy about their industries, and they know how to separate the real news from hype. And trade placements are only valuable if they advance your client’s message in a meaningful way in front of your target audience.
This was the challenge facing Paul Entin, president of epr in Washington, N.J., last winter when The Witte Co. became his client. Witte, a manufacturer of process equipment, needed to generate sales leads at a time when the economy wasn’t producing many. Entin was able to land a story in a major trade that was directly on message—and the coverage was directly responsible for some of the company’s recent sales.
Background: Witte Co. creates process machinery for companies like Nestlé, Kraft and Nabisco, and Entin’s firm specializes in PR for just this market. When Witte came on board as a client last fall, Entin began researching the company’s needs in a down economy.
"Last winter, Witte was experiencing what most industrial machinery manufacturers were experiencing—declines in orders, sales leads and profit margins," Entin explains. "With an uncertain economy and volatile cash flows, the company needed to take action on a limited budget."
Entin typically counsels his clients to keep up their advertising budgets even in tough times— "Companies that maintain their marketing exposure usually continue to do well," he says—but in the case of Witte, the company needed to do its marketing on a tighter budget. With little money to spend on advertising in key trade publications, the pressure was on Entin to land targeted coverage.
What Witte had going for it was a great reputation for quality in the process machinery industry, Entin explains.
"Its engineering was among the most advanced in the world and its machinery was among the finest quality available, but few knew about the company, and fewer still recognized its quality and innovation," Entin says. "At the same time, large competitors with inferior technology were blanketing the magazines with full-page, full-color ads. So people new to the industry didn’t know about Witte."
News peg: The market for process machinery had become one focused largely on price, Entin says. "Companies were being hammered on the price of their machinery," he says. "Sales prospects weren’t paying much attention to the quality offered by Witte."
Entin knew he had to develop a pitch that focused on the value of Witte’s quality machinery, and needed to lift the company above the price-cutting craziness.
"Witte engineers had completed a drying system that recycled exhaust air, rather than venting it to the atmosphere," Entin says. "This delivered significant energy savings for companies at a time when energy costs were rising dramatically, and commanding the spotlight of the mainstream media."
The California energy crisis, and the corresponding skyrocketing utility bills for both individuals and businesses, had become a major news story. Entin thought he could tie Witte’s drying system to the current concern for energy costs.
"To boost profit margins, I recommended creating value for the company’s engineering innovations, positioning company engineers as experts in the field," Entin explains. "Once prospects understand the advanced engineering and believe Witte personnel are credible, the prospects are more likely to pay a premium for the machinery."
The pitch: With the angle developed, Entin set out to find a market for the pitch. “I researched key target publications reaching process engineers in the food industry and studied their editorial calendars,” he says. He found that the trade pub Food Engineering planned to write about energy efficiency in its January 2002 issue.
Entin e-mailed Food Engineering Senior Editor Kevin Higgins with a pitch tying Witte’s innovative and energy-saving drying system with the increased pressure on companies to cut costs. Entin also included a full-color illustration displaying exactly how Witte’s drying system recycled exhaust air.
Results: The smart tie-in to a news story, the hook to the editorial calendar and the art all combined to make the pitch work. Higgins called Entin the next day to set up an interview with Witte engineering manager James A. Schak.
The resulting article included several paragraphs focusing on Schak and Witte’s drying system and its benefits. The magazine also reproduced the color illustration supplied by Entin.
"The article presented our engineer as an expert in the field, and Witte was presented as a company that helps save manufacturers money, Entin says. Witte has used reprints of the article for its sales team, and has recorded many sales leads that were a direct result of the piece.
Not only did we yield an impressive article suitable for reprints, but we also established a relationship with the editor that has opened the door to additional coverage," Entin says.