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If your company manufactures construction, landscaping or industrial equipment, you need a proactive public relations effort. You would expect a PR guy to say that, but I say it because I have watched what it does for brands and for sales over more than two decades in this industry.

A consistent PR program has:

• Opened doors to new business and dealer development opportunities
• Generated thousands of qualified sales leads
• Helped companies get discovered by the trade media, industry influencers and investors
• Launched new products more effectively than a dealer network could on its own
• Positioned product managers and executives as recognized experts in their field
• Strengthened direct mail, advertising and trade show campaigns
• Put a brand's content on the media websites customers already read
• Given an organization a voice and a way to tell its story

Customers research equipment long before they call a dealer.

PR is not a luxury for your brand

Not long ago only a handful of equipment manufacturers ran an ongoing public relations program as part of their marketing plan. It was not that the rest did not see the value. Most marketing managers we talk to would love to see their products in the trade magazines' feature articles. It was that PR was treated as a nice-to-have, something to fund if there was money left over.

That thinking does not hold up anymore. Customers research big purchases online and in the trade press long before they call a dealer. If you are not producing content, distributing it and getting it published, your target customers may never discover your equipment. Public relations is how a mid-sized manufacturer stands out against the big brand names on one side and the low-cost competitors on the other.

PR is not just a marketing tool

The sales channel relies on PR too. It is no longer enough for marketing to generate leads and toss them over the wall. Marketing is involved in the entire buying process, nurturing customers from first awareness to repeat purchase. Here is how public relations plays a role at each step:

• Awareness. People do not simply discover your products, and neither do editors. You have to make the introduction.
• Consideration. Customers research major purchases. PR content in the trade media gives them the information they need to keep you on the list.
• Selection. Case studies and customer stories give your sales team proof that other contractors have bought your equipment and are succeeding with it.