We share our clients’ passion for seeing their businesses grow. Since 2010 we have helped over 1000 businesses. We’ve helped some big names like Essex County Council, Department for International Trade, Avanti Insurance, The Cheeky Panda, The Cambridge Diet and Braintree District Council. We’ve helped start-ups to grow and flourish and we’ve also helped established and family-run businesses.
Here are two of our clients explaining how sarahBee marketing helped them do better business.
Learn how Sarah Brockwell and Graham Broughton helped Actual Group Ltd to plan and execute a growth strategy.
(Video produced by Braintree District Council).
Learn how Sarah Brockwell helped Essex Garden Foods to grow - via a FREE start-up mentoring programme operated by Essex County Council.
(Video produced by Chelmsford College)
Check out these brief client case studies:
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, we helped a number of clients to ‘pivot’. Pivoting a business requires the ability to create a strategy as well as a tactical plan.
2Dmedia Ltd
Background
2Dmedia Ltd is a specialist e-commerce web design company based in Essex. The company has a subsidiary which manufacturers tool fittings using 3D printers. Within the first week of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the company created a pivot strategy to develop Face Shields for Key Workers. Utilising a Crowd-funding Platform, the company raised sufficient funds to manufacture in excess of 24,000 Face Shields, which were donated to organisations including Essex and Suffolk Police, Addenbrooks and Broomfield Hospitals and First Responders.
Positive Outcome
Supported by sarahBee marketing, the company received media coverage on BBC Look East, and ITV News as well as widespread coverage in regional printed media.
“Sarah has been very helpful in arranging numerous pieces of PR and providing invaluable PR support/advice throughout various projects”.
Sam Witney, Managing Director, 2Dmedia/Stealth Mounts Ltd.
Pioppo Ltd
Background
Pioppo Ltd manufactures bespoke structures for the event, retail and pop-up industries. A successful family-run business, the company is focussed on using sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing. With the introduction of Lockdown, the company recognised that it could serve the community that was adapting to a new way of working from home. The company quickly developed a range of ‘working from home’ desks and workstations, which it launched on a brand new e-commerce platform. Supported by sarahBee marketing, the company received media coverage on Sky News TV as well as widespread coverage in printed media.
Positive Outcome
“We have worked with Sarah since 2017, initially to support us with our re-branding project. Sarah helped us achieve a grant from the Manufacturing Growth Programme, which saved us 33% on our re-branding project costs.
Sarah has provided us with strategic support through a mentoring programme and more recently, with tactical PR support when we pivoted our business due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. With Sarah's help we were able to achieve media coverage and brand awareness of our new range 'Return to Work' - social distancing office furniture and home working stations. Sarah has given us the courage to grow our business, in terms of reaching new customers, taking on new staff and diversifying our product range.”
Rachael Giordani, Managing Director, Pioppo Ltd.
Business awards are a tremendous asset to any company. Winning an award can help a business gain new clients, achieve positive PR coverage and increase brand awareness.
Business awards are an important aspect of our work (in fact, we have won six business awards ourselves). We’ve helped clients that have won prestigious awards like:
Ultimotive Ltd (Queen’s Award for International Trade)
Brogan Group (Queen’s Award for International Trade)
CHESS (Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services)
UNI-PROP International Ltd (National Building Awards)
If you’d like to enter a business award, be sure to talk to us first.
Background
The Cheeky Panda is an importer of sustainable tissue paper (made from bamboo pulp). The founders Chris and Julie Forbes (pictured) joined the Essex Innovation Programme as a start-up in March 2016 working with Sarah Brockwell and Graham Broughton. The company was about to launch a crowdfunding campaign to finance stock acquisition. The company wished to raise brand awareness via PR.
sarahBee Intervention
sarahBee was able to achieve 100% funding from Essex County Council for this project, which meant that there was £0 cost to the client. During the course of the eight free sessions, we carried out the following: completion of a strategic business plan, marketing and PR plan, development of brand, business awards entry, introduction to senior industry buyers as well as advice on e-commerce, IP, trade finance, import and export.
Positive Outcome
As a result of the positive interventions, the company started to immediately turnover revenue, secured private finance, won multiple business awards and currently employs 10 people. New products have been launched and are now on sale in major retailers including Amazon, WH Smiths, Aldi, Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco.
“Sarah’s support resulted in us gaining PR coverage with a lovely editorial feature in the Daily Express. The value for money of using sarahBee marketing is unbeatable”.
Julie Chen Forbes, Co-founder, The Cheeky Panda Ltd
Background
Magic Box International (previously know as Blueberry Home Solutions) is an innovative SME based in Chelmsford, Essex, which employs 40 staff. The company specialises in the manufacture and distribution of energy saving and renewable energy products to businesses worldwide. Now an award-winning company, Magic Box International wished to raise global brand awareness via PR with a particular focus on TV, national newspapers and Twitter.
sarahBee Intervention
sarahBee marketing was chosen to provide strategic and tactical PR and marketing support. Engaging a new target audience via Twitter was achieved with a tactical campaign of social media posts to the Government’s #BusinessIsGreat campaign and also then Prime Minister David Cameron’s official Twitter account. After carrying out media training with key staff, sarahBee secured interviews on both global TV channel CNBC, ITV as well as BBC radio. Additional media coverage was achieved in The Times national newspaper and Daily Express
Positive Outcome
The social media campaign from sarahBee marketing reached a new audience of 2.6 million and the company saw immediate results on its website, which led to increased sales. The company also won the Heating and Ventilation Awards in 2018. The interview on CNBC created a new audience in USA, which led to new distributor partnerships and increased global sales. Watch the CNBC clip here (11 seconds in) https://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/10/these-firms-are-using-wearables-in-a-pretty-cool-way.html
“Sarah’s leadership and Direction led us to win the Best New Company Award at The Essex County Business Awards”.
Alex Basile, Marketing Manager, Magic Box International
Background
The Secret Hamper was founded by Nigel Richardson (pictured) in 2015 with a mandate to create ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ across the UK. The company offers a range of hampers, full with essential items that could make a difference to someone’s life within a day or two. A bespoke, locally sourced Essex Hamper showcases an array of fabulous local produce. Clients are both businesses and individual consumers. As a fledgling business, the company wanted sarahBee marketing to help with strategy for business growth as well as tactical support in the form of mini-marketing campaigns.
sarahBee Intervention
sarahBee was able to secure 100% funding for mentoring interventions to support Secret Hamper with 12x 2 hour sessions that took place over 2016-17. During the sessions we covered how to raise brand awareness, we carried out market research, we trained Nigel on Eshot platform Mailchimp, we entered business awards and created a SWOT analysis. We also created the concept of the Essex Hamper and assisted in the launch.
Positive Outcome
The company proceeded to win awards from Dragon’s Den Theo Paphitis, Jacqueline Gould, The One Competition, Small Business Saturday, Essex Digital Awards and many more. Celebrity endorsements have also come from Mark Hamill (Star Wars), John Challis (Only Fools and Horses), Ricky Gervais (Comedian and Writer), Jamie Oliver (TV Chef), Calum Best (TV Celebrity) and many more. The latest campaign initiative from The Secret Hamper is to deliver 70 hampers to 70 NHS hospitals in the UK to celebrate 70 years of the NHS. The campaign is receiving positive media coverage.
“It was an absolute privilege to have been able to work with Sarah. She thinks outside the box and offers some very sound and creative advice. Since working with Sarah I have noticed an increase in sales, brand awareness and in my own confidence too. It’s fantastic that these free mentoring sessions were available. Any company that needs help with any aspect of marketing for their business should apply without delay, you will not be disappointed.”
Nigel Richardson, Owner, Secret Hamper Ltd.
sarahBee marketing can help your business do better