Case Study: Frank Smith at Context Public Relations

“CANDDi has delivered new business in excess of £100k in its first year with Context. To be clear, that is business we would not have seen without CANDDi over and above the normal referral business.”

Company background

Context is a PR and content marketing company that specializes in technology clients covering everything from cyber-security to e-commerce software and Internet of Things. Based in Macclesfield, just outside Manchester, the company has been helping tech companies raise their profile and drive sales since the early 90s. Context helps clients to achieve media coverage for their products and their expertise in leading technology, vertical and national media. With its knowledge of the tech sector Context also delivers content in the form of technology white papers, case studies and sales collateral. Social media is also a key part of the Context offering to help further share valuable content and reach key opinion formers and prospects. Over the last few years the business has increasingly developed an integrated PR and marketing service to its clients with notable success with some global players as well as some innovative SMEs.

“With the company launching a brand new website, we decided to take our marketing to the next level and we chose CANDDi because it offered detailed insights into our customer base.”

The Issue/Challenge Faced

Context approached CANDDi initially out of a desire to offer its clients a flexible marketing automation tool so that content marketing and PR could be seen as a business critical activity that drives conversion as well as conversations. They signed up initially with a view to gaining a better understanding of the product’s functionality so that they could help clients to get the best value out of the software. After a month’s trial they were able to see the value for Context’s own lead generation and nurturing programme.



Context had looked at a number of large global platforms but found them too restrictive and needing a long term, costly investment. Context MD Frank Smith commented:
“We wanted to use our preferred email marketing system, Mailchimp, and we have our own web developer and designer so we didn’t need many of the landing page generation features that other systems offered.”

“CANDDi has delivered new business in excess of £100k in its first year with Context. To be clear, that is business we would not have seen without CANDDi over and above the normal referral business. For the clients that use CANDDi they are not only deriving benefits themselves but also recommending it to their partners and customers. Not only that, they can show us what part of our work has delivered the best value… and want us to do more!”

CANDDi for Context Public Relations

Context uses CANDDi for its in house marketing programmes as well as offering the service to its clients. Frank added: “Until we installed CANDDi we were flying blind to some extent. We had no idea who was looking at our content and what kind of content was working and how much value we were getting out of our social media and PPC. It’s now an essential part of our new business process, and that of many of our clients. We get to see who has visited the site, what they have read, how long they stay and how often they come back. All of this gives you the sort of insight you need when it’s time to get in touch.” One of the most useful features to Context was the ability to track the results of their monthly e-letter. While Mailchimp gave them open rates and click through rates, CANDDi was able to deliver additional, valuable information to help manage and nurture leads.

The Benefits

“With CANDDi we have a new business machine which doesn’t soak up too much time and resource and delivers great value and insights to Context and to our clients.”

“You tend to change the way you do new business when you go down the CANDDi route. You spend less time just cold calling or doing catch up calls and only engage with leads when they have shown the behaviours that make them more amenable to an approach.”

Context has been able to win new business with the added intelligence that CANDDi gives and saves time wasted on calling prospects that were not in the market for its services at a given time. Just as importantly CANDDi has cemented the link between Context and a number of its clients by not only helping them drive new business but helping them see the value in the PR and content marketing services that Context delivers.


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