In my last column, I wrote about how I meet many people in my daily business dealings that have never heard of our association. Most of these people are outside of our immediate circle of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, reps, and service companies, and EGSA’s relative anonymity handicaps our efforts to improve the industry.
Our Technician Certification Program in particular needs EGSA’s name and logo to be recognizable to companies and personnel that buy, use, maintain, and rely on their on-site power generation equipment. I believe that only when inspectors, electrical engineers, and others start asking for firms that utilize EGSA-certified technicians will the program have a chance to make a significant impact on our industry.
The solution to getting our program accepted is to make EGSA’s name as recognizable and respected with our customers and regulators as NFPA or IEEE is to theirs. I realize that this is a bold statement and a challenging goal, but it is absolutely essential that we embrace it.
I’d like to tell you about a few of the things we are doing to accomplish that.
Most importantly, the leadership of the organization has put a high priority on marketing EGSA to non-members. Our recently completed Strategic Long Range Plan has increased visibility as one of its main goals, and we have begun to invest significant resources in marketing.
You may have read that we have established a full-time staff position dedicated to marketing. We have always had a great staff, but the Board felt that it was necessary to have someone whose entire work day is dedicated to coming up with new ideas for getting the word out about EGSA and then implementing them.
While we have had some turnover at this position lately, those of you who attended our Fall Technical & Marketing Conference in California saw a small part of what has come from the Marketing Manager position. Before that Conference, we may have had the random consumer of on-site power attend, but we made a concerted effort last Fall to bring them in by providing educational opportunities designed especially for them – and sending special marketing materials to building owners, managers, and support personnel in the states surrounding the Conference location. We were very pleased at the number of end-users who took us up on our offer, and we are repeating those efforts for this Spring Convention.
That’s just one small initiative, and more are in the works that have the potential to reach a much larger audience.
For example, along with Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications, we are undertaking an overhaul of the annual Buying Guide of On-Site Power Generation Systems and Services. We hope to make it significantly more useful as a way to help connect consumers of on-site power with member providers, and we are looking into ways to get it into the hands of people peripheral to the industry who have never before received it, such as building managers and owners, fire and safety inspectors, engineers, and more.
I am personally very excited about a new partnership we are forging with Building Operating Management’s NFMT (National Facility Management Technology) Show. We are working on a comprehensive co-marketing deal with NFMT that will include advertising trades, direct mail to each other’s lists of members/attendees, and an on-site power pavilion like the one we currently sponsor in the Power-Gen International trade show. This partnership will help us spread the word about EGSA to a whole new audience in a comprehensive way.
We have a lot of work to do, and we need even more great ideas, but I have every reason to believe that we are now on our way to significantly wider recognition and esteem.n
Our Technician Certification Program in particular needs EGSA’s name and logo to be recognizable to companies and personnel that buy, use, maintain, and rely on their on-site power generation equipment. I believe that only when inspectors, electrical engineers, and others start asking for firms that utilize EGSA-certified technicians will the program have a chance to make a significant impact on our industry.
The solution to getting our program accepted is to make EGSA’s name as recognizable and respected with our customers and regulators as NFPA or IEEE is to theirs. I realize that this is a bold statement and a challenging goal, but it is absolutely essential that we embrace it.
I’d like to tell you about a few of the things we are doing to accomplish that.
Most importantly, the leadership of the organization has put a high priority on marketing EGSA to non-members. Our recently completed Strategic Long Range Plan has increased visibility as one of its main goals, and we have begun to invest significant resources in marketing.
You may have read that we have established a full-time staff position dedicated to marketing. We have always had a great staff, but the Board felt that it was necessary to have someone whose entire work day is dedicated to coming up with new ideas for getting the word out about EGSA and then implementing them.
While we have had some turnover at this position lately, those of you who attended our Fall Technical & Marketing Conference in California saw a small part of what has come from the Marketing Manager position. Before that Conference, we may have had the random consumer of on-site power attend, but we made a concerted effort last Fall to bring them in by providing educational opportunities designed especially for them – and sending special marketing materials to building owners, managers, and support personnel in the states surrounding the Conference location. We were very pleased at the number of end-users who took us up on our offer, and we are repeating those efforts for this Spring Convention.
That’s just one small initiative, and more are in the works that have the potential to reach a much larger audience.
For example, along with Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications, we are undertaking an overhaul of the annual Buying Guide of On-Site Power Generation Systems and Services. We hope to make it significantly more useful as a way to help connect consumers of on-site power with member providers, and we are looking into ways to get it into the hands of people peripheral to the industry who have never before received it, such as building managers and owners, fire and safety inspectors, engineers, and more.
I am personally very excited about a new partnership we are forging with Building Operating Management’s NFMT (National Facility Management Technology) Show. We are working on a comprehensive co-marketing deal with NFMT that will include advertising trades, direct mail to each other’s lists of members/attendees, and an on-site power pavilion like the one we currently sponsor in the Power-Gen International trade show. This partnership will help us spread the word about EGSA to a whole new audience in a comprehensive way.
We have a lot of work to do, and we need even more great ideas, but I have every reason to believe that we are now on our way to significantly wider recognition and esteem.n
