Content marketing is used as the driving force behind European Automation’s increased brand dominance
European Automation is a supplier of obsolete and refurbished parts for the manufacturing industry, specialising in sourcing and delivering these parts to manufacturers across the globe who require components to keep their factories operational.
Challenge
In July 2014, European Automation decided to integrate its 14 international websites into a single online presence to improve its domain authority and create a more unified brand.
They called on longstanding agency Stone Junction to provide international PR and content support. The strategy was to increase domain authority using written and visual content that could be shared across the website and in technical media.
Content creation
Stone Junction began by researching popular industry trends in the automation sector and created a core list of 20 subjects, ranging from big data and industry 4.0 to collapsing automation architecture and the UK Government’s forthcoming ESOS energy audit scheme.
Stone Junction then created a planned set of content including core media relations tactics such as opinion pieces, letters, case studies and press releases, as well as whitepapers, guides and infographics.
It also planned a set of ‘content zones’ for the website based on the client’s five core markets: oil and gas, life sciences, food and beverages, plastics and packaging, and aerospace and automotive.
Alongside the new website, Stone Junction suggested a content platform called Automated, which would include only authoritative and unbiased writing addressing automation industry trends. This would be both an evolved and enhanced version of the traditional blog and the foundation of a quarterly print customer publication.
Stone Junction began by writing the core text for the content zones, which included testimonials, gathered in three languages from multiple countries; online-only content about the five core sectors; and a thought leadership focused article addressing a popular automation topic in each of the sectors.
The next stage was to place this content in technical media across five target countries before moving on to produce content for Automated, which would also act as evergreen material for the site.
Alongside this, a media outreach project was conducted using a vibrant mix of letters, press releases, feature articles and feature contributions. Some of these were core, hard news content, while other pieces were projects created to generate news or news jacking style rapid response activities, such as The Guardian’s campylobacter news investigation and the recent Regin industrial malware outbreak.
To support the core media relations activity, Stone Junction also conducted several photoshoots on site at two of European Automation’s offices, as well as providing ad hoc photography when needed.
Results
The project resulted in media coverage on all but one of the seven continents. Countries covered included Germany, Spain, Argentina, Australia, Italy, the United States, England, Scotland, India and Northern Ireland.
There was coverage in UK newspapers The Sunday Times, The Times and The Guardian and 311 clippings in trade, national and regional media between June 2014 and May 2015.
European Automation’s single brand website, serving 19 different countries, went live on 5 November, 2014. The new site is delivering a significant increase in conversion rates, partly as the result of better, more compelling content, creating increased customer interest.
The print clippings reached a combined audience of 4,815,717 and achieved a score of 86,777 using Stone Junction’s bespoke audience measurement metric – which takes into account circulation, readership, key message content, picture content, position and publication.
Online clippings contained 209 links to the new website and a further 57 links to European Automation’s social media platforms. There were 209 links to the EUA website and 57 to EUA’s social media.
EUA marketing director Jonathan Wilkins attributes 10 per cent of sales to this campaign. There was a 60 per cent increase in UK traffic in 2014, with significant increases in conversion rates due to better content.
Jonathan Wilkins, European Automation’s marketing manager, explained: “The role of PR within B2B marketing has evolved significantly in recent years. Connecting with buyers on both an intellectual and emotional level is now more important than ever.
“Stone Junction absolutely understands this evolution and constantly works with us to deliver campaigns that both inform and entertain our audience to inspire action. This approach continually
conveys the authenticity, vital in today’s challenging marketplace.”
