Powering up marketing comms

To date our work with Makita has encompassed traditional PR support for campaigns and product launches targeting construction, landscaping and consumer audiences; the creation of technical feature articles that position Makita as a technological trailblazer and a thought leader on subjects such as health & safety; video case study production to show its tools used in practice; strategic media buying in a variety of sectors, and engagement with industry influencers.

Overall, we have achieved an average of 37 pieces of coverage per month with 73% of this coming from free editorial rather than paid-for opportunities. Our media team has optimised Makita’s advertising budget to ensure a consistent presence across publications in a broad range of sectors including, general building, plumbing, electrical, self-build, landscaping and forestry, woodworking, facilities management, cleaning, plant hire and consumer gardening and outdoor lifestyle magazines.

To achieve this, our team has invested significant time in hands-on product training to ensure that we have up to date knowledge of the latest Makita products and an in-depth understanding of the technologies built into the tools. We have also supported Makita at events and arranged for editors of core publications to attend, helping to achieve further coverage of Makita and its products.

A key part of our technical PR work in the last four years is the succession of product advice series we have produced for Professional Builder. This ranged from ‘Tech Talk’, an overview of a key tool technology each month, to ‘Toolbox’ highlighting the tools that different trades need to have in their kit, to ‘Perfect Partners’, which showcased two tools that complement each other perfectly. Most recently we have produced a monthly ‘Tool Buyers Guide’ to explain what professionals should look for when selecting a certain type of machine.

Working closely with Makita, its customers and trade influencers we have also produced high-quality video content. This includes a promotional video to support the opening of its new factory service centres, the ‘XGT in Action’ series with Robin Clevett and a range of videos showcasing why the Eden Project in Cornwall has switched to cordless Makita machines and how they are used.