Cutting through a crowded IT support market with print

A sponsored magazine, personalised direct mail and paid social that put a South East managed service provider in front of business leaders - and generated £1.2M of pipeline.

The brief

IT support is one of the most crowded markets in the UK, and most of the marketing in it says the same three things: responsive, proactive, trusted. Our client, a managed service provider operating across the South East, wanted to build net-new business against an ambitious revenue target for the year - and they didn't want to do it by shouting slightly louder than everybody else. They wanted to land in front of business leaders as somebody worth listening to.

What we did

We built a multi-touchpoint campaign around a printed magazine, blending offline and digital so that no single channel had to carry the whole thing on its own.

At the centre of it sits a magazine written for business leaders rather than IT buyers. The first edition looked at how IT support is changing and what businesses should look for in a partner. The second went broader - where to invest, the strategic questions IT leaders need to answer, and how to put guardrails around AI without slowing the business down. It's sponsored rather than stuffed: our client's branding runs through it, but the editorial earns its own place, which is exactly why it gets read rather than binned.

Every copy went out with a personalised letter, signed by the client, to a segmented mailing list built for the campaign. Before any of it landed, we ran LinkedIn advertising to warm the audience up, so that when the pack arrived the logo on the front wasn't a stranger. Afterwards, one-to-one follow-up comms gave the sales team a natural reason to pick up the phone - they weren't cold-calling, they were following up on something the prospect had already had in their hands.

Edition two is now out, carrying named commentary from the client's own leadership team alongside the editorial. That's the honest proof point, frankly - nobody commissions a second magazine if the first one didn't do anything.

Key result

Pipeline generated

Services delivered

An offline-first campaign with the digital work built around it.

Campaign strategy

A multi-touchpoint plan built around print, with digital warming the audience before delivery.

Copywriting

Editorial written for business leaders, not IT buyers.

Design

Full magazine design, sponsored by the client rather than stuffed with product messaging.

Print production

End-to-end production of both editions and the personalised letter packs.

Direct mail

Personalised letters signed by the client, sent with every copy.

Data and list segmentation

A segmented mailing list built specifically for the campaign.

Paid social advertising

LinkedIn advertising run ahead of delivery so the brand landed warm.

Thought leadership

Named commentary from the client's leadership team in edition two.