Integrated B2B Marketing Strategy Generates Leads and R&D Partnerships for CDA, a National Trade Association
An integrated B2B inbound marketing strategy helps CDA reach technical HVAC/R OEM audiences, drive qualified engagement, and convert content-driven outreach into new R&D partnership opportunities.
Industry
HVAC/R
Manufacturing
Capabilities
Inbound Marketing
Content Marketing
Public Relations
Paid Social
Email Marketing
Lead Generation
Lead Nurturing
Outcomes
Qualified Lead Growth
Engagement
Earned Media Visibility
Partnerships
Overview
The Copper Development Association needed to reach a specialized audience of HVAC/R OEM decision-makers with a clear message: small-diameter copper tubes can help improve system efficiency, performance, and design flexibility in next-generation HVAC/R applications.
GreenHouse Digital + PR developed an integrated marketing strategy that connected public relations, SEO-driven content, social media, email marketing, lead generation webinars, trade advertising, and lead nurturing. The campaign was built around a core message, “Think Small, Save Big” and designed to move HVAC/R OEM contacts from awareness to engagement to direct collaboration.
The program focused on reaching portfolio managers, design engineers, technical directors, CEOs, and other stakeholders involved in material selection, heat exchanger design, and product development.
Through a coordinated mix of educational content, targeted promotion, and personalized outreach, CDA expands its visibility with qualified OEM audiences and builds a stronger pipeline for long-term R&D partnerships.
Customers served!17Qualified HVAC/R OEM R&D LeadsCustomers served!17Blog ViewsCustomers served!17Major Media PlacementsCustomers served!17R&D Partnerships
The Challenge:
CDA had a clear growth opportunity in the HVAC/R OEM market, but the audience was highly technical, difficult to reach, and spread across multiple verticals.
The campaign needed to do more than raise awareness. CDA wanted to engage the manufacturers and engineers most likely to influence material selection, explore small-diameter copper tube applications, and consider R&D collaboration. That required a strategy that could educate prospects, build credibility, capture qualified leads, and identify the companies showing the strongest buying or partnership signals.
The core challenge was maintaining consistent engagement with high-value OEM prospects long enough to move them from passive content consumption to active conversations with CDA and its R&D partner.
The Approach:
GreenHouse Digital + PR built the campaign around CDA’s core goals: increase awareness of small-diameter copper tubes among HVAC/R OEM audiences, educate manufacturers on copper’s role in improving system efficiency and performance, encourage engagement with CDA’s technical resources, and generate at least one major R&D partnership per year.
GreenHouse Digital + PR built a full-funnel program designed to meet HVAC/R OEM audiences at each stage of engagement.
At the awareness stage, the campaign used LinkedIn ads, earned media, and trade media advertising to introduce small-diameter copper tubes as a relevant solution for efficiency, refrigerant transition, and heat exchanger design challenges. Messaging focused on the demand for more efficient heating and cooling systems and the role copper can play in supporting product innovation.
At the consideration stage, CDA used SEO-rich blog content, technical articles, and paid social promotion to drive traffic and educate engineers, product leaders, and executives on specific applications. Content topics included heat pumps, copper corrosion, copper tube sizing, natural refrigerants, data center cooling, and heat exchanger design.
At the conversion stage, CDA used lead-generation webinars, landing pages, segmented email campaigns, LinkedIn lead-gen ads, and custom trade media eblasts and list rentals to capture contacts and move engaged prospects into HubSpot. Webinar topics included optimizing residential air-source heat pumps with low-GWP refrigerants and a case study on the performance of small-diameter copper tubes.
The program also included a targeted lead-nurturing campaign for top-qualified OEM contacts. Personalized, non-promotional emails encouraged one-on-one conversations about material selection, product development challenges, and potential R&D support.
PR and trade media supported the funnel by building third-party credibility. GreenHouse Digital + PR placed bylined features, case study content, and technical thought leadership in publications reaching HVAC/R engineers, design leaders, and equipment manufacturers.
The Results:
The integrated campaign helped CDA turn niche technical education into measurable lead generation and partnership outcomes.
CDA’s qualified HVAC/R OEM lead database has grown from 17 to 384 high-value decision-makers, including CEOs, product managers, design engineers, and other technical contacts.
The campaign also generated clear engagement from target companies. With an average click-through rate of 45.2%, email and content performance demonstrated repeat engagement from major US HVAC/R equipment OEMs. Webinar performance showed the value of technical lead generation. One webinar campaign generated 102 total registrants and 59 new contacts. CDA’s blog signup form generated 22 submissions from high-value OEM contacts, while blog content generated 4,721 views.
Earned media and trade visibility expanded CDA’s reach with technical HVAC/R audiences. Across two years, the program secured 16 pieces of coverage, including feature placements in Design News, Engineered Systems, HVAC Informed, RSES Journal, and Appliance & HVAC Report. Together, this coverage generated an estimated 78K+ views and reached a combined reported audience of more than 404K.
Most importantly, the campaign has helped CDA generate three new research and development partnerships with major HVAC/R OEMs within two years.
By combining technical storytelling, targeted advertising, email nurturing, and data-driven content, CDA strengthened its position with HVAC/R OEM audiences and built a more sustainable pipeline for industry collaboration.
Results at a Glance
- 384 qualified HVAC/R OEM leads
- 4,721 qualified blog views
- 16 major media hits
- 3 new R&D partnerships
Why it Worked:
The campaign worked because it connected CDA’s technical expertise with the right audiences, channels, and follow-up strategy. Rather than relying on a single tactic, the program used each channel to support the next step in the buyer journey: PR and trade advertising built credibility, SEO-rich blogs and technical content educated prospects, blog sign-ups and webinars captured qualified leads, and segmented email nurturing helped identify which OEM accounts were ready for deeper engagement.
The strategy also worked because it was built around specific HVAC/R OEM personas, including design engineers, portfolio managers, technical directors, and executives. This allowed us to tailor content around the topics these audiences cared about, including efficiency, refrigerant transitions, heat exchanger performance, and material selection. By tracking opens, clicks, webinar registrations, blog subscriptions, and account-level engagement, GreenHouse Digital + PR could prioritize outreach to manufacturers showing real interest and move those conversations toward R&D collaboration.