Newsletter
Signup
Signup
Helping word-class experts share their expertise
Background
MRG Effitas is a world-leader in independent IT security efficacy testing, research and expertise.
It is recognised by renowned security vendors as the leading testing and assessment organisation in the NextGen, online banking, browser and cloud security spaces, and has become the partner of choice for organisations within these sectors around the world. Over its lifetime, MRG Effitas’ strategy has been to invest heavily into expertise and innovation, with the result that it is at the leading edge of efficacy assessment and testing, with unique competence in current and future challenges such as NextGen and WAF testing.The Effitas challenge
MRG Effitas is an extraordinary company. With staff numbers around only low double figures it is one of the most authoritative and respected firms in its sector, anywhere in the world. It is a rewarding company to work for – one that cherishes research and independent study and allows employees to develop their expertise and pursue their interests with a degree of freedom that they are quick to praise.
Over the lifetime of the business the Effitas leadership team has sought to capitalise on its growing reputation by investing heavily into expertise, ploughing resources into hiring and developing talent and backing research, ultimately ensuring the business is at the leading edge of its industry. Consequently, it has not prioritised marketing.
Even taken on a global scale, the expertise within the business is second to none. When we were approached by Effitas, we agreed with the leadership team that the business could do a lot more to share its expertise with customers, stakeholders and new markets.
Effitas needed its marketing to reflect the quality of its expertise, and deserved a greater share of voice in its sector.
Furthermore, Effitas is now so authoritative within its field that blue chip consultancies are beginning to cite its research, while Venture Capital firms treat its stamp of approval on the products of security tech start-ups as an indicator of readiness for investment or preparation for an IPO.
Effitas is its own marketing goldmine. We see our role as facilitating the team’s communication and thought leadership – a phrase too often used but in this case justified.
Our work
Website
Total website design and development: UX, content hubs, user-friendly access to content libraries, look and feel, tone of voice etc.
After extensive consultation and discovery sessions with the senior Effitas team, we created a look and feel for the website that suggests cutting edge research blended with a sense of stability and pedigree.
We cleaned up and professionalised the site and created a more intuitive and rewarding user experience.
As a leading research firm, Effitas produces a number of different types of content which can be presented and tagged on the website in a variety of ways, which in the past led to unnecessary complexity and some inconsistency.
We created a new set of classifications for the dynamic content and built the site around content hubs so that all relevant research, news, blogs and certifications posted to the site are associated with the relevant subject area, but are also discoverable through their classification as a type of content. We produced a guidance document that shows the team how to add any content beyond our purview, or in their own time if they wish.“In The Box are first class specialists in copy, communications, creative and web design, with excellent ideas, sound knowledge and real talent. They’re also great people who are easy and rewarding to work with.”
The website is now more effective as an educational resource which foregrounds Effitas’ ground-breaking research, with a user-friendly structure and clearly signposted content. The company now uses new or refreshed social channels to share and publish research, curated and related content.
We have also helped Effitas to unlock the considerable goodwill that exists towards them within a highly competitive industry, having created some case studies in collaboration with their clients who greatly respect their work and expertise.
Social Media
We have re-written the LinkedIn content and simplified the company’s presence on the platform, and created and launched a new corporate Twitter feed which we help the team to manage.
Managed Services
We are the retained marketing communications partner for Effitas, providing support with the team’s marketing communications, PR and occasional design and other ad hoc projects. As such we are helping them evolve their market proposition, with marketing responsibility for strategic positioning that could add significantly to the business’s value stream as growth enablers able to partner with or advise Venture Capital or blue chip research firms, or facilitate IPOs for burgeoning technical start-ups.
Branding
Ongoing refresh of the brand and a slow evolution towards a different identity.
Strategy
Market positioning strategy: supporting proposition development with marketing and helping to articulate the market proposition to new market segments.
Stakeholder marketing
Helping to identify and clarify the mission/vision internally and encapsulating and articulating goodwill (customers and employees). Helping to ensure employees buy into the vision and values and articulate their goodwill.
Chris Pickard
CEO, Effitas Group / MRG Effitas
As the CEO of a business that works with complex technology in a specialist market I need a marketing agency that can communicate with a niche audience whilst making complex messages simple. When I engaged with In The Box Marketing I knew their credentials but did not anticipate the positive impact they would have on the business.
Their in-depth discovery sessions came with a significant level of insight that gave the team here a renewed sense of what the business is really for. This was a revelation at a strategic level that has changed how I think about the business. The ongoing marketing support from In The Box for branding, web design, content and social media is first class, but I am particularly impressed by how they always play to the bigger picture and take a strategic approach to marketing tasks large or small. I have huge trust for the team at In The Box Marketing and often use them as a sanity check. I would not hesitate to recommend them.”