Regardless of how effective a salesperson you are, the events that stimulate a prospective customer’s buying behavior are outside of your control. He or she may be expanding their operations and need new equipment, they may have just had a request for a quotation that requires your product, or perhaps their vendor has just had a price increase or botched another delivery. The challenge, therefore, for all marketers is to get your company’s products in front of prospects when that external event arises, so your salespeople will have the best opportunity to fulfill their need.

Unless you just happen to be making sales calls on the day when one of the above events takes place or your company has the budget for an extensive, ongoing in-print and online advertising campaign, it is difficult to compete for mindshare and maintain a high level of widespread visibility. This can be done very cost-effectively, however, my implementing a well-executed, ongoing product publicity program which targets a wide range of appropriate industrial magazines and Web sites.

When prospective customers read about your products as news in their industrial and technical magazines and on various Web sites, they remember and respond. Whether your customer is an original equipment manufacturer, a distributor seeking a new line, a dealer, or an end-user, publicity in these media outlets is the most cost-effective way to assure that when a prospective customer has a need your product or service fills, you will be “in front” of them.

Similar to the real estate business, where the three most important factors are location, location, and location, the three critical factors in industrial marketing are repetition, repetition, and repetition. This parallel applies because repetition increases the odds your products and company will be visible to a prospect when his need arises. It also assures you that when a prospective customer’s level of interest piques to take action and buy, your product will be fresh on his or her mind.

So, even though you have no control over when an event might occur which will create the need for your product, you can control your ability to keep your products in front of prospective customers so they will be seen when the time is right. The best way to do this is by executing a consistent product publicity campaign that demonstrates how your products and services solve problems.

A product news release provides three huge benefits: [1] It brands your company as a problem solver because editors are showing their readers and viewers about your capabilities, [2] It generates tons of website traffic, [3] It creates link-popularity with quality websites which enhances your organic search engine positioning and helps prospective customers find you on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines. There is no better and more cost-effective way to be in front of a prospect when their need for a product or service like yours arises…