Cellulant recently partnered with Belva Digital to grow brand awareness, increase website traffic and improve on organic leads through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
If done well, content creation and SEO supports thought leadership and brand identity. By clearly laying out your branding story, you can raise awareness and become a recognizable brand. This makes SEO a long-term strategy for brand awareness to help expand your target audiences, drive more traffic, and growth.
In this case study, we examine how Cellulant worked with Belva Digital to increase its brand awareness through SEO and discuss why brands should pay more attention to SEO.
About Belva Digital?
Belva Digital is a leading marketing and technology (MarTech) services agency that provides transformative and growth focused solutions for businesses across Africa. Our services include but not limited to:
- Digital marketing strategy and consulting
- Content and creative production
- Performance media marketing
- Product and customer experience optimization
- Data analytics & AI
- Digital Transformation
About Cellulant
Cellulant is a Fintech company offering digital payment or alternative payment processing in Africa.
Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing global businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.
Cellulant also works with local individuals and businesses, enabling payment through mobile and digital payment solutions and personal remittances.
The Brief
Cellulant wanted to increase brand awareness in search for both branded and non-branded keywords.
As a B2B fintech brand, they also wanted to be positioned as an authoritative thought leader on web search and LinkedIn for matters related to digital payments, remittances and mass payouts.
Cellulant needed an Industry leading marketing and SEO agency to support the content creation process to support them in:
- Rank in search: Increase Cellulant rank in search for various keywords
- Brand awareness: Increase Cellulant brand awareness
- Thought leadership: Position Cellulant as a thought leader for digital payments, remittances and mass payouts
The Situation
At the onset, Cellulant had not published an article in six months, and its online brand awareness was limited to direct traffic through the website. Even then, blog publishing was not consistent, as it was mostly news updates about company development, such as partnerships, collaborations, and more. The knowledge hub section did not have a case study or whitepaper to showcase what Cellulant was doing with partners and collaborations. Overall, there was limited organic traffic coming into the website through content creation and SEO.
In addition, Cellulant’s LinkedIn page was dormant, and it had no newsletter. While Cellulant is believed to be a thought leader in the industry, its LinkedIn page was majorly company news and updates. It was indeed limiting.
Key Strategies Implemented for SEO and Brand Awareness
To help increase Cellulant’s brand awareness, Belva implemented a content marketing strategy that involved the following:
- SEO Audit and Keyword research
- Content creation (Blog posts, Case studies, and White paper)
- LinkedIn Newsletter
- Monitoring of overall performance
1. SEO Audit and Keyword Research and Optimization
Belva Digital conducted a thorough SEO audit and keyword research.
The audit was to identify what pages received the most traffic on the site and from which keywords. This would also inform Cellulant’s position in search, its thought leadership on LinkedIn, and the terms potential customers use to find services like those offered by Cellulant.
Belva then positioned the ranking pages on the navigation menu to easen the user’s journey. The identified keywords were strategically integrated into the website content using content creation and SEO.
2. Content Creation
High-quality, informative content was created to address the needs and queries of Cellulant’s target audience.
Using the keywords generated and planning, Belva Digital’s content team created:
- Blog posts: Belva created a number of long-form articles and short-form articles every month
- Case study: Cellulant provided data for a case study created monthly. The case study was shared on various channels and repurposed as a short-form article in addition to the already-created short-form articles.
- Whitepaper: To complement the case studies, Belva also created Whitepapers using a topic of Cellulant’s choice but using the keywords from the SEO Audit and Keyword research.
3. LinkedIn Newsletter
Belva created a LinkedIn Newsletter for Cellulant and started with formulating the newsletter’s name “The Payments Frontier,” which resonates with the audience. The newsletter was to be used to engage Cellulant’s audience in terms of one LinkedIn Newsletter Monthly.
The Results: Impact of SEO on Brands
SEO has a long-term but lasting brand awareness impact on your target audiences. Here are the results Cellulant achieved from the SEO implementation and why brands should prioritize SEO content creation.
Overall Impact of SEO Implementation for Cellulant
1. It is an organic strategy for increased visibility
First, it’s important to underscore that SEO is an organic strategy. As a brand, you don’t have to pay Google and other search engines to place your site in the first results.
Gaining visibility and clicks is free on search as SEO helps websites rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), making them more visible to potential customers.
In the case of Cellulant, the first blog post that Belva worked on went live on December 19, 2023. Today, it’s the highest-ranking post on the Cellulant website for a branded keyword.
→ 5 Ways Digital Payments Can Help Grow the Airline Business – Cellulant
All the other 9 blog articles Belva worked on for Cellulant are live and ranking for branded and non-branded keywords, increasing site traffic.
2. Increased brand reach through targeted traffic
SEO Keyword research allows brands to write content using targeted keywords. Why?
Brands want people from their target audience to recognize them, and SEO keyword research finds the right keywords to increase the number of recognized brands.
By using targeted keywords and phrases relevant to Cellulant’s services, Belva Digital ensured that the site’s traffic was high in volume and highly relevant. This means visitors were more likely to be interested in Cellulant’s offerings, leading to higher engagement rates and potential conversions.
The case study went live on December 20, 2023 and within 3 months it ranked first organically for the keyword “online payment processing for airlines”
What is even more interesting is gaining visibility among the public that is interested in what it offers. After all, people are searching for immediate solutions to their problems.
3. Thought leadership and authority in the market for credibility
Whoever is in Google’s top positions has the recognition of the public and the search engine. If a page is in that place, it is because it delivers the best response and the best user experience.
Cellulant published the blog post “5 ways digital payments can help grow airline businesses” on 19 Dec 2023. It’s not the highest-ranking post for digital payments for airlines. Several other keywords targeted by Belva rank in that manner.
The user who sees the first results in a web search understands that those sites are reliable and authoritative. This perception is essential for brand awareness since it associates authority with the brand and strengthens its image in the consumer’s mind.
In addition, users tend to trust organic search results more than paid ads. Achieving a high ranking on SERPs through effective SEO strategies can enhance a brand’s credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of consumers.
4. Provides content that strengthens branding
A page only wins first place in search when it offers valuable content to users. This is what generates and sustains its authority in the market.
Again, this results from targeted keyword and content generation, supported by SEO.
These contents are about sales, products, services and solutions to the persona’s questions, difficulties and needs.
They show how the brand can help people. A perfect example is Cellulant’s LinkedIn Newsletter “The Payment’s Frontier”
Cellulant inaugurated the newsletter in February 2024 with the help of Belva. It provides content that strengthens the Cellulant brand by positioning the company as a thought leader in global payment processing, diaspora remittances and e-commerce checkouts.
The newsletter attracted 14k+ subscribers within 2 months and currently has 15k+ subscribers.
5. Improve the website experience
To win over Google, a web page must offer relevant content and create a valuable browsing experience. It must also comply with Google’s User Experience principles, such as being easy to use and accessible on all platforms (and languages).
SEO contributes to providing a valuable experience within the site.
The user feels at ease, well-guided, and welcomed to accomplish what they want. In addition to contributing to conversion, this is also important for brand awareness, as it associates positive perceptions and feelings with the brand.
6. Cost-Effectiveness
It’s not that SEO costs anything. In fact, it requires time, professionals, and tools to work well. It’s just that once it picks and the results begin to trickle in, you won’t be paying to appear on search.
SEO is indeed, a cost-effective strategy that provides long-term benefits.
Once optimized, a website can continue to attract traffic without the continuous expenditure associated with pay-per-click campaigns.
Conclusion
The partnership between Belva Digital and Cellulant demonstrates the immense value of SEO to brands in driving website traffic and enhancing online presence.
SEO has major benefits for websites and can lead to long-term exponential growth. Brands that invest in SEO can build credibility and trust with audiences, making it a pivotal part of a digital marketing strategy.
Brands looking to improve their digital footprint should invest in comprehensive SEO strategies for sustained growth and success.
