Sonnhalter and Viega Honored with PRSA Rocks Award

Marketing communications firm wins silver award in the “feature article” category for its article on the subject of water quality.

CLEVELAND – May 2019 – Sonnhalter, a communications firm marketing to the professional tradesman in the construction, industrial and MRO markets, received a silver award in the “feature article” category at the 16th Annual Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Cleveland Rocks Awards competition.

Rosemarie Ascherl-Lenhard, PR foreman, Andrew Poulsen, PR technician, and Matt Sonnhalter, vision architect, of Sonnhalter accept the  silver award for feature article category at the PRSA Rock Awards.

The feature article, “Go with the Flow: Best Practices for Maintaining Water Movement in Plumbing Systems,” was written in collaboration with Viega, a leading manufacturer of pipe fitting installation technology. In 2018, Sonnhalter targeted and reached out to a top trade publication in the plumbing industry and pitched a feature article on the subject of water quality. Once accepted, Sonnhalter interviewed and collaborated with Viega personnel to develop an article that focused on how to reduce the spreading of water system-related illnesses. The winning feature article outlined a number of best practices for maintaining water flow and temperature with the intention of informing plumbing system designers and installers of some of the new ways to combat the risk of waterborne diseases. (more…)

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Meet the Craze Halfway

By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter 

Source: Viega LLC

A decade ago, you couldn’t change the channel without finding a new motorcycle build show. Five years ago, it was extreme eating challenges and local legendary greasy spoons.

And today it seems like you can’t touch the remote without seeing a show about tiny houses. It seems millennials are rejecting “more is more” McMansions and opting for small, portable and innovative living spaces that reflect their personality.

Believe it or not, this could be the best thing that ever happened to the Skills Gap. (more…)

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Sonnhalter and Viega Honored with Silver Davey Award

Davey_Viega_2016CLEVELAND – February 2016 – Sonnhalter, a marketing communications firm to the professional tradesman in the construction, industrial and MRO markets, received a Silver Davey Award in the 11th Annual International Davey Awards competition. Sonnhalter accepted the award in the Print-Collateral Brochure category for a brochure on Water Quality created for Viega LLC.

The Davey Awards honor the finest creative work from small firms, agencies and companies worldwide. The Davey Awards are named after King David who defeated the giant Goliath with a big idea and a little rock. The story resembles what small firms do each year by deriving strength from big ideas instead of big budgets.

Viega LLC launched its Water Quality Initiative to educate the engineering community and prepare them for the new ASHRAE 188P standards to combat Legionella and other waterborne pathogens. Sonnhalter worked with Viega to create the water quality campaign and the 8-page brochure to educate the industry and position Viega as the leader and subject matter expert.

“We’re excited to receive this award for a campaign that supported and educated such an important issue,” said Matt Sonnhalter, vision architect at Sonnhalter. “As an agency that works closely with professionals in the plumbing industry, it was a great experience to help Viega combat a problem that affects millions.”


About Viega
Founded in 1899, the Viega Group is the global leader in press technology systems for industrial, commercial and residential industries. Viega LLC, headquartered in Wichita, KS, offers more than 3,000 products, including Viega ProPress® for copper and stainless, Viega MegaPress® for black iron pipe in hydronic systems, Viega MegaPressG for gas and Viega PEX Press systems in Zero Lead™ bronze and high-performance polymer. For more information, visit www.viega.us.


About The Davey Awards
The Davey Awards honors the “Davids” of creativity, the smaller agencies, companies, or organizations with annual billings or revenues below certain levels. Each year, The Davey Awards honors winners who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than big budgets.

The Davey Awards is judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only organization consisting of top-tier media, advertising and marketing professionals from the world’s leading organizations and firms. For more information about the Davey Awards, visit www.daveyawards.com.


About Sonnhalter
Established in 1976, Sonnhalter is the leading B2T marketing communications firm to companies that target professional tradesmen in construction, industrial and MRO markets. Recently, Sonnhalter moved from its original office in Berea to a new space in the historic Brownell Building, located in the heart of downtown Cleveland. Sonnhalter’s brand identity highlights its expertise in marketing to the professional tradesmen. Its tagline, “Not Afraid To Get Our Hands Dirty,” promotes the employees’ willingness to roll up their sleeves and dig deep into clients’ businesses, also, it refers to the market it targets: the tradesmen who work with – and dirty – their hands every day. Sonnhalter developed the acronym “B2T,” which stands for “business-to-tradesmen” to capture the essence of its specialty. For more information, visit the company website at Sonnhalter.com or visit the company blog at TradesmenInsights.com.

 

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5 Best Practices for Testimonials

By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman at Sonnhalter

I have found that there’s no better way to position yourself as a credible source than by having a third party sing your praises. Most companies, if pleased with what you did or supplied, would be happy to not only give you a recommendation, but in some cases, a testimonial.

Here are five things to consider:

  • Keep the requests to unique applications or markets. This helps you focus on something that sets you apart.
  • Ask when the project is complete – when everything is fresh in everybody’s mind.
  • Get proper clearances upfront – when dealing with bigger companies or unique situations, it’s smart to get an approval upfront and let the customer know what you want to accomplish and assure them that they will have final approval before it’s used. If you have a PR department or agency, they are used to vetting out potential before you waste time and resources.
  • It’s best you control the writing. Most customers are not writers, they’re contractors. Besides, they aren’t aware of the big picture of what you’re ultimately trying to accomplish. Write an outline of what you want to accomplish and then let someone interview the contractor and write the story.
  • Utilize info in multiple places – try to get it featured in a leading trade magazine. Post it on your website. Have a sell sheet made up for your salesmen to use. If you’re on social media, post it there with links back to your website. Here’s a good example of Viega that uses case studies very effectively.

ViegaMercyHealthProfileDon’t miss out on one of the best ways of building credibility using a third party.

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Are You Getting Your Fair Share of Customer Testimonials?

I have found that there’s no better way to position yourself as a credible source than by having a third party sing your praises. Most companies, if pleased with what you did or supplied, would be happy to not only give you a recommendation, but in some cases, a testimonial.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Keep the requests to unique applications or markets. This helps you focus on something that sets you apart.
  • Ask when the project is complete – when everything is fresh in every bodies mind.
  • Get proper clearances upfront – when dealing with bigger companies or unique situations, it’s smart to get an approval upfront and let the customer know what you want to accomplish and assure them that they will have final approval before it’s used. If you have a PR department or agency, they are used to vetting out potential before you waste time and resources.
  • It’s best you control the writing. Most customers are not writers, they’re contractors. Besides, they aren’t aware of the big picture of what you’re ultimately trying to accomplish. Write an outline of what you want to accomplish and then let someone interview the contractor and write the story.
  • Utilize info in multiple places – try to get it featured in a leading trade magazine. Post it on your website. Have a sell sheet made up for your salesmen to use. If you’re on social media, post it there with links back to your web. Here’s a good example of Viega that uses case studies very effectively.

ViegaMercyHealthProfileDon’t miss out on one of the best ways to have customers tell your story and build your credibility.

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