Maximize Your Marketing

Miniaturization is a top priority for many advanced sensor and electronics technology designers and manufacturers. Whether it is an automotive application, a connectivity device or an appliance, companies are looking for smaller, lighter-weight products with advanced features. As a designer and builder of molds that require extensive engineering and tight tolerances, miniaturization is a perfect fit, so our company needed to step up its game to gain this business. However, changes in marketing budgets have required us to maximize our existing marketing plans, especially when it comes to trade shows, where potential customers can see us live. 

This month’s NPE2015 event in Orlando is where we started. In the past, Mold Craft Inc. has rented exhibit floor space, erected a trade show booth, sent out pre-show mailers and then hoped for a good show. We knew we could do better. For this show, we decided it was time to really showcase our expertise and specialty, so we put a trade show marketing plan in place that had many components.

The main thrust of our plan was to invest in a dynamic display in which our mold will be in operation producing parts rather than a static display in which we stand in our booth, smile and hope to gain attention. Coming up with a plan was a process. Here is a checklist of the steps we took:

• Define a target market segment.
• Design a potential part.
• Design and fabricate the mold.
• Locate partners for collaboration, including
   1. a material supplier that produces high-end material for cutting-edge projects;
   2. an injection molding machine manufacturer to mold parts at the event; and
   3. a secondary operations provider to add value to the molded part.
• Establish pre-show, show and post-show activities, including
  1. promote show presence on website;
  2. work with partners to develop common event collateral;
  3. at the show, jointly present with technical experts from partnering companies at the live molding demonstration; and
  4. post-show, conduct lead follow-up to bring in sales revenue.
• Develop a cross-functional team of representatives from each partnering company, then
  1. define the expectations of each partner;
  2. assemble the project and develop a schedule using realistic expectations and deadlines; and
  3. establish shared costs.
• Schedule and perform scientific mold process development at the injection molding machine manufacturer to ensure that high-quality parts are produced at the event.

The essential component in this checklist is partnership. A team of industry-leading experts is pulling together to innovate and demonstrate our abilities in sensor design through a dynamic display at NPE2015. This team consists of Mold Craft, Celanese, Sodick and LPKF. Mold Craft designed a small, thin-walled part with different surface finishes, special cavity inserts and very tight tolerances. Celanese Vectra LCP is the ideal material for compact, intricate, thin-wall designs such as this complex part, which simulates a vented processor housing. Sodick’s LP20EH3 micro injection molding machine will be used to mold the part live at the show. LPKF engineered the featured design of complex circuitry on the part.

Together, our companies will mold this part in booth W163.  Part giveaways will represent the process steps, including as-molded, LDS and plating. 

Our goal is to gain attention, showcase our capabilities live and leave a lasting impression with the parts we give away. We believe marketing does matter.