Case Study: FP Mailing Solutions

FplogoMattson Communications worked with FP Mailing Solutions (FP) www.fp-usa.com, the smallest of the four U.S. postage meter manufacturers, from 2000 to 2007. Our main PR goal – position FP as a technology innovator and postage meter alternative to the market share leader that controls 80 percent of the postage meter space.

Solution

Mattson Communications cultivated ongoing relationships with all of the leading postage technology, business, advertising and marketing print and online publication editors. We also developed long-standing relationships with editors focused on the office management, small office home office, houses of worship and banking technology markets.

As they appreciated our news pitch, press release and case study writing style, many editors gave Mattson an open invitation to submit FP byline articles and news stories. We also actively promoted and secured speaking opportunities for FP’s CEO at forums, conferences and trade shows. Many shows were sponsored by the leading publications in FP’s vertical markets.

In 2004, our research indicated that office product and mail technology focused trade publications were not writing about the USPS Postage Technology Management program, a recently established joint venture with U.S. meter manufacturers. Because FP played a major role in the program, we knew we could brand FP as a digital meter product innovator. We worked closely with the manager of Postage Technology Management at the USPS to develop an in-depth byline article. The story detailed FP’s role in advancing encryption technology in the new digital meter infrastructure to improve and secure postage download capabilities.

We scheduled a phone conversation with Dan O’Rourke, Mailing System Technology’s editor, to discuss the publication’s 2005 editorial calendar and to present our idea for a securitization trend article bylined by FP. We knew MST reached the largest audience of mail center managers and was known for its technology focused features, a perfect fit for the byline’s objectives. We also inserted a meter migration table into the story to alert mail center managers that the USPS was retiring older meters.

Our goal was twofold:

  1. prompt managers to upgrade to the latest digital meters
  2. driving them to FP’s digital meter products.

Results

Dan O’Rourke, the senior editor of Mailing Systems Technology, published the story in the March 2005 print issue. According to Dan, his readers liked both the concise presentation of the story (managers have limited time for educational research) and the message (security is paramount in today’s business world). Mattson also placed a revised version of the article in another one of FP’s top-tier publications, Office Solutions, in the September 2005 issue. We bylined this version under the new CEO’s name to generate press for him and to introduce the topic into a different vertical market. We also utilized information gleaned from researching the article and select content for other FP marcom platforms. For example, we pitched this topic in speaker abstracts to secure speaking engagements for the new CEO.

Awards

Security & Your Meter byline awarded 2006 Publicity Club of Chicago’s Silver Trumpet for distinguished achievement in public relations planning, creativity and execution.

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