LEM, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, provides current and voltage transducers that measure electrical parameters. The company’s wide range of innovative and high-quality solutions provides powerful information about how, where, and when electrical energy is used. This enables energy managers to make important decisions that will save energy and improve efficiency.
Business Challenge
LEM needed to increase awareness of its solutions as energy saving in addition to energy measuring in its traditional markets and in new markets, including the clean-tech sector. The company had set aside a very limited budget for advertising, and needed to ensure that each dollar spent would have the greatest impact possible.
Hart-Boillot Strategy
To complement its ongoing thought leadership public relations campaign focused around LEM’s expertise in the high-tech and renewable energy markets, Hart-Boillot worked with the company’s marketing and sales teams to develop a highly-focused advertising plan within LEM’s limited budget. The goal of this plan was to maintain appropriate frequency and reach to ensure the LEM brand would become and remain top-of-mind – specific to energy measurement and saving – in the clean-tech and high-tech industries.
LEM’s limited budget required Hart-Boillot to make difficult choices; if a media outlet was chosen, it needed to have a critical mass of frequency to ensure that its audiences would take note of LEM’s ads. Hart-Boillot staff carefully screened publications and web sites/portals, scoured articles, evaluated BPA statements, dug into editorial calendars, and read blogs to figure out exactly which media would offer the best reach and most credibility for LEM’s target audiences. The final media calendar included placements in North American Wind Power, Solar Industry, Advanced Battery Technology, Battery Power Products and Technology, Plant Services, Remote Site and Equipment, Machine 2 Machine, and Power Electronics Technology magazines over the course of LEM’s fiscal year.
Results
The advertising plan succeeded in increasing awareness of LEM’s innovative energy monitoring and saving solutions. While the campaign’s success is difficult to quantify, the LEM sales team has reported a noticeable increase in receptive sales calls and a more informed prospect list, which they attribute to the combined power of the public relations and advertising initiatives.
