Attracting regional SMEs looking for funding from CWRT

By highlighting the availability of start-up loans and business support, through media relations, SEO, social media support and onsite content creation, Vitis PR increased awareness of the Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust ensuring that SMEs had access to funding with which to launch innovative services and products.

Background

The Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust is a CDFI (community development
financial institution) that wanted to increase the profile of its start-up and small business funds in order to encourage more applications and improve its profile from bodies that award funding.

Challenges

CWRT’s team was faced with the following challenges:

  • Need to increase brand awareness of CWRT in a market with a number of different funding options
  • Deliver media recognition (and therefore reader recognition) of the companies that
    successfully received funding to encourage others to apply. All this while acknowledging that print media was shrinking so other approaches were necessary to reach targets
  • Maximise effectiveness of marketing assets, and identify other asset requirements

Solution

Working closely with the CWRT team, Vitis PR ensured the following:

  •  Clear messages for communication
  •  Schedule of announcements
  •  Understanding of current social media and SEO position
  • Identification and creation of good case studies that highlighted the benefits of the funding
  • Other collateral such as images were available

Specific activity included:

  • Press releases
  • Customer stories
  • Content offered to advisors
  • CWRT blog
  • Online – social and search

Results

Vitis PR:

  • Raised profile of fund amongst regional stakeholders who provide finances
  • Created pipeline of news stories and case studies
  • Ran successful Adwords, SEO, social campaigns around events and funds on Facebook and Twitter to generate leads for start-up loans
  • Created landing page to encourage conversions
  • Streamlined and managed existing website, including blog
  • Media coverage in regional publications including Midlands Business Insider, Coventry and Warks Chamber News, Coventry Telegraph, The Business Desk, Stratford Upon Avon Herald, Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, Leamington Courier, Nuneaton News and more
  • SEO results included:
    On page two for terms start-up and start up loans within three months
    Organic search with people search for specific terms – increased by 35.5% and     direct traffic 7.44% compared to previous year

“A big thank you to you and your team for all your hard work with helping CWRT’s PR and web activities – it’s been a great experience working with you and creating a good marketing foundation for CWRT to grow on..”

Sheridan Sulskis, CEO of Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust

Comments are closed.