THE BRIEF
In a rapidly changing world, the keys to business success are automation, digital transformation and improving customer experience. Championing such innovation, Visma | Onguard has evolved from 25+ years of experience in being a specialist in credit management software to being a market leader in cutting-edge software solutions for the entire order-to-cash chain.
Customers in more than 70 countries worldwide rely on the Visma | Onguard platform daily for successful management and tangible results in order-to-cash and credit management. With strong growth ambitions in the UK market, Visma | Onguard engaged Whiteoaks International at the beginning of 2018, with the aim of cementing its position as a market leader through strategic and measurable PR tactics.
Having initially signed on to a 6-month scope of work, Onguard has since retained Whiteoaks to deliver PR campaigns on a yearly basis, with the varied scope of media relations and thought leadership delivering consistent levels of coverage in core publications.
pieces of coverage achieved across the 12-month period
key messages in coverage
research whitepapers
THE APPROACH
In its third year of working with Whiteoaks, the launch of Visma | Onguard’s annual Fintech Barometer study in early spring coincided with the first peak of the Covid-19 pandemic throughout Europe. With lockdowns in place and uncertainty lying ahead, the competition for media placements was at an all-time high.
Whiteoaks worked with Visma | Onguard to leverage the results in a way which created compelling story lines, securing coverage in key UK industry publications such as Finance Derivative and Financial IT. Whiteoaks also worked to reinvent the planned physical launch event for the barometer due to lockdown restrictions, working with Visma | Onguard to develop an interactive virtual session, inviting members of top tier press to receive a preview of the findings ahead of the first release being issued.
Running parallel to the dissemination of the research results, Whiteoaks also supported in the creation of SEO-optimised blog posts for the Visma | Onguard website on a range of hot topics, including a new dedicated Q&A series solving customer FAQs. The second and fourth blogs in this series were the top read blogs on the Visma | Onguard website in 2020, accounting for over 1,000 views combined since publication.
These were complemented by a series of insightful and value-adding thought leadership articles, drafted by Whiteoaks and by-lined to key Visma | Onguard spokespeople. With topics ranging from future-proofing credit management to the importance of digitisation in the accounts receivable department, these were driven in part by the needs of the sales team, providing them with tangible proof points for directing prospects to, highlighting Visma | Onguard’s empathy with its target audience and unique understanding of the industry in which it operates.
Alongside PR, Whiteoaks also provides ongoing digital support, drafting content to promote UK coverage to be shared on the company’s dual-language Twitter channel, ensuring a consistent tone of voice for the UK market.
THE RESULTS
Since the partnership began in 2018, Whiteoaks has worked to help grow Visma | Onguard’s profile in the UK and beyond. Despite the challenges of 2020, Whiteoaks ended the campaign above target for the third year in a row, with 52 pieces of coverage achieved across the 12-month period, which included 125 references to the company’s key messages.
During the 2020 campaign, Whiteoaks also delivered three research whitepapers, 21 website blogs, one new customer case study and supported on the distribution of a range of different corporate news stories, from the acquisition of Onguard by the Visma Group to key hires and partnership wins throughout the year.
Alice Namtvedt, Marketer at Visma | Onguard comments, “In what has been a turbulent and fast paced year, Whiteoaks has once again proven to be an invaluable partner. The team are a pleasure to work with and experts in what they do, demonstrating their close relationships with our core press through consistent and top-tier coverage. Whiteoaks’ insight into the media landscape helps us stay a step ahead of the curve with the content we are creating, and we look forward to future success working together.”
