Filti: Digital Feature in Business Insider

TL;DR: Geben Communication’s proactive media outreach to Business Insider resulted in one of the largest drivers of traffic for the new startup with more than 4k sales. 

 

the concept

After witnessing everyday Americans resorting to using household fabrics to construct face masks at the beginning of the pandemic, Dakota Hendrickson, founder of Filti, knew that he had the responsibility and ability to help. Pivoting his HVAC filter startup (which was one month away from launching), Dakota brought his company out of stealth mode and used its nanofiber technology to make high-quality, N95-quality face mask material for consumers and ultimately offer a product that could protect Americans from COVID-19.

Recognizing the need to educate consumers, Filti needed to tell its story at scale reaching educated and tech-savvy millennial households looking for the best protection. The co-founder engaged Geben Communication in April 2020 to help promote key brand messages through media relations and influencer marketing. 

The company’s goals include:

    • Introduce Filti as a credible company and source for face mask materials

    • Raise awareness surrounding the effectiveness of nanofiber materials

    • Drive sales of the product

    • Engage with the business audience to drive corporate partnerships

the execution

Geben’s overall media approach was a three-pronged strategy that focused on proactively pitching Filti through newsjacking, trend monitoring, and evergreen angles. While media relations is not always seen as a revenue-generating tactic and Filti was a startup with a small budget, we knew that driving sales would be a key indicator of success, and focused on media outlets that would move the needle. 

In April of 2020, Geben reached out to the deputy technology editor offering Filti as a resource for face mask-related stories. We continued to follow up offering new insight and data as it became available to us.

the result

Our efforts resulted in an online, researched-backed story that provided third-party validation in Business Insider. With this placement, we met Filti’s goals of increasing brand awareness, educating consumers on the effectiveness of nanofiber, and driving product sales. The story reached over 83 million unique visitors.

In terms of business results, the Business Insider piece drove over 4,000 product purchases, resulting in thousands of dollars in sales. Since that media placement, Geben has continued to work with Filti on media training and honing messaging to be more succinct. Additionally, this one-year-old company has achieved over $5.1M in sales and sold enough product for over 35M face masks in the U.S.