What wasn’t working
The initial strategy relied on direct outreach.
Segment the market. Contact decision-makers. Start conversations.
On paper, it made sense.
In practice:
- it was time-intensive
- difficult to scale
- and produced very little engagement
A parallel email campaign didn’t perform any better.
This wasn’t a contact problem. It was a credibility problem.
The shift
The goal wasn’t to reach more people.
It was to be taken seriously when we did.
The outreach was reframed as a targeted PR effort – positioning WiTricity within a larger industry conversation around:
- airport electrification
- safety
- operational efficiency
Not a pitch.
A point of view.
What I actually did
Rebuilt the outreach as something worth publishing.
- converted outreach messaging into a structured press release
- developed a focused media list targeting relevant industry publications
- distributed strategically to outlets that carried weight with decision-makers
- shifted messaging from product features to industry relevance
Because the goal wasn’t coverage for its own sake.
It was placement that mattered.
What changed
The response was immediate.
- multiple industry publications picked up the story
- several expanded it into deeper editorial coverage
- WiTricity’s CEO was invited to participate in a podcast on airport electrification
Which mattered on its own.
But the real shift happened next.
Where it led
Credibility opened the door.
Following the podcast, WiTricity was contacted directly by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Not as a cold lead.
As a credible participant in the conversation.
This led to discussions around potential deployment – moving the conversation from outreach to opportunity.
Why this worked
Direct outreach asks for attention. Earned media earns it.
By shifting the strategy:
- the message reached the same audience
- but in a context that carried more credibility
- and required less effort to justify engagement
The difference isn’t volume. It’s trust.
What this says about how I work
I don’t default to a channel.
I look at what’s actually blocking progress.
If something isn’t working, the answer isn’t always to do more of it.
Sometimes it’s to change how the problem is framed entirely.