In the spring of 2020, COVID-19 took hold around the United States. EH&E’s leaders watched as the CDC and WHO delivered slow, uneven guidance to essential services and business. Into this silence, EH&E stepped up and delivered the practical advice healthcare organizations were desperate for. They showed hospitals how to reconfigure their spaces to handle a deluge of patients, at the same time minimizing the risk to patients and staff.

Soon they were helping other organizations adapt. The YMCA and the American Camp Association reached out to EH&E to help them keep their camp youth and counselors out of harm’s way. And they collaborated with CVS to set up safe and effective coronavirus testing sites.

Producing content on an ongoing basis can be a challenge for busy firms. As part of our Visible Firm program, Hinge advised EH&E on content topics and wrote a significant portion of their content—including blog posts and executive guides—as they ramped up their internal resources.

We also researched guest blogging opportunities, pitched them and secured placements. This was a collaborative process with EH&E that resulted in several high-prestige opportunities, including publication in peer-reviewed industry journals like the ASHRAE Journal and FMJ.

COVID-19 had just taken hold across the country when a journalist discovered EH&E through a Google search and downloaded an executive guide Hinge had developed for the firm. He reached out for a story. That contact initiated an historic turn for the firm. They realized that they had an opportunity to build a wider reputation, so EH&E asked Hinge to help launch a public relations initiative.

We quickly put out a press release, which was picked up by 138 publications. Within three months, this exposure led to article placements in top industry publications, including C+S Engineering and Appliance and HVAC Report. We also invited over 500 journalists to a virtual town hall meeting with EH&E and the American Camp Association to discuss COVID and summer camps. The event provided additional media exposure for the firm, positioned them as the go-to firm for virus-related facility engineering and provided an entree to their next opportunity….

They say luck comes to the prepared. Long before a virus landed on our shores, Hinge had helped EH&E build the strategy, infrastructure and visibility that gave this 82-person engineering firm an outsized competitive advantage when disaster struck. As the crisis emerged, EH&E had the reputation and visibility to credibly lead affected organizations through this unprecedented challenge.

With Hinge’s help, the firm was able to pivot quickly to hospitals, then camps and then schools—their largest audience of all. EH&E was able to address one of the nation’s biggest challenges because they had built a powerful, responsive marketing platform. And when EH&E needed support, Hinge was right there beside them to guide them through a fast-changing marketplace. Today, EH&E is the healthcare industry’s go-to firm for COVID-related facility design—and a major consultant to K-12 institutions across the country.