CEIC Wales: Driving Business Engagement

CEIC Wales delivers training programmes designed to help organisations understand and implement circular economy principles.

Following successful programmes aimed at the public and third sector, CEIC Wales expanded its offering to include commercial businesses for the first time, launching two new programmes in Cardiff and Swansea in early 2024.

Encore Communications was appointed to deliver a marketing and communications campaign designed to:

• Raise awareness of the CEIC Wales programmes
• Improve understanding of the circular economy and its relevance to businesses
• Drive website traffic and convert interest into course registrations

The campaign ran from January to February 2024, supported by preparatory work during December to ensure awareness began building before programme recruitment deadlines.

Several factors created complexity for the campaign:

Limited awareness of the circular economy among business audiences, meaning education was required alongside promotion.

Tight recruitment timelines, particularly for the Cardiff programme, requiring activity to begin during the pre-Christmas period to maximise reach.

A new target audience, as CEIC Wales had previously focused on public and third sector organisations rather than commercial businesses.

The need to reach geographically specific audiences in Cardiff and Swansea to support local programme delivery.

Multiple channels required to build both credibility and awareness among business leaders and sustainability professionals.

Encore developed a multi-channel communications strategy designed to combine awareness-building, education and direct response marketing.

Integrated campaign strategy

The campaign used a blend of organic, paid and earned media channels, including:

• Organic LinkedIn content
• LinkedIn sponsored campaigns
• Google PPC advertising
• Display advertising in regional business media
• Editorial coverage in regional publications
• Direct outreach to business organisations and local authorities
• A dedicated website landing page to track engagement and conversions

LinkedIn content strategy

Organic LinkedIn activity focused on educational and thought-leadership content, including:

• Explaining circular economy principles in accessible terms
• Highlighting sustainability challenges faced by businesses
• Sharing relevant third-party content with commentary from CEIC Wales
• Video and carousel content designed to improve engagement

Content was published at least twice per week throughout the campaign period.

Paid social campaigns

Three LinkedIn advertising campaigns were launched:

• A video-led sustainability awareness campaign
• A follower growth campaign
• A targeted InMail campaign promoting programme enrolment

Campaigns were optimised throughout the period by adjusting job titles, targeting criteria and creative formats.

Search and remarketing

Google PPC campaigns targeted businesses searching for sustainability, circular economy and operational improvement topics.

Once engagement thresholds were reached, remarketing activity significantly expanded reach, driving a large increase in impressions and clicks.

Media relations

Encore secured regional media coverage highlighting the expansion of the CEIC Wales programme into the commercial sector.

Coverage appeared across regional news outlets, business media and local newsletters, helping reinforce credibility and awareness.

Dedicated campaign landing page

A dedicated landing page was created on the CEIC Wales website to:

• Centralise programme information
• Track traffic sources
• Measure engagement and user behaviour

This enabled detailed insight into how audiences discovered and interacted with the campaign.

The campaign delivered strong engagement across multiple channels and significantly increased

awareness of CEIC Wales’ programmes.

LinkedIn (Organic)

• Page followers increased by 198, reaching 1,136 total followers
• Organic content generated 470 reactions, 26 comments and 49 reposts
• Engagement increased 17–37% compared to previous periods
• Content successfully reached target geographic audiences, with Cardiff (42.3%) and Swansea (18.4%) the top locations

LinkedIn (Paid Campaigns)

Sustainability awareness campaign

• 63,480 impressions
• 194 clicks
• £2.67 cost per click
• 57,447 video views

Video completion rate increased from 11% to 29% following creative optimisation

InMail campaign

• 83% engagement rate
• £0.45 cost per send

Google PPC

Performance improved significantly over the campaign period.

• Cardiff campaign: CPC reduced from £8.83 to £6.63
• Swansea campaign: CPC reduced from £15.14 to £8.24

Remarketing activity generated:

• 219,665 impressions
• 2,818 clicks
• £0.06 cost per click

Website performance

Traffic to the programme landing page increased significantly:

• January: 1,095 users, 1,610 sessions
• February: 2,160 users, 2,898 sessions

This represents nearly 100% growth in traffic month-to-month.

Engagement also improved:

Events per session increased from 5.5 to 9.5

Visitors arriving via LinkedIn spent an average of 17 minutes on the site, indicating strong interest in programme content.

Media coverage

Media relations activity generated:

24 pieces of coverage, estimated 470,000 potential audience reach

Coverage appeared across regional news outlets, business publications and newsletters, driving significant, directly-attributable website traffic.

Display advertising

Newsletter sponsorships and display advertising generated strong visibility:

279,533 views on Wales Online Cardiff newsletter

368,063 views on Wales Online Swansea newsletter

Both campaigns generated click rates above average performance benchmarks for the platforms.