How Mask Plumbing Solutions secured five media opportunities in a three-month PR project
Mask Plumbing Solutions
Commercial plumbing and mechanical services
Mask Plumbing Solutions worked with Fair Public Relations on a deliberately short, three-month PR project.
The objective was not to build a large, long-running media campaign. Managing Director Ryan Maskell wanted to secure a small number of credible articles that demonstrated his plumbing expertise and gave the business useful independent media coverage.
Over the three-month project, Mask Plumbing Solutions secured five published media opportunities, including coverage in Grand Designs Magazine, Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful and Good Homes.
The client
Mask Plumbing Solutions is a plumbing and mechanical services business led by Managing Director Ryan Maskell.
Today, the company operates as a specialist commercial plumbing and mechanical contractor serving clients across England and Wales, with services spanning commercial plumbing, mechanical and plant room works, electrical services, fit-outs and facilities support.
Ryan's practical industry experience gave the PR campaign something particularly valuable: genuine technical knowledge that could be translated into useful advice for homeowners and journalists.
A deliberately short PR project
This was never intended to be a large or open-ended PR campaign.
Mask Plumbing Solutions wanted a short three-month project with a relatively straightforward objective: secure a few worthwhile articles that demonstrated Ryan's expertise.
That distinction matters.
PR campaigns do not always need to generate dozens of articles or continue for a year or more to be useful. Sometimes a business simply wants a modest body of credible third-party coverage that can support its wider reputation and demonstrate expertise.
For Mask Plumbing Solutions, success meant quality and relevance rather than volume.
The opportunity
Plumbing is highly practical, but it also overlaps with some of the most popular areas of consumer journalism.
Homes journalists regularly cover bathrooms, renovation, drainage, heating, home maintenance and emerging trends in residential design.
Those stories often require someone who understands the technical side of the subject rather than purely the aesthetics.
Ryan could provide that perspective.
The opportunity was therefore to take everyday plumbing knowledge and turn it into accessible expert commentary for home, interiors and renovation journalists.
The PR strategy
The campaign focused on a small number of relevant expert media opportunities rather than trying to pitch Mask Plumbing Solutions everywhere.
Topics included:
smart toilets
basement drainage
sump pumps
downstairs toilets
hot tubs
Each topic was closely connected to Ryan's professional experience.
The aim was to give journalists practical answers and explanations that readers could understand, while naturally establishing Ryan and Mask Plumbing Solutions as knowledgeable sources.
Turning technical plumbing knowledge into consumer advice
One of the challenges with plumbing PR is making technical knowledge useful to a general reader.
Journalists rarely need a detailed explanation written for another plumbing professional. They need someone who can explain what a household system does, why something matters and what homeowners should consider.
That was where Ryan's expertise became particularly useful.
A question about basement drainage, for example, could be turned into practical advice about preventing water problems when creating or renovating a basement.
Sump pumps could be explained in terms of what they do, when a property might need one and what homeowners should consider before installation.
Even subjects such as smart toilets and hot tubs provided opportunities to combine plumbing knowledge with wider home and design trends.
Coverage in leading homes publications
The project resulted in coverage across four established homes and interiors publications.
Grand Designs Magazine used Ryan's expertise twice, including for coverage around smart toilets and hot tubs.
Homes & Gardens featured his advice in a piece about installing drainage for a basement.
House Beautiful used Ryan's expertise for an explainer about sump pumps.
Good Homes featured commentary around downstairs toilets in Victorian homes.
The publications were particularly well matched to the campaign because their audiences were already interested in homes, renovation and property improvements.
Five opportunities from a three-month project
By the end of the project, Mask Plumbing Solutions had secured five published media opportunities.
For a campaign whose original aim was simply to secure a few relevant articles, that represented a strong result.
The coverage included:
two opportunities with Grand Designs Magazine
one with Homes & Gardens
one with House Beautiful
one with Good Homes
More importantly, the articles were directly relevant to plumbing and home improvement.
The campaign was not padded with loosely connected commentary simply to increase the number of results.
Selected campaign highlights
| Grand Designs Magazine | Smart toilets |
| Homes & Gardens | Basement drainage |
| House Beautiful | Sump pump costs and advice |
| Good Homes | Downstairs toilets in Victorian homes |
| Grand Designs Magazine | Hot tub buyer advice |
Why the short campaign worked
The scope was clear from the beginning.
Mask Plumbing Solutions did not need a long-term thought leadership programme or a constant stream of company announcements.
Ryan had relevant technical expertise, and there was a clear group of publications where that expertise could add value.
That allowed the campaign to remain focused on:
relevant journalist opportunities
credible home and interiors publications
genuinely useful plumbing advice
quality rather than volume
It is also a useful example of why PR results should be judged against the original brief.
Five articles would be a very different outcome for a 12 or 18-month campaign designed to generate ongoing visibility.
For a three-month project where the client only wanted a handful of credible articles, it was much closer to exactly what the campaign was designed to achieve.
Expert PR for a trade business
Plumbing companies do not necessarily appear to be obvious media businesses.
Most do not have regular product launches, celebrity spokespeople or major corporate announcements.
But they do possess something journalists regularly need: practical expertise.
Plumbers understand the problems people encounter in their homes, the mistakes homeowners make, changing technology, renovation considerations and the technical issues behind everyday property decisions.
That expertise can provide a significant number of media angles when it is translated into useful consumer advice.
Mask Plumbing Solutions demonstrated that even a short campaign could turn that knowledge into coverage in some of the UK's best-known homes publications.
The outcome
Across a deliberately limited three-month project, Fair PR helped Mask Plumbing Solutions secure five relevant published media opportunities.
Coverage appeared in Grand Designs Magazine, Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful and Good Homes, covering subjects directly connected to Ryan Maskell's professional plumbing expertise.
The campaign was intentionally modest in scope.
The objective was not to generate the biggest possible coverage number. Mask Plumbing Solutions wanted a few good pieces of earned media, and the project delivered exactly that type of result.
It provides a useful example of how a trade business can use expert-led PR to turn practical professional knowledge into credible media coverage without committing to a long-term or high-volume campaign.
The results
Campaign
Mask Plumbing Solutions
Campaign length
3 months
Objective
Secure a small number of credible articles demonstrating Ryan Maskell's plumbing expertise
Expert
Ryan Maskell, Managing Director
Expertise
Plumbing, drainage, bathrooms, home systems and property maintenance
PR approach
Expert commentary and reactive journalist opportunities
Published media opportunities
5
Selected publications
Grand Designs Magazine, Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful and Good Homes
Campaign focus
A short, focused PR project prioritising relevant coverage rather than high volume
Could your trade expertise become a media opportunity?
Fair Public Relations helps trade businesses, founders and industry experts turn practical professional knowledge into credible earned media opportunities.
Whether your expertise sits in plumbing, heating, HVAC, construction or another home-service sector, we can identify the subjects journalists are already covering and help translate your experience into useful expert commentary.
Our campaigns can include expert commentary, reactive journalist opportunities, proactive pitching, business stories and wider media relations.
