Increased market opportunities for highly technical products
In 2005 UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) has had authoritative technical articles published in 8 different journals. Early in the year, In Press approached journals with the offer to write an exclusive article on any aspect of machine vision relevant to their particular marketplace.
Seven journals took us up on the offer including New Electronics, Machinery, IP&E and Packaging Magazine. We also write a regular ‘Help’ column in Imaging and Machine Vision Europe.
Problem: Precision-Optical Engineering (P-OE) designs, develops and manufactures optical components and electro-optical subsystems for military and commercial markets, as well as manufacturing interferometers for optical surface qc applications. The company also has one of the largest diamond turning facilities in the UK for the manufacture of optical components and mould tools. As individual sales projects can be time intensive, the company wanted a cost-effective way of maintaining regular contact with existing customers and prospects.
Solution: A series of regular e-newsletters featuring click-through links to P-OE’s website was planned and written by In Press. Using professional distribution software that provides full “unsubscribe” facilities and comprehensive tracking to show who has received the newsletter, opened it and clicked through on individual links, the newsletter was sent out to P-OE’s qualified e-database.
Benefit: Nearly 50% of the delivered e-mails were opened and there were direct clickthroughs from almost 15% of those who opened the mail. This high level of interest both kept existing customers up to date with the latest projects and highlighted specific interests which could be followed up as sales leads. Undelivered mail was also recorded which allowed the e-database to be further cleaned.
Oxford-nanoScience Ltd
Laboratory instrumentation. Oxford nanoScience Ltd is part of the Nanotechnology Divison of Polaron plc. The company manufactures the 3DAP atom probe which brings a unique approach to materials characterisation at the atomic level. Originally developed at the Materials Department, University of Oxford, 3DAP offers simultaneous mapping of the 3-dimensional position and chemical identity of individual atoms within a conductive sample.
Why they approached us
ONS typed ‘technical pr’ into Google and In Press appeared. Following an initial meeting, In Press’s PR proposal was accepted. ONS wanted an agency that could understand and promote its highly technical product.
What we did for them
In Press undertakes a proactive PR campaign, with ONS gaining valuable media coverage throughout the world.
Business benefits
ONS has enhanced its reputation for having a commercially available product. At a recent exhibition in the States, the company had editors of the leading journals visit its stand.
On Tuesday 29th November 2005 Chris Bose gave a talk at the University of Bath in conjunction with Wired West and Entrepreneurs South West.
Chris gave a lively and entertaining keynote talk entitled ‘Can Technical Companies Present Themselves Effectively?’. Comments from the Technical Director of Neogic, Ben Johnson, were:
“I found your presentation style authoritative, confident and challenging; you got to the point, made your advice crystal clear .. and didn’t end every statement with a question mark, unlike some? Your unshifting perspective reminded me of a - perhaps the only - lecturer at UMIST that really engaged the audience with his no-nonsense style.
We will be reviewing our welcome page (www.neogic.com) in light of your comments to reduce emphasis on products labels and marketing terms and focus more on the client problems our web solutions aim to solve.”
Chris will be talking at their next event in the Spring.
Any members of the In Press are happy to come and talk at your networking and training events. Topics include ‘Why Use Good Design”, “How PR can help your Company’s Image” and “Dominate Your Niche on the Internet”.
Now the clocks have gone back and it seems we go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, it’s time to look beyond Christmas and into 2006.
Already, journals are publishing their Media Packs for 2006 and In Press is working with its existing clients to search out opportunities. First we review our activity in 2005, we then look at our marketing objectives for the next year and put together a planned and structured marketing communications plan for the new year.
This plan is regularly reviewed throughout the year and amended as necessary.
If you would like a free marketing audit, then call Eileen at In Press on 01488 674200.
Magnet Sales and Service Ltd chose In Press to design and implement a new website that would result in more visitors to their site and ultimately more customers.
The new site is now up and running at www.magnetsales.co.uk and Magnet Sales has received their first order for 1,000,000 magnets.
Make the most of your website to attract visitors and turn them into new customers.
Hitachi High Technologies attended the EMAG Show at Leeds University in August. The key to Hitachi’s success was preparation.
From a PR point of view, we planned well in advance to ensure that we targeted all the exhibition previews including the organisers’ newsletters and websites, made sure we had press packs in the press room that contained relevant and newsworthy information AND attended the shows with Hitachi to meet editors introductions and arrange product demonstrations.
In Press also designed and arranged the production of table flags and napkins with the Hitachi logo for the Drinks Reception the company was sponsoring, as well as organising giveaways for the stand. Coasters and WOW mugs were produced following corporate image guidelines and provided very popular with the visitors.
Exhibitions may not be the most popular form of marketing these days, but if you do exhibit, make sure you do it properly.