Challenge
Our client, Ecentric Payment Systems, is a leading payments provider which processes 20% of South Africa’s card transactions and serves as trusted payments partner to 65% of the JSE listed retailers, serving their in-person, online, mobile and omnichannel payments requirements.
At the start of May 2023, Ecentric’s customer base was specifically targeted towards tier one retailers across South Africa. To align with their commercial goals, Ecentric partnered with DUO to utilise PR and digital marketing to broaden its customer base towards mid-market retailers. With this shift, mid-market retailers would be able to leverage the same best-of-breed technology as trusted by leading retailers across the country.
The challenge was that although Ecentric already had a top tier client base, they had minimal brand awareness in the payments and retail industries.
PR for brand credibility, Digital for targeted reach
In addition to building broader brand credibility for Ecentric through Public Relations, digital marketing was a key channel to reach mid-market retailers. As a foundation to test the effectiveness of digital marketing, DUO recommended implementing monthly LinkedIn advertising campaigns targeted towards mid-market retail businesses in South Africa. This allowed Ecentric to showcase its various payment solutions and the benefits thereof, through video content, thought leadership and imagery.
With their website being their global shop front for potential customers, DUO collaborated with Ecentric to refresh their website content and optimise SEO for searchability, which culminated in their new website being launched in February 2024.
Results
As part of our first phase of creating brand awareness and building credibility for Ecentric, DUO achieved the following results in the first 12 months:
- 119 Published articles from 19 pieces of content. Key wins include Business Day, BusinessTech, TechFinancials & Your Business Magazine.
- 9 Media interviews, highlights include eNCA, SAFM, Smile FM and Channel Africa.
- 3 Speaker opportunities including Fintech Summit Africa, Cross Border Payments & Africa Tech Festival.
- 120+ Organic social posts drafted and published. Resulting in 78,559 organic impressions and 877 new followers.
- 6 LinkedIn Advertising Campaigns with B2B messaging & product specific focus areas. Resulting in 522,395 impressions and a reach of 394,549 individuals.
- Spokesperson profiling & LinkedIn audits completed for 10 of Ecentric’s Executives
Only once a strong foundation of brand awareness and credibility had been established for Ecentric, DUO was then able to shift gears towards using digital marketing for lead generation.
Through testing LinkedIn as a primary digital marketing channel over the last 12 months, Ecentric officially launched its first integrated digital lead generation campaign in February 2024, specifically for its ReconAssist solution. This included an advertising campaign with a commercial incentive of a 3-month free trial for new customers.
While LinkedIn Advertising was the primary foundation for the overall campaign, banner advertising on News24 and Bizcommunity, Google Ads, as well as advertorial content as utilised with the commercial incentive and a strong call to action.
Measured against Google Analytics, the integrated digital campaign secured 1,728 clicks to the ReconAssist website, reached 87,987 unique individuals and 264,798 paid impressions.
Highlights
This integrated digital campaign has allowed Ecentric to reach new customers across a variety of digital platforms and broaden its customer base to mid-market retailers, while still utilising PR to drive credibility for the business. A key outcome from the campaign was the refinement of Ecentric’s audience across its digital marketing channels, ensuring that investment into lead generation produces a strong ROI for our client.
Reflecting on Ecentric’s partnership with DUO, Rory Bosman, Sales and Marketing Executive says that “Working with DUO has had a big impact on our brand. Ecentric used to be South Africa’s best-kept secret in payments… not anymore. From day one, DUO’s strategic PR and digital marketing approach boosted our credibility through targeted media, content creation, thought-leadership, and speaking opportunities.
They’ve seamlessly connected Public Relations with digital marketing, strengthening our online presence and delivering measurable results. From our partnership with DUO, Ecentric has improved its position as a leader and trusted payments solution provider in South Africa’s payments industry.”
Looking to boost your exposure, and credibility across consumer, SMME and enterprise audiences? Contact DUO to chat about the potential of an integrated B2B and B2C Public Relations campaign to give your tech innovation and expertise a voice in the market.
