Informing influencers’ opinions

Informing influencers’ opinions

Informing Influencer’s Opinions

Concirrus is a UK insurtech which offers digital solutions for speciality fields of insurance — namely, marine and automotive.

Their product, Quest, is made for the marine market and allows insurers to calculate risk more accurately through the use of large sets of historical data, machine learning and artificial intelligence..

Concirrus

Concirrus Case Study – Analyst Relations

EC-PR Quote marks“EC-PR’S AR programme has helped us get in front of some of the most influential industry thinkers in insurtech and started to build their advocacy and buy into our vision.

“The greatest impact AR has had on our business is related to the quality of feedback and insights gathered during industry analyst briefings. These have been instrumental in shaping our new company messaging and proposition. Without AR, Concirrus would not have been able to put in place an ambitious quarterly analyst engagement programme that we’re looking to elevate further in 2022.”

Andrew Yeoman, CEO of Concirrus

Dangers and Desires

We were already partnering with Concirrus in a campaign to supercharge its brand awareness amid the launch of Quest. The campaign was proving very successful and generating a large amount of earned media coverage, accelerating Concirrus to the status of insurance market leader.

The company had ambitions to scale and expand into other speciality sectors outside of marine. To do this, it needed to boost awareness of its brand among influential people in the industry. Having already worked with us and seeing the results we could achieve, Concirrus chose us to help them in this new area too.

Design

For Concirrus to increase its reach across industries and build its reputation, it needed to engage with industry analysts. Industry analysts are key individuals who are pivotal to a company’s success. Their opinions are well-documented and highly valued on a large scale.

Concirrus was relatively new to the market and, at the point of our engagement, was therefore largely unknown in the industry analyst community.

Campaign delivery

  • Analyst audit
  • Analyst relations training
  • Analyst briefings
  • Results monitoring

Analyst audit

To kick things off, we wanted to know the extent of the existing awareness, so we conducted an analyst audit. The results showed a very low awareness of Concirrus among industry analysts.

Those who had heard of Concirrus generally had only heard of the company in the context of marine, and no other insurance sectors.

We proposed a long-term programme designed to:

  1. Raise awareness of Concirrus in the analyst community
  2. Influence analysts’ perception of Concirrus and its portfolio.

Analyst relations training

Stage one of executing the programme involved us conducting analyst relations training with key members of the Concirrus team. We also created a tailored and tiered list of analysts we wanted to reach.

Stage two saw the implementation of a quarterly programme. This comprised regular analyst briefings with key analyst firms, and a quarterly analyst newsletter.

Our aims were:

  • To build close relationships with our top target analysts through regular contact
  • Raise awareness of the Concirrus brand among the wider analyst community through the newsletter.

Within the first year, we conducted 17 analyst briefings with 9 analyst firms and 14 analysts.

We also facilitated analyst pre-briefings ahead of a major acquisition announcement. And, for the purpose of specific analyst reports, we facilitated engagement with two additional analyst firms.

Results monitoring

The analyst audit was repeated a year after the first to measure what, if anything, had changed regarding awareness and perception. In just 12 months, Concirrus’ awareness among analysts increased on average from 1.9 to 3.6 (on a scale from 1 to 5).

Areas, where awareness was strongest, were Concirrus’ business strategy and value proposition, meaning that the brand wasn’t just better known — it was also better understood.

All analysts surveyed were either very likely (71%) or extremely likely (29%) to recommend Concirrus to their clients. This was in stark contrast to the results of the first audit, conducted before the analyst relations programme when the most common reply was ‘don’t know’.

Analysts also saw the Concirrus analyst relations programme in a very positive light, awarding it an average score of 4.25 out of 5. They gave the analyst briefings 4.6.

Distinction

As a result of the analyst relations programme, Concirrus is now very much on the map and front of mind among influencers. Through being associated with key individuals who are shaping the thinking within the insurance community, Concirrus achieved increased respect and a much-improved profile.

Altogether, the analyst relations work propelled awareness of the company, which is now considered a forerunner in all its specialist sectors.

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Our Case Studies

We work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and goals, and develop tailored strategies that deliver measurable results.

Our case studies showcase a range of successful projects, including increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and establishing thought leadership in their respective industries.

Our experienced PR professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they bring to each project, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service. We use a data-driven approach to track and measure the success of each campaign, providing our clients with clear and transparent reporting.

Whether you are a start-up or an established business, our case studies demonstrate the value of effective PR and the impact it can have on your business.

XTM International

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AzteQ CUBe

Achieving Clarity Through Strategy

A strategy for standout success

A strategy for standout success

A Strategy For Standout Success

Believing passionately about the world’s transition to net zero, ITPEnergised is a team of technical consultants who work with their clients to deliver renewables asset management services and expert advice on all environmental matters.

Through guiding their clients on issues relating to energy, environmental impact and engineering, they facilitate the transition to net zero.

The company has unparalleled experience and provides consulting services to over 2500 small to large scale projects across 150 countries.

ITPEnergised

ITP Energised Case Study

EC-PR Quote marks“Thanks to EC-PR’s support, we now have a blueprint which clearly defines how sales and marketing will assist us in delivering the business plan, providing us with clarity as to where we need to invest our resources for greatest impact. We now feel a sense of empowerment, and it has renewed passion and pride in what makes the ITPEnergised brand so special.”

Jonny Clark

Managing Director, ITPEnergised

Dangers and Desires

At the helm of ITPEnergised is Jonny Clark, an ambitious and visionary Managing Director focused on business growth. Jonny recognised that to achieve his business growth goals, certain aspects of the business required immediate attention.

The absence of a clear communication strategy meant there was a lack of consistency when it came to communicating with the target audience. The organisation had no clear line on how it differentiated itself from competitors, nor on why customers should care whether they worked with ITPEnergised or someone else.

Jonny chose to work with EC-PR because of our experience and track record in building marketing strategies and providing companies with a blueprint for how to achieve marketing and communications success.

Design

Developing a communication strategy means starting at the beginning and addressing the key questions surrounding the personality of the brand and how it wants to be perceived by the target audience.

A collaborative approach was needed here, with our role being facilitator. We proposed a fact-finding, research-led route to discover the values that lay at the heart of the company.

Campaign delivery

  • Messaging Lab workshops
  • Communication strategy
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Validation research

Messaging lab workshop

The first step to building the new communication strategy for ITPEnergised was to hold Messaging Lab workshops. In these sessions, we worked closely with the organisation’s senior leadership team to discover how they viewed the company, what they felt the key differentiators were and who they saw as their main target customers.

Communication strategy

The resulting communication strategy featured five key components:

The value proposition

This inspired ITPEnergised to recall what drove them from the start. In working with them to refine their value proposition, we helped them create a simple statement that defined them as a company and differentiated them from competitors.

Target customer personas

Companies can get lost in the everyday melee, forgetting which kind of customer it is that brings them the greatest return, in terms of profitability and satisfaction. Through this exercise, ITPEnergised was able to define which type of customers they really wanted to focus their energies on attracting.

Positioning statements

The next stage on from defining target customer personas was to create a positioning statement bespoke to each one. This addressed the key pain points the customer typically experienced and explained how the company could offer solutions and reassurance to ease this pain.

Key messaging

Ensuring they were reflective of their positioning statements, we worked with ITPEnergised’s senior team to agree on their key messaging — what it was they wanted their customers to understand about them. This information fed into the communication strategy, providing angles for narrative.

Industry prioritisation

Like every business, ITPEnergised did not have endless marketing budgets. This meant they needed to drill down on the industries most important to them. Doing this gave them direction in where to focus their attention when it came to marketing activity.

Validation research

Engaging external stakeholders is an important aspect of building a communication strategy. That’s why we conducted validation research amongst a small group of ITPEnergised’s customers — to ensure the strategy was in line with their perceptions.

Distinction

The communication strategy we built now forms the backbone of all ITPEnergised’s marketing activity. It offers clarity and guidance on communication and gives the company a clear way forward, providing a much-needed structure that was previously lacking.

Much more than just a comms strategy

ITPEnergised’s Managing Director commented that thanks to EC-PR’s support, the organisation has been given a renewed sense of empowerment and pride in what makes their brand so special.

From our point of view, it was a privilege to be involved in a project with a company whose work is so important to the world we live in and we’re delighted we could make such a positive difference to how they view themselves.

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Our Case Studies

We work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and goals, and develop tailored strategies that deliver measurable results.

Our case studies showcase a range of successful projects, including increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and establishing thought leadership in their respective industries.

Our experienced PR professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they bring to each project, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service. We use a data-driven approach to track and measure the success of each campaign, providing our clients with clear and transparent reporting.

Whether you are a start-up or an established business, our case studies demonstrate the value of effective PR and the impact it can have on your business.

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Concirrus

Igniting Interest in Insurtech Startup

Rock solid authority

Rock solid authority

Rock Solid Authority

A unique mining and exploration software and a Bentley Systems Company, Seequent is a pedigree in the Industrial Minerals (IM) mining sector.

Seequent has a proven, end-to-end workflow solution that unites all disciplines of geology, mine planning, and production.

Seequent

Seequent Case Study

EC-PR Quote marks“The roundtable and insight paper by EC-PR provided a platform for Seequent to share a clear message on effective data management with an important and influential audience. Working with EC-PR has allowed us to increase our share of voice in a new market. We grew our audience and engagement through an impactful thought leadership content strategy.”

Jessica Nussbaumer, Segment Marketing Manager, Exploration and Production, Seequent

Knowing the software would deliver exceptional value to its target audience, Seequent hoped to raise awareness amongst IM mining companies.
Here’s how EC-PR increased Seequent’s share of voice in a new market and grew audience engagement through impactful thought leadership and content strategy.

Dangers and Desires

Seequent’s USP and offering are best suited to supporting IM companies with challenges caused by digital transformation. While companies grasp the need to integrate technological advances as soon as possible, doing so across geographically dispersed teams with an extensive practical element can be a headache.

To remediate the headache, Seequent offers digital tools, fit for purpose, that are cost effective and resource efficient. Plus, the company supports IM entities during the digital transitioning. Confident with its strong offering of proven solutions, Seequent began looking to expand its visibility and grow its market share in IM mining.

Seequent approached EC-PR in 2021 to build its brand.

Design

Seequent first tasked EC-PR with generating engagement among key target stakeholders and influencers. Aiming to build the organization’s profile in the niche mining sector, EC-PR proposed a strategic approach.

The plan started with a light-touch communication strategy and a Media Lens competitive media analysis. Together, these initiatives enabled EC-PR to develop compelling ideas on which to build the campaign narrative.

Strategy design

  • Thought leadership articles
  • Press interviews
  • An insight paper
  • Media relations with key media outlets
  • An expert roundtable

Expert roundtable

EC-PR proposed a roundtable to focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) themes and digital transformation. Initially, outreach conducted ensured the roundtable would effectively target key stakeholders because, without expert participation, the roundtable would not draw decision-makers who are true prospects for Seequel.

Having secured a star-studded panel including Colin Church, CEO of the IOM3 trade body, Leah Wilson, VP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Imerys, Rainer Westerman, Lhoist’s Group Geology and Mining Director, Liv Carroll, Managing Director and Applied Intelligence Mining Lead at Accenture, and Craig Guthrie, Editor of top tier trade press title Mining Magazine — Seequel was ready to launch its ESG Roundtable.

Insight paper

Following the roundtable, EC-PR developed an insight paper to capture the key discussion points from the event. This was then circulated to IM mining stakeholders and leaders in the industry. We hosted both the roundtable and paper on Seequent’s website.

Subsequently, we promoted the insights from the roundtable and insight paper via a sustained campaign on LinkedIn, supported by engagement from industry influencers, the company leadership team. We, of course, ensured that press contacts of EC-PR’s helped boost its reach.

Article placements

EC-PR secured several by-line article placements for Seequent in leading global IM trade media titles. These included AT Mineral Processing, Global Mining Review, IOM3’s Materials World and Mining Review Africa, giving the software brand an authoritative voice on ESG and digital transformation amongst global IM readership.

Article coverage lasted for twelve months, providing continued opportunities to share the thought leadership across social and digital media to maintain Seequent’s share of voice for at least a calendar year.

Distinction

As a result of the roundtable and insight paper, Seequent achieved ongoing engagement with influential experts and commentators in the IM sector. Content from the event continued to generate conversation in the months following the roundtable, with commentators sharing content across their digital channels.

Online engagement for the roundtable and the paper also achieved significant reach, with the roundtable posted as a live webinar on LinkedIn, attracting over 300 registrations. Simultaneously, the insight paper achieved more than 300 downloads.

In conjunction with the roundtable and paper, supported by a comprehensive thought leadership programme, Seequent’s brand visibility skyrocketed. The software brand now holds an expanded influential network within Industrial Minerals.

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Our Case Studies

We work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and goals, and develop tailored strategies that deliver measurable results.

Our case studies showcase a range of successful projects, including increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and establishing thought leadership in their respective industries.

Our experienced PR professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they bring to each project, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service. We use a data-driven approach to track and measure the success of each campaign, providing our clients with clear and transparent reporting.

Whether you are a start-up or an established business, our case studies demonstrate the value of effective PR and the impact it can have on your business.

XTM International

Making SaaS Marketing Marvellous

ITPEnergised

Net Zero Heroes

2i

Building a Bolder Brand

AzteQ CUBe

Achieving Clarity Through Strategy

Building a burgeoning brand

Building a burgeoning brand

Building A Burgeoning Brand

Predatar provides data resiliency SaaS solutions that enable traditional value added resellers (VARs) to rapidly evolve into profitable and sustainable managed service providers (MSPs) by delivering their own-branded data protection offerings.

CEO, Alistair Mackenzie has been instrumental in developing the Predatar brand.

A visionary leader with a strong interest in marketing communications, Alistair is the former MD of Silverstring. It was during his time overseeing Silverstring’s transformation that Alistair recognised the requirement in the market for this service.

Predatar

Predatar Case Study

EC-PR Quote marks“EC-PR has really focused on understanding the business, and it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t just about building brand awareness – we needed to have absolute clarity around our value proposition and our messaging throughout the different stages of the buying cycle.

“EC-PR helped us to formulate this, which was instrumental to ensuring the brand awareness campaign was aligned and laser-focused on our target audiences.

“Tenacious and challenging, coupled with a great spirit, Lorraine and Liz are committed to raising the bar and delivering a PR programme that is dynamic and impactful.”

Alistair Mackenzie

CEO, Predatar

Dangers and Desires

With more than 17,000 competitors in the SaaS industry, standing out from the crowd is a huge challenge.

Alistair needed to find a way to build brand awareness and credibility quickly among ambitious CEOs of VARs who were looking to evolve and expand into MSPs.

Articulating the brand’s vision for supporting business transformation and engaging with its key target audience were pivotal to Predatar’s success. Predatar came to EC-PR to ask for our help, as we were known in the industry for supporting brands with building awareness and kudos

Design

For this campaign to yield the right results, we needed to identify key players in the IT industry and create engaging and thought-provoking content that would position Predatar as the expert in SaaS solutions for business expansion and transformation.

Campaign delivery

  • Communication strategy
  • Roundtables
  • Whitepapers
  • LinkedIn articles
  • Thought leadership articles

Communication strategy

In a market that is saturated with competitors all vying for attention, developing a communication strategy that would cut through the noise and penetrate the places that mattered, was essential in communicating Predatar’s concept to those who would benefit the most.

Identifying key individuals was pivotal to building Predatar’s credibility in the market. Focusing on the pain points of business transformation and the aspirations of ambitious VARs through a series of communication methods allowed Predatar to develop a trusted voice, articulate its vision and encourage engagement among key industry players.

Roundtables

EC-PR proposed two roundtable events that would focus on the pain points and challenges VARs faced when it came to evolving and transforming their business model.

The first step was to ensure the roundtable would effectively target those we wanted to engage with most. Securing expert participation was therefore essential to this work, as was attracting key decision-makers to ensure that awareness of the Predatar brand reached the right prospects.

With participation secured, Predatar was ready to be catapulted into the IT hemisphere.

Whitepaper

Capturing the attention of key decision makers in VAR businesses was crucial to the success of Predatar’s business. Therefore, we set about creating and launching a whitepaper that focused on hard-hitting insights and data that would position Predatar as leaders in the SaaS solutions industry, while harnessing credibility among its target audience.

LinkedIn articles

To help maximise exposure of Predatar’s offer, we utilised the power of LinkedIn to target key individuals and decision-makers in VAR businesses.

Focusing on the themes and information that would most closely resonate with Predatar’s target audience, we created a bank of LinkedIn articles that were posted to Predatar’s company account and delivered directly to a carefully curated list of recipients.

Thought leadership articles

We produced a series of thought leadership articles, which addressed the challenges facing VARs who were looking to transform to MSPs, providing them with the ideal solution in the form of the Predatar concept.

Our articles were expertly crafted to target specific trade media with audiences in Predatar’s key industry sectors.

Distinction

As a result of EC-PR’s work, Predatar has become a leading voice in the SaaS solutions market, experiencing increased growth across all areas of its business. The firm’s offering to its VAR customers is well-known and highly respected in the industry, making them a force to be reckoned with against even the biggest players in the market.

As well as building brand awareness, the campaign provided Predatar with much-needed clarity around the alignment of their own communications and operational phases, which allowed them to flourish further and with confidence.

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Show your brand’s mettle and grow it into its memorable, gorgeous potential.

Our Case Studies

We work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and goals, and develop tailored strategies that deliver measurable results.

Our case studies showcase a range of successful projects, including increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and establishing thought leadership in their respective industries.

Our experienced PR professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they bring to each project, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service. We use a data-driven approach to track and measure the success of each campaign, providing our clients with clear and transparent reporting.

Whether you are a start-up or an established business, our case studies demonstrate the value of effective PR and the impact it can have on your business.

XTM International

Making SaaS Marketing Marvellous

ITPEnergised

Net Zero Heroes

2i

Building a Bolder Brand

AzteQ CUBe

Achieving Clarity Through Strategy

Global award ambitions achieved

Global award ambitions achieved

Global Award Ambitions Achieved

ResQ is a leading contact centre with over 2,000 employees across three UK-based sites.

The company, which was founded in 2006, helps clients, which include Scottish Power, EE and Vodafone, to grow and nurture their customer base.

The number one priority for the ResQ team is to provide their clients with a world-class experience — something they achieve through their genuinely passionate team and innovative cloud technology.

ResQ

ResQ Case Study

EC-PR Quote marks“Award entries can be a big-time investment. Therefore, it’s important to think strategically about which categories to enter and make sure they’re done well! EC-PR’s collaborative approach, coupled with their ability to extract the required information from the business and distil it into a submission that would impress the judges was invaluable support. 2022 has been an award-winning year for ResQ in which EC-PR played an important role in these wins.”

Chief Marketing Officer, ResQ

Dangers and Desires

There was no doubt that ResQ could boast an impressive service and team of people, but what they lacked was the time to shout about it. They had all the potential to be award winners, but none of the time to nominate themselves.

The company realised what they were missing — according to the British Quality Foundation, small businesses which win awards can see a 63% increase in income as a result; large companies can see a 45% increase.

By not entering awards, ResQ risked falling into comparative obscurity against competitors who were investing time in awards. Yet, nominating themselves meant further stretching an already-stretched marketing department.

The good news was that ResQ recognised the importance of its objective and acknowledged its limits in achieving it. This meant they understood the need to seek external help from the experts.

Design

On appointment, the first thing we did was to identify ResQ’s core target accolades, which was a mixture of prestigious industry and local business awards. Our goal was to collate all the information needed to craft the nominations on behalf of ResQ and, ultimately, be shortlisted and win as many of the target accolades as possible within the campaign’s duration.

Campaign delivery

  • Identify target awards
  • Craft entries
  • Create a timeline
  • Win awards!

Identify target awards

Working closely with ResQ’s senior team, we established their vision for award entries/wins. Their target list of 10 included:

  • The European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards 2021 (ECCCSAs)
  • The UK National Contact Centre Awards 2021 and 2022 (UKNCCA organised by the CCMA)
  • UK Contact Centre Forum (UKCCF) Awards 2022
  • North East Contact Centre Awards 2021 (NECCA)
  • Hull Live Business Awards 2022

Craft entries

We suggested that to help ResQ achieve their goal of entering and winning awards without losing precious time, we would support in the drafting, editing and finalising of 10 targeted award entries. We would also offer editing support on an additional two award entries.

Create a timeline

To ensure we worked together effectively and everyone knew the deadlines, responsibilities and expectations, we created a clear timeline over the 12 weeks before the first submission was due. This allowed time for up to three rounds of edits to make sure the timelines were realistic and that the best possible work could be produced.

We also put forward our recommendations for key areas to focus on, which we carefully aligned with guidelines for judging criteria, and advised on supporting assets to strengthen the entries.

Tangible triumphs

Out of the 10 award entries we wrote for ResQ, they were shortlisted for 9.

Successes included:

UKNCCA 2022

  • Gold Award for Best Health & Wellbeing Programme
  • Gold Award for Most Effective Colleague Engagement Programme
  • Bronze Award for Outsourced Contact Centre of the Year

UKNCCA 2021

  • Silver Award for Best Health & Wellbeing Programme

UKCCF 2022

  • Gold Award for Recruitment Team of the Year

North East Contact Centre Awards 2021

  • Shortlisted for People Engagement Award

Hull Live Business Awards 2022

  • Business of the Year Award (over 51 employees)

Distinction

From picking up just one silver award at the UKNCCA awards in 2021, with our help, ResQ received two gold and one bronze award from the same awarding body in 2022.

The top wins were for ‘Best Health & Wellbeing Programme’ and ‘Most Effective Colleague Engagement Programme’ — exactly the areas ResQ wanted to be recognised for, as these categories highlighted the lengths the company went to support their team.

ResQ can now proudly call itself a ‘multiple gold award-winner’, and we are delighted to have played a key role in that.

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Show your brand’s mettle and grow it into its memorable, gorgeous potential.

Our Case Studies

We work closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and goals, and develop tailored strategies that deliver measurable results.

Our case studies showcase a range of successful projects, including increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and establishing thought leadership in their respective industries.

Our experienced PR professionals have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they bring to each project, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service. We use a data-driven approach to track and measure the success of each campaign, providing our clients with clear and transparent reporting.

Whether you are a start-up or an established business, our case studies demonstrate the value of effective PR and the impact it can have on your business.

XTM International

Making SaaS Marketing Marvellous

ITPEnergised

Net Zero Heroes

2i

Building a Bolder Brand

AzteQ CUBe

Achieving Clarity Through Strategy