Congratulations! Your foundry has got some attention. The attention in question could be a spot in the local paper about you hiring twenty new people, the local news station talking about your current system to reduce slag, or a traveling roadshow recognizing one of your employees for their work in the community. It could be any number of things. No matter what happens, you’ve got some free positive press, and that’s great. The next question is, how do you get the most out of that?
Part of that will depend on the exact nature of the publicity, as that will affect your target audience. Let’s take the example above of an employee getting recognized for his contributions to the community.
One of the many traveling shows that goes around the United States bringing attention to human interest stories stopped by my place of employment recently to do a piece on a co-worker. This individual does a ton in the nearby small town, from organizing an annual basketball tournament for charity, getting back to school supplies for the poor, and a host of other activities. He’s a true pillar of the community. The question remains, how can you make the most of a similar situation at your foundry?
Finding Your Target Audience
The first question to ask is what kind of target audience is suggested by this kind of coverage? Given that it is a local human interest story and not directly related to your products and services, it doesn’t make sense to direct your efforts towards promoting coverage to your clients or industry periodicals, generally speaking. It does make sense to promote it to the local area, informing newspapers, radio stations, and the like. It would also be wise to let the rest of your employees know about their co-workers’ positive work. That part is easy; all you need to do is email everyone a link to the story and include it in the company newsletter.
Be A Storyteller
All of this may beg another question: What is the actual benefit of knowing about such a story? Primarily, it can be a morale booster. For the community at large, it can produce a sense of pride that one of their own is getting recognized for what they do and develop a positive outlook towards the foundry, especially if the foundry is actively supportive of his work. That can be beneficial should there be a need to build an expansion to your facilities and help recruit new personnel.
Boosting Employee Morale
In regards to your current employees, it’s a morale booster. Just as with the broader community, it will tend to make co-workers feel a sense of pride that the guy who works in the next building over is doing such good work in the service of others. Even if they already know about it, seeing someone they know recognized on a powerful platform lets them know that he is making a difference, and maybe they could as well. That kind of thing is a significant morale booster.
One can, of course, place links and images from any related press out on your foundry’s social media as well. Those platforms won’t necessarily reach your target audience, but they will let others know the kind of people you employ. Someone eager to give back to his community is likely also to give back at work, and a company that supports such people is likely to produce quality products as well. Again, that isn’t the primary audience for this kind of story, but it is worth the effort that social media posts generally do not take much time.
The foundry industry does not appear in the public’s consciousness very often. It is important to take advantage of any positive organic publicity and make the most of it. In the end, that will benefit the employees, the business, and by extension, the surrounding community.
