May 19, 2021

Content Creator: Lighting Agency Launches eMagazine

A Virginia lighting agent has taken the email newsletter to a completely new level

Resource Lighting + Controls, a lighting agent in Southeast Virginia has invested what appears to be an incredible amount of time, effort and energy into delivering high-quality, informative lighting content to its local customer base.

Like many lighting agent specification salespeople, Jennifer Scheffel had few opportunities in the past year for in-person specifier interactions to support the agency brands Acuity Brands, Finelite, Lumenpulse and others. She explains, “Specifiers are no longer interested in seeing a single manufacturer’s solutions over an extended period of their day; people value their time than ever. I remember calling a highly influential specifier and she was incredibly candid saying, ‘When I want to explore lighting solutions, I want to see options from many manufacturers…I don’t want to be held captive to hear 10 minutes about a company’s founder.’ I took her statement to heart, creating engagement on the client’s terms.”

As a result of strong and consistent feedback, she created The Resource, an eMagazine focused on highlighting local projects, specifiers and the manufacturers whom she represents:

The work that went into The Resource is obvious. Layouts. Graphic design. Writing. Content procurement. Republish permission. And so on. Scheffel even managed to land multiple sponsors: Armstrong World Industries (the market leader of commercial ceiling systems) as well as two lighting manufacturers and a contractor.

Scheffel expects to publish the magazine bi-monthly and has future growth plans to make it scalable by appealing to an audience outside of the Norfolk, VA metropolitan area. "From inception, the idea has been to scale the publication to other markets through agencies with products focused on their line card. Specifiers feel more connected to agencies that promote their success which is a second element that the magazine highlights. Distributing through agencies not only makes sense, but the agency is seen as having client centered rather than agency centered marketing which builds rapport and strengthens relationships."

More info: The Resource eMagazine »