Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter is from the April 2025 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition.
Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment.
This magazine has been a blessing to publish. The industry is niche, yes, but it is far-reaching and impactful on nearly every aspect of life. There isn’t a place where I can go where heat treating and thermal processing have not made life better and/or possible. The people are by and large good people, fun to work with, and interesting to talk to. The content written in these pages is a good mix of challenging technical content, as well as general interest information.
Our target audience, the 15,000–20,000+ engineers and managers that make purchasing decisions for the vast number of manufacturers who have their own in-house thermal processing operations, is highly engaged with Heat Treat Today. While it is impossible to gauge the engagement of our monthly print editions, when readers respond, it is usually because of something they read in one of our print editions.
Granted, it’s easier to see if/when someone opens or clicks on any of our e-newsletters, but it is surprising the number of people who email us about something they’ve seen in the print editions.
The bottom line is: All of our audience (whether print or digital) is an engaged bunch.
Suppliers who want the attention of these manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments would do well to remember the reach of Heat Treat Today. Whether you use Heat Treat Today or some other format to tell your story, you can’t sell if you don’t tell.
This may seem to be an abundantly obvious statement to many, but you would be shocked at the number of engineering-based companies who believe, “If we build it, they will come.” Thank you, Kevin Costner — that may be true in a field of your dreams, but it is untrue in the real world. Your selling story needs to be told.
Just having a great product — even the best product of its kind — is not a guarantee of success. Sooner or later, you must let people know, somehow, you exist and your product is unparalleled.
Here are a few of the ways that companies typically spread the news:
- E-blasts: While e-blasts are low cost and convenient, there are a few challenges: 1. Reaching new people, and 2. People will look at your in-house e-blast as a purely promotional effort, and because of that, will not give it the full attention it might deserve.
- Advertising in magazines or on a website: A decent way to tell since they boast a targeted audience, however, magazines do not offer metrics, and websites, while able to provide numbers, typically reach far fewer people than a print version of a magazine and are not consumed for as long as print.
- Word of mouth: This method is typically slower and dependent on others talking about you. If your product is that good and it causes a buzz in the industry, then word of mouth may be all you need. It is, however, a passive form of telling, which you do not control and depends on others.
- Representatives: Assuming your reps are giving you a large enough portion of their time and are knowledgeable in your capabilities, this is a good way to tell your story. The downside is the rep’s reach. Even if a rep were making four calls a day every weekday of the year, that totals up to just over 1,000 visits a year. And let’s be honest, most companies would be thrilled if a rep made 500 calls a year.
- Internal sales teams: Assuming they’re on the phone consistently and not fulfilling orders or being distracted by other internal demands, an in-house sales team, although potentially expensive to maintain, is one of the better options a company has for telling their story. Nearly everyone I know has an internal sales staff. It is pretty much a must.
- Website: Websites are not as good at getting the message out as many think, but they are still absolutely necessary. Websites are the most misunderstood marketing tool in the marketing toolbox. Most people think if they have a website, they’re good. Please remember, website “advertising” is passive marketing. Once a website is built, it just sits there until someone decides to come look at it.
- Marketing materials: Similar to a website, literature sits there until someone decides to look at it. It’s a passive form of marketing. The bottom line here is this — as you plan for the success of your business, don’t forget it is not just about product quality. You must also remember that “telling” is just as important, if not more so, than building the best product out there.
Our audience of in-house heat treaters is interested in hearing your story. Remember, you can’t sell if you don’t tell.
Publisher
Heat Treat Today
For more information: Contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com
