Immune to advertising, adept at screen sales calls and able to resist anything that looks like marketing. Life is hell when these people are your target market. Win them over through education.

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When I asked one of the company’s applications engineers to explain the science of motion control, he said that it was a “bastard science.” He wasn’t far off. Motion control is a complex combination of electrical and mechanical engineering as well as computer science. Even though this science is routinely applied in many industries, such as semiconductor and medical technology, it is rarely taught in engineering schools.

Technical articles and other information on this topic are scattered across many trade magazines and other sources, making it hard for engineers, let alone professionals within the industry, to stay informed.

Exploring alternatives for corporate branding and product promotions, this information vacuum proved the perfect vehicle for reinforcing in the company and introducing new products. The email newsletter featured articles from the trade press and technical articles from the company’s industry partners and was peppered with brief product features and company announcements. Links from the article summaries were routed to a companion Web site that also featured an extensive glossary and recommended book lists.

With minimal promotion and media relations, the subscriber base quickly grew to over 1,000 monthly readers and also generated significant traffic to the company’s Web site.