Gold winner - Best STEM at the CIPR's Pride Awards Midlands 2015

1 Tel: 01785 225416 Web: www.stonejunction.co.uk

In July 2014, longstanding Stone

Junction client European

Automation decided to integrate

its fourteen international websites

into a single online presence to

improve its domain authority and

create a more unified brand.

They called on 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. European Automation's

marketing director now attributes ten percent of annual sales to the campaign.

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.

BRIEF AND OBJECTIVES

AUTOMATION FOR THE PEOPLE

EUROPEAN AUTOMATION

CAMPAIGN

The European Automation website

http://www.euautomation.com/en/automated


SUMMARY:

Create authoritative downloadables

Produce content for use on website and in media

Deliver sales

Stone Junction began by researching popular industry trends in the automation

sector and created a core list of twenty subjects, ranging from big data and Industry

4.0 to collapsing automation architecture and the UK Government's forthcoming

ESOS energy audit scheme.

This research was founded on Stone Junction’s industry knowledge and the results

of a customer survey the agency wrote for European Automation.

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 white papers,

guides, infographics and other types of

content for Automated.

We also planned a set of ‘content

zones’ for the website based on the

RESEARCH AND PLANNING


client’s five core markets: oil and gas, life sciences, food and beverage, plastics and

packaging and aerospace and automotive.

The final stage of research was to ensure that we fully understood the needs of the

automation, design and electrical media across the globe.

Stone Junction began by

writing the core text for the

content zones, which

included testimonials,

gathered in three

languages from multiple countries, compelling online-only content about the five core

sectors and the subsectors within each and a thought leadership focussed 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 and highly linkable material for the site.

Alongside this, a media outreach project was conducted using a vibrant mix of

letters, press releases, feature articles and features contributions. Some of these

were core hard news content, while other pieces were projects created to generate

STRATEGY AND TACTICS


news or news jacking style rapid response activities, such as The Guardian’s

campylobacter news investigation and the recent Regin industrial malware outbreak.

STRATEGY SUMMARY:

To lead opinion and develop the EUA brand, using unbiased, authoritative

online and media content

TACTICS SUMMARY:

Stone Junction developed and wrote Automated, a print and downloadable

magazine

We created multilingual content-zones dedicated to each industry and

supplier brand

Deployed core PR tactics - opinion pieces, letters, case studies, news

jacking, photo shoots and press releases

Delivered content PR tactics such as white papers, guides, slideshares

and infographics

http://www.euautomation.com/en/automated

http://www.euautomation.com/en/industry

http://www.euautomation.com/en/siemens

http://www.euautomation.com/en/automated/special-reports

http://www.euautomation.com/en/automated/industry-guides

http://www.slideshare.net/euautomation/esco-slideshare

http://www.euautomation.com/assets/pdf/automated/industryguides/cloudcomputing.pdf


The project resulted in media coverage

on all but one of the seven continents of

the Earth – and we are currently working

on Antarctica. Countries covered

included Germany, Spain, Argentina,

Australia, Italy, the United States, South

Africa, 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.

“Stone Junction also wrote every word of the Automated

magazine as well as 4000 words of product pages for

European Automation's website and all of the site's

content zones.”

To support the core media relations activity, Stone Junction also conducted several

photo shoots on site at two of European Automation’s offices, as well as providing ad

hoc photography when needed.

IMPLEMENTATION


European Automation’s single brand

website, serving 19 different countries

went live on November 5, 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.

MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION


OUTPUTS SUMMARY:

311 clippings on five continents across Germany, Spain, Argentina,

Australia, the United States, Italy, Canada, South Africa, England,

Scotland, India and Northern Ireland

...with a combined reach of 4,815,717

Coverage in The Sunday Times, Times and Guardian

209 links to the EUA website and 57 to EUA’s social media

OUTCOMES SUMMARY:

EUA marketing director Jonathan Wilkins attributes 10% of sales to this

campaign, with a further 20% un-attributable and 70% returning business.

60% increase in UK traffic in 2014

Significant increase in conversion rates due to better content, according to

EUA sales manager Leroy Spence

"Frankly, I want to complain," explained Mark Proctor, MD of

EUA. "Someone tried to place a £4M order recently. Stone

Junction is just making us look too good!"


The campaign was delivered on

budget with no additional charges

levied to European Automation that

hadn’t been signed off in advance. No advertising or advertorial was required to

support the campaign, other than pre-planned Google AdWords, which, in any case,

focuses on European Automation’s product pages.

"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,” explained Jonathan Wilkins, European Automation’s marketing

manager.

"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 and

credibility, vital in today’s challenging marketplace."

BUDGET AND COST EFFECTTIVNESS


EXAMPLE INFOGRAPHIC


Below are the first six slides from the following 42 page Slideshare:


EXAMPLE SLIDESHARE



SAMPLE PHOTOGRAPHY


A&C Controls Today - India Mercado International - Spain

Automazione-plus - Italy

PBSI - United Kingdom

The Raconteur - United Kingdom

Memeburn - South Africa

SAMPLE CLIPPINGS

Marketing

Gold winner - Best STEM at the CIPR's Pride Awards Midlands 2015