A glimpse into Innovative Air Solutions' PR strategy

There’s a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when Commodore Norrington tells Jack Sparrow, “You are, without a doubt, the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of,” and Jack responds, “But you have heard of me.”

• It’s hilarious — and cheesy — but it got me thinking about PR. To explore it in the HVAC context, I reached out to Ashla Taylor at Innovative Air Solutions (IAS) in Houston, who’s fresh off a rebrand and works closely with local media outlets, to talk shop. 

What’s happening: IAS’s PR strategy is simple. They take industry developments and community events, craft stories for local media outlets — TV, radio, and newspapers — and push them out with their brand attached. 

How it works: Taylor keeps a list of high-level industry developments as “source content” for PR initiatives. 

• “If I were to email a local news station today, there would be two things I would try to raise awareness for: The rising costs of HVAC replacements and the coming refrigerant changes,” she notes. 

• “It’s really putting consumers in a bind because they don't always have the money to replace their system. Plus, throw in new refrigerants and now you're having to educate consumers,” she adds.

What’s next: Once they pick an idea, Taylor taps a second list of contacts at each outlet and pitches the story. 

• “Usually, they’ll call me [in response] and ask a couple questions: What does this look like for our consumers? What are y'all doing about it?” she explains. 

• “Basically, they want us to have a message about what people should do to prepare. Then if it checks out, we’ll schedule a time for them to come in,” she adds.

“It’s typically interview-style, so they'll come in with a set of questions. We’ll pretend the two of us are just having a conversation, but with cameras rolling. It ends up being ten minutes of conversation, and when it airs, it’s probably three minutes.”

Of note: For technical stories, IAS works hand-in-hand with outlets to draft questions and answers in advance. 

• “With the refrigerant changes, for example, we don't want to spread any misinformation, so we’ll make sure we’re very careful about how we say things.”

Yes, but: Community events also provide source content. IAS participates in Lennox’s Feel the Love event, for example, where a new system is gifted to a local homeowner each year.

• Taylor turns the install day into a PR event. “You call your news stations, local radio, and local newspapers to come out and basically do free coverage on it. You make it a community-oriented event,” she notes.

Zoom out: The company doesn’t track any hard KPIs around PR — it views it as a pure brand awareness play — and leverages its in-house team, not an agency, to manage the work.

The bottom line: Working with local outlets has started to pay dividends because, over time, the tables have turned — news stations have started reaching out first. 

• “Once your foot's in the door and you do it enough times, they'll start referring to you when they need something,” Taylor says.

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