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Government helps to publicise products abroad

An UK Trade and Investment product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 20, 2005

Government offers help for small and medium-sized companies who want to break into markets abroad but do not have a big publicity machine behind them.

The Government is offering help for small and medium-sized companies who want to break into markets abroad but do not have a big publicity machine behind them.

New Products from Britain (NPfB) is a service operated by the Central Office of Information (COI) for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the government body that helps British companies get into international trade.

With NPfB, companies can send press releases - translated, if necessary - to trade magazines in countries all around the world.

Costing as little as GBP 200, the service uses the local knowledge of UKTI commercial staff in British diplomatic posts to gain editorial coverage in the trade press.

It has been helping UK companies promote products overseas for more than half a century.

For example, using NPfB, Huntingdon Fusion Techniques, based in Burry Port, south Wales, recently launched a tungsten welding electrode grinder in France, Germany and Russia.

This follows the successful launch of the company's Multi-Strike welding electrode last year, when the service introduced it into 12 countries around the world.

NPfB is not advertising - placement depends entirely on an editor judging a story to be newsworthy.

However, the objective approach that is adopted can make NPfB a more powerful and cheaper promotional tool than advertising.

Simon Holder, Head of Commercial Publicity at COI, said: "As well as producing orders, an NPfB press release can stimulate interest from overseas agents and distributors, and the feedback can be used as a test of new markets".

"Although publication cannot be guaranteed, the service continues to produce excellent results for clients after over 50 years in operation".

The service includes: a professionally written press release and photo caption; translation, where necessary, into the language of the country or countries targeted; despatch of the press release and picture to British diplomatic posts; distribution by specialists in the posts to appropriate press outlets; internet promotion via UKTI country web sites; and circulation of a summary of each release among up to 70 UK diplomatic posts, to attract interest from additional markets.

Surveys suggest that around 70% of stories are published at least once, generating hundreds of enquiries.

When Cleveland-based Vortex Industrial Products used NPfB to publicise its gel for removing damaged screws, the result according to Director Grant Huck was "unbelievable".

"The service has paid for itself ten times over with orders from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Zimbabwe and France".

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