P•D•H Mar•ket•ing
(noun)
The action of marketing to engineers by offering them a free webinar, lunch & learn, or online course where they can earn PDH credits.
Engineers need PDH (professional development hours) for license renewal. You need to reach these important influencers and decision-makers who specify your products.
PDH Marketing is a win-win! The engineers earn free PDH credit. You get a full hour in front of an audience of professional engineers.
10 Benefits of Hosting PDH Events
Engineers crave information
Most engineers are self-aware enough to realize there are gaps in their knowledge that need to be filled by experts. You can be that expert!
Engineers influence purchasing decisions
Engineers produce the specifications and technical data sheets for industrial equipment purchases and
are major influencers in the buying process.
Effective throughout the entire marketing funnel
Webinars, lunch & learns and online courses are great tools to attract new prospects. But, they are also key to keeping your company “top of mind” with existing customers.
Humanize your brand
PDH events allow you to create an authentic human connection with engineers, so they see real people
when they think of your brand – not a faceless corporation.
Demographic data
Engineers readily share their demographic data as the “price of admission” to attend a free PDH event,
which allows you to effectively identify and target the best prospects.
Establishes credibility
You get a full hour to establish credibility and position yourself as a valuable resource that engineers can
rely on to help solve their problems.
The power of reciprocity
You’ll create goodwill with engineers by providing something of real value to them for free.
Cost effective
Educating a large audience of engineers at one time can deliver prospects at a lower cost per lead than
other forms of traditional marketing.
Permission marketing
Hosting a PDH event is a form of permission marketing, which is viewed more favorably than interruption marketing methods, such as email, TV ads and print ads.
Measurable ROI
You can electronically transfer your PDH event attendee list into a CRM, which enables you to track leads through the long sales cycles that are characteristic of industrial equipment purchases.
PDH Marketing: The Soft Sell
We’ve already established why traditional marketing doesn’t work with engineers. Engineers don’t want to be sold to. You need to find a way to “fly under the radar.” Engage them without overtly selling to them. So how do you do that?
Online Courses
Many engineers prefer online courses over live presentations. Online courses provide the advantage of giving the engineer the flexibility to earn PDH credit on his schedule. Offering free online courses is a great way to establish credibility and create goodwill with your existing and prospective clients. However, delivering online courses for PDH credit is no small feat. You’ll need to develop the content and host it online, develop an online registration system, create and deliver quizzes using automated grading functionality, and generate certificates of completion.
Read MoreWebinars
Hosting webinars is a cost-effective way to generate leads and establish topic authority with engineers. Even before the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, InsideSales.com reported that 73% of marketers and sales leaders found webinars to be one of the most reliable ways of generating quality leads.
Read MoreOn-site Lunch & Learns
Industrial manufacturers have been holding on-site lunch & learn presentations at clients’ offices for decades. Iowa became the first state in the country to adopt mandatory continuing education for professional engineers in 1979. Other states soon followed Iowa’s lead and the appeal of lunch & learns quickly grew with engineers’ need to earn PDH credits.
Read MoreHow to Award PDH Credits
In order to award PDH credits to engineers for a webinar, lunch & learn, or an online course, you need to understand the state boards’ requirements. More than 40 states mandate professional development for engineers and each state has its own rules.
Read MoreWhat is a PDH?
PDH is an acronym for “professional development hour.” It is the term that most state engineering licensing boards use for continuing education. One PDH is nominally equivalent to one hour of continuing education. Most states require 50 minutes of contact time to earn 1 PDH, although a few states require 60 minutes.
Read MorePDH Marketing Challenges
Thus far, I’ve painted a pretty rosy picture of PDH marketing on this website—and rightfully so! For many industrial manufacturers, educating and engaging engineers using webinars, lunch & learns, and online courses is a low-cost, effective tool to add to your marketing tool chest. But, PDH marketing is not right for every company. And even where it is a good fit, it’s not without its challenges.
Read MoreFinding Engineers to Attend Your Event
You can’t host a webinar or a lunch & learn without attendees. So, where do you find engineers to invite to your PDH event?
Read MorePDH Marketing vs Other Options
There are many B2B marketing methods available: tradeshows, emails, white papers, newsletters, industry magazine ads, sponsorships, industry directory listings, social media, SEO, search engine ads, and more. If you are reading this, then you probably use some or all of these. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Read MoreMarketing Engineered Products vs Commodities
Products purchased for projects, as well as the many products purchased to support operations, production, and maintenance, can be broadly classified into two categories: Engineered Products and Commodities
Read MoreThe Power of Reciprocity
Several years ago, students in the Stanford Technology Ventures Program were given a task. Fourteen teams were given an envelope containing $5 of seed funding. They had from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday evening to come up with a plan to grow their $5. But, once they opened the envelope, each team had only 2 hours to generate revenue by spending no more than the $5 in seed money.
Read More