Hydro International

Hydro International is a leading provider of environmentally sustainable products and innovative solutions that control and treat storm water, wastewater and combined sewer overflows.

The Challenge

Hydro International’s business is regulatory-driven and very local in nature. The majority of its business is generated through word of mouth and alliances with small engineering firms and building contractors. This involves considerable groundwork by sales reps at the local level. In this type of business, it’s important to be known not just by industry thought leaders but countless small engineering companies around the country. PAN set out to increase exposure for the firm across the U.S. and gain traction in a range of publications, from government engineering to wastewater and stormwater trades, to reach engineers, waste treatment plant operators and local politicians. Traditionally, these publications were dominated by engineering firms and consultants, so Hydro was a new voice for this medium.

In addition, Hydro wanted to gain traction with daily press and general business press. However, while sewers and stormwater affect everyone, it can be difficult to get general business press to stand up and take notice of this type of business.

The Approach

Before conducting media outreach, PAN worked closely with Hydro’s marketing team on a messaging exercise to distill the company’s message. Once the messaging was clarified, PAN pursued local markets that were strategic for Hydro, making introductions to key reporters. Since Hydro is a research-driven organization, company leaders had developed a wealth of thought papers about methods for cleaning and storing water. PAN worked with Hydro experts, leveraging this storehouse of knowledge to produce numerous byline articles. In addition, the team reached out to Hydro customers, who were more than willing to speak publicly about the benefits of Hydro’s unique approach to stormwater and wastewater treatment.

To gain the attention of the business press, PAN focused on government regulations that are pushing communities to address the problem of stormwater and wastewater issues. The team shared disturbing reports describing how lack of proper water treatment systems was causing untreated effluent to overflow into rivers, and highlighted Hydro’s economical yet stringent pollution control systems.

The Results

The PAN team secured placement of a half a dozen byline articles and case studies in the first three to four months, and publication of more than two dozen press releases and two product briefs in key publications, including StormWater Solutions, Water & Wastes Digest, EnvironmentalExpert.com, WaterWorld, Waste & Wastewater International, RunOff, CE News, Pollution Engineering, and Environmental Science & Engineering, among others. This culminated with a cover story in Pollution Engineering. This high-level thought piece featured Hydro’s latest technologies for cleaning and filtering stormwater.

The business press has also begun to take notice of Hydro as a result of PAN’s outreach. Informational briefings have resulted already in a nice hit on the AP wire speaking directly to the pressing need for systems to treat combined sewer overflows.

The coverage is already generating new business. A recent story in Environmental Science & Engineering resulted in two direct sales leads worth approximately $500,000 for Hydro’s Canadian distributor. A number of potential and existing business partners have taken notice of Hydro’s bylines and case studies. In fact, officials from a major metropolitan city invited Hydro to brief them on their technology for a major sewer overhaul worth hundreds of millions of dollars.