PR Campaign Drives Commercial Adoption for Breakthrough Wireless Technology; Initial Focus on Industry Analysts Gives Rise to Media Interest

When there isn’t a customer success story to share, is it possible to sustain media interest in a company or product?  Absolutely!  Often times, particularly with new technologies, the lag period between development, beta testing and customer trials requires an alternative creative approach to build brand awareness and secure media interest.  Sustaining that interest - in some cases even over the period of several years - requires a strategic, comprehensive public relations outreach program to effectively communicate brand messages and keep the company top-of-mind for reporters and industry influencers.

When there isn’t a customer success story to share, is it possible to sustain media interest in a company or product?  Absolutely!  Often times, particularly with new technologies, the lag period between development, beta testing and customer trials requires an alternative creative approach to build brand awareness and secure media interest.  Sustaining that interest - in some cases even over the period of several years - requires a strategic, comprehensive public relations outreach program to effectively communicate brand messages and keep the company top-of-mind for reporters and industry influencers. Spearheading an innovative new “4G” wireless technology based on an access method that improves upon the attributes of its predecessors, a New Jersey-based mobile broadband communications company needed to raise venture capital to bring their new technology to market.  To get investors interested in the technology – as well as to garner the attention of wireless carriers - the company needed an aggressive “out of the box” program that would help deliver brand messages and raise awareness of the company and their new technology.   The technology itself is highly complex and although internal scientists easily understood its intricacies, communicating its attributes and value to the wireless industry would prove challenging.  Without a sales team or vast internal marketing support, the company recognized the need to partner with an external public relations provider to educate the industry on the next wave of wireless communications developed by the organization, as well as other company accomplishments. Criteria for choosing a partner required a group that would be able to comprehend the particulars of a totally new technology offering, possess a considerable understanding of the industry and be able to implement a creative program that would sustain media interest over several years until the technology was adopted for mass implementation. Selecting The Devon Group based on their industry experience, ability to think innovatively and deliver a thorough, comprehensive program kick-started their public relations efforts and within weeks of signing a contract, company executives were meeting with key industry analysts to introduce the new technology. Prior to meeting with the analyst community, The Devon Group was faced with the challenge of building all the corporate and value messaging.  To effectively communicate fundamental marketing messages, the company’s executive team participated in The Devon Group’s structured, proven messaging methodology sessions to develop core brand messages and points of interest for analyst, media and telecommunication carrier “economic buyers.”  Extensive research of the industry and other technology developers revealed ‘hot buttons’ and opportunities for the company to perpetuate its competitive strength through identified brand messages. The Agency created an intense analyst relations program that would put company executives face-to-face with every relevant industry – and eventually financial - analyst.  Nearly 60 briefing sessions were conducted within 4 months.  The result?  The industry analysts favorably embraced the technology’s long-term possibilities.  By educating the analysts, this vendor enabled them to become evangelists to the press, providing the necessary platform to engage the media so they would continually cover the company and its technology.  The plan proved profitable and resulted in a cover story for Red Herring as well as other media stories in publications such as Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune and all relevant wireless trade publications. Part of the core strategic program included original content development positioning company executives as industry thought leaders by scripting point-of-view columns and several white papers.  Original program materials were often used in conjunction with targeted press needs including industry round ups, editorial calendar opportunities and press release news dissemination. Positioning company executives as thought leaders was also maximized through a speaker’s bureau program.  Organization executives enjoyed various keynote, general session and professional panel speaking engagements at Comdex, CTIA Wireless, WirelessEdge, Mobile & Wireless Expo, VON and many others to raise their visibility and fuel interest in the company’s technology.  Along with having secured high impact speaking opportunities, The Devon Group helped in presentation development as well as the promotion of company appearances to both attendees and press.  In addition to increased media and analyst exposure, speaking engagements often result in lead generation and were a propellant of further business development. Proactive analyst and media outreach has helped the organization achieve their business objectives. Now ready to launch its commercially available offering, the company is well positioned for continued success with the support of the media and analyst communities, along with respect from industry professionals.