Building Authority Through Defense PR And Social For AimLock
Wise Up PR crafted a PR program for AimLock focused on creating a pipeline of corporate news from day one, supported by media relations ramp ups at trade shows, as well as adding strategy to its LinkedIn company page.
About AimLock
AimLock is a pioneer in autonomous targeting and engagement systems for the defense sector.
It has developed the Core Targeting Module, called Keystone (CTM), which in effect, is a small computer module that is added to a host of firing solutions. The Keystone can be applied to small arms, grenades, rockets, missiles, UxS, rotary-wing, fixed-wing, maritime surface, subsea, and beyond. Its range of solutions includes Rampart, Highline, Switchback, Divide, Summit and Caprock.
Founded in 2013, it was one of the first developers of aided target recognition (AiTR) technology and all its solutions are fully networked with a modular open systems approach (MOSA) at the heart of the company’s approach from day one.
MOSA is critical as it means AimLock is able to upgrade legacy systems to incorporate autonomous targeting and engagement solutions to address the needs of the defense industry today. With a belief in modular autonomy at the core of the company’s offering, MOSA achieves not only interoperability and upgradability, but also, crucially, cost-efficiency through standardized, modular components.
The Challenge
AimLock was one of the very first developers in the world of modular autonomous systems for defense applications all the way back in 2013. Despite being such a pioneering force in aided target recognition, the company had historically prioritized product innovation and marketing activations at important defense trade shows and events.
While AimLock had experimented in the past with PR agencies on a project basis for media relations and social media support, pain points in these engagements consistently surfaced. Industry knowledge and understanding was often lacking, meaning content across both earned and owned channels fell flat – a real problem in an industry where credibility amongst stakeholders can be the difference between success and failure. Securing ongoing, quality defense media coverage proved to be another recurring challenge, with the approach to journalists lacking a strategy and structure.
Given the rapid expansion and growth in the defense industry, it once again sought out a trusted PR agency to help it during an exceptionally important stage of brand building and profile raising. It was looking for a long-term partner who had deep defense PR experience and expertise that could support AimLock across media relations and social media, in the form of its LinkedIn company page.
Wise Up PR was the perfect fit for AimLock’s needs, with a team of PR veterans with much defense sector experience, having worked with the likes of Echodyne, DroneShield and Mehler Systems Group.
Our Approach
From the outset, Wise Up PR’s team saw significant opportunities for AimLock across both media relations and its LinkedIn company page.
It clearly had long-established credibility within the defense technology space, yet this hadn’t really ever been leveraged effectively in our view. This meant, from day one, we needed to audit, assess and improve where possible key messaging and existing media-facing assets like biographies and the boilerplate of press releases, to get why AimLock’s story and solutions are so interesting and important to its defense audiences.
This step can often be overlooked but forms the basis of many of Wise Up PR’s most successful client relationships as it sets up a program for success early in our experience.
Also, during this intensive kick-off phase of two weeks, we also felt one key approach that would pay early dividends was holding subject matter expert (SME) calls to better understand the technology and also dig into specific storylines. These calls were crucial in better understanding why a modular open systems approach (MOSA) matters so much, not just to AimLock’s solutions, but the benefits to the wider defense industry. This became a lynchpin topic for our PR program, with messaging weaved across earned media and owned channels like LinkedIn.
For social media, the SME calls helped to inform our content pillars and we were able to create a content calendar quickly and begin posting on LinkedIn within weeks of kicking-off. Consistency of messaging, regular weekly posting and also having access to AimLock’s existing bank of visual assets very soon brought substantial growth in followers and engagement levels.
For media relations, our team knew that rolling out a press office function would be the most effective approach to generating the coverage AimLock needed. Firstly, we road-mapped what news and corporate announcements we could create, starting conversations with AimLock’s collaborators and partners early to get this process moving. Secondly, we geared pitching to media around key defense trade events where we knew journalists would be on the ground. This meant important media were able to see AimLock’s technology up-close and speak to its team and this approach had a great effect in building relationships with key contacts.
Our team’s early efforts regarding collaborator and partner conversations came full circle into our overarching strategy around trade shows also. Two announcements – with Teledyne FLIR Defense and Overland AI – went live with media and across the LinkedIn company page during two pivotal trade events. Not only this, the impact of this approach extended to sparking conversations and visibility of the brand at these trade shows.
In between trade shows and news announcements, we also kept the media coverage going by generating authentic, credible thought leadership content based on the SME calls, as well as long-form podcast interviews for spokespeople.
One final benefit of this joined-up and tight strategy was that media coverage was interconnected to social media output. The ongoing media coverage generated became excellent (and free) content for AimLock’s LinkedIn company page, further helping to boost follower numbers, engagement, and, ultimately, credibility and trust in the brand amongst defense sector stakeholders.
Results In Brief
77
Media articles published since day one. This is with 4 million estimated coverage views from the articles secured, with partnership and collaboration announcements also helping to drive new business leads
15
Spokesperson interviews secured in the same timeframe, with coverage appearing in the likes of Business Insider, Tectonic, Shephard Media, Janes and Straight Arrow News
113%
Increase in LinkedIn company page views in six months and a 35% increase in followers since day one, through purely organic content and posting
Media Coverage Snapshot
And Also Seen In
Results In Detail
Performance Metric
Result
Details
Earned Media Coverage
77 Articles
Coverage secured in top defense and business media publications.
Estimated Coverage Views
4 Million
Estimated audience that viewed the coverage generated.
Average Domain Authority (DA) Of Earned Coverage
53
Aggregate Domain Authority (DA) score of the publications which published.
Combined Unique Monthly Visitors (UMVs)
473.3 Million
Combined audience that are unique monthly visitors (UMVs) to the media outlets that published AimLock stories.
Social Media Views Driven By Earned Media
72,400
Coverage that was viewed via social posts accompanying media articles.
Social Shares Driven By Earned Media
1,100
Organic social posts prompted by the launch media placements.
LinkedIn Company Profile Impressions
105,130
Total impressions generated for the company LinkedIn page, via organic content.
New LinkedIn Company Page Followers
2,886
New followers gained via the organic content strategy.
LinkedIn Engagement Rate
11.1%
Rate of LinkedIn engagement from ongoing organic content creation and posting.
Performance Summary
Strong performance was achieved across earned and owned media channels by Wise Up PR and its overall approach. This integrated campaign produced 77 pieces of earned placements, within the most important publications for AimLock, including Tectonic, Shephard Media, Janes, as well as a profile piece in Business Insider for wider awareness. Taken all together, these media placements had an estimated four million coverage views, from a combined audience of 473.7 million unique monthly visitors (UMVs) to the media outlets that published AimLock stories.
Alongside media relations, our organic-only LinkedIn strategy produced 105,130 company page impressions while attracting 2,886 new followers, at an average content engagement rate of 11.1%.
What Our Client Said About This Work
“My past experiences with PR agencies haven’t always been positive, but Wise Up PR completely changed that. They’re incredibly knowledgeable about the defense industry and move quickly to the pace we need. For AimLock, the team drove high-impact media coverage, as well as running an incredibly effective organic LinkedIn strategy that generated interest and engagement from hard-to-reach defense sector buyers and partners. This work has forged authentic connections for AimLock across channels and with our key audiences.”
Four Key Takeaways From A Media Relations And Social Media Campaign For Defense Technology Companies
Audit all existing media-facing materials and interview subject matter experts as soon as possible
When brands (regardless of sector) have previously worked with PR agencies in the past, a key kick-off activity that is often overlooked is auditing existing materials. This includes spokespeople’s biographies, “boilerplates” (i.e. the “about” section at the bottom of press releases) as well as previous press releases and other written materials. Often as well, the brand’s website will also be an important first touchpoint to review to ensure messaging consistency with media-facing materials.
Coupled with this, subject matter expert (SME) calls are crucial, especially for media relations, to uncover not only key messaging talking points but also industry topics that SMEs can speak to with authority and authenticity. Especially within the defense sector, credible viewpoints that are rooted in fact and backed up by real in-field experience are essential for profile building of spokespeople and for placing thought leadership content. By speaking early with SMEs you can unlock a host of story angles that might not have been obvious from kick-off.
Start partnership conversations early, and often, in order to create a news pipeline
In many industries, partnership announcements serve a very important function. Not only do they support PR and brand awareness for a company, but also signal to the wider industry traction for product offerings and where a firm is positioned in a sector.
However, these announcements don’t just happen overnight. Much time and planning need to go into them across all channels, from earned media to owned. It is essential to start conversations with potential partners early to understand their interest in potentially collaborating on what is effectively a joint PR announcement.
If there is interest, make sure to check in on a regular basis with the partner to understand what realistic timeline can be worked against to get such an announcement out into the world.
Consistent posting on LinkedIn compounds over time
“Just post” is a common refrain seen often on LinkedIn from influencers of all stripes advising users to post regularly to build their own audience. However, when it comes to a LinkedIn company page, that advice can’t be applied to the same degree, as these pages speak for an entire organization, not just an individual.
This means a strategy, backed up by clear content pillars and messaging needs to be nailed down well ahead of any post appearing on a LinkedIn company page.
From this thought-out approach, the consistency piece comes into play. Consistently posting, even just once or twice a week, makes a massive difference to follower numbers, engagement levels, and ultimately, brand awareness.
Build up a “bank” of reusable content, across all channels
With a clear LinkedIn strategy in place, backed up by regular posting, obvious benefits soon appear for your brand. Firstly, you build up a bank of content. Importantly, much of the posting content can be recycled and recut across content formats, making all content work harder for your brand. This bank of content becomes a key resource for your entire brand, not just LinkedIn output.
Secondly, if you have a tightly coordinated media relations function in place, media coverage becomes a centerpiece of your LinkedIn posting strategy. Publications and even journalists who published stories on your brand can be tagged to add credibility and also extend the reach of such posts beyond your company page.