Page 38 - MetalForming July 2009

Michael Bleau has served manufacturing and consumer- related industries since 1986. Prior to forming Industry Scope, a strategic b2b and b2c sales and marketing consultancy, in 2002, he held executive positions for several automation and press manufacturers. Michael regularly consults with manufacturing companies on strategic planning, sales and marketing, brand and product development, PR and sales-channel development. Industry Scope
tel. 810/397-1429
mbleau@industry-scope.com www.industry-scope.com
In today’s renewable-energy-sensitive culture, some consumers seem to be obsessed with sustainability, which carries over into the boardroom, driv- ing companies to rush ‘green’ content into their marketing materials. The good news is that people are paying attention —which is my point—people are more informed than ever before when it comes to renewable energy, eco-friend- ly processes and products. So if you promote your company and products as being green, then your message needs to be accurate, genuine and relevant.
If your company is ISO 14001 regis- tered, working toward registration or has enacted other steps to curb your energy use and minimize your envi- ronmental impact through the process of how your products are produced, then share this news with your customers. If you’re not there yet, be patient and pro- mote your efforts when you have some- thing to share. You are correct to think that being an environmentally respon- sible manufacturer whose products pro- vide greener side benefits is important to your customers. Just try to not get carried away with the desire to project this image. If you force the topic into your marketing efforts you run the risk of being perceived as disingenuous.
Promoting your sustainability efforts really is not very different than how you approach promoting other aspects of your business. First and foremost, understand your audience and what is important to them. Next, ask yourself what you want to achieve through the communication effort. What outcomes are you trying to achieve and what do you expect to gain from sharing this message? Being able to quantify the outcome that is driving you to share this
information is an important part of any promotional effort. If you can’t answer this question, then hold off until you can. And consider that once you present yourself as a green company, you inadvertently may invite consumers who probe with magnifying glasses, so be sure that you have all of your facts straight. If you want to say that you’re green, then point to some specific, ben- eficial results for your community or your customers. It’s not enough to gen- eralize and say that you’re working to reduce your carbon footprint or you’re emitting less waste into the environ- ment, since it’s given that we all should be doing this. Take steps to learn how your efforts or the sustainability of your products extend downstream to your customers and onto their consumers.
FKM Walzentecknik, Duisburg, Ger- many, an industrial roll producer with a factory based in the Chicago area, produces pressing rolls made from non- woven materials used in a variety of sheetmetal applications. Many of these products are used by automotive stam- pers to clean and remove excess lubri- cation from blank or coil stock prior to forming. During market diversification efforts aimed at entering the textile industry, FKM noticed an interesting benefit that its customers gained when using its rolls.
Let’s back up a bit. Textile manu- facturers produce fabric similar to how coil steel is processed. Fabric continu- ously feeds through a series of machines as a long strip of material guided by ten- sion and pinch rolls as it winds its way through various processes. Many of these processes involve wetting the fab- ric, resulting in the need to dry the fabric as one of the final steps in the
36 METALFORMING / SPECIAL ONLINE-ONLY ISSUE 2009
www.metalformingmagazine.com
THE BUSINESS OF METALFORMING MICHAEL BLEAU
Going Green: How to Genuinely Enhance Your Sales Proposition