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Strategy
Introduction
Spark Brands is a sales marketing and distribution company that works with fast-moving consumer goods brands around the world. Established in March 2015, Spark specialises in marketing unique grocery and health & beauty products from Great Britain and abroad.
Spark helps manage e-commerce strategy with a particular focus on export, ensuring that its client’s brands and marketing are aligned with the new markets they are breaking into. Working with a number of marketing, distribution and e-fulfilment partners, they provide a comprehensive service for businesses looking to launch their brand into new territories.
Challenges & Opportunities
“We’re very lean as a business,” explained Stephen Shortt, CEO and Founder of Spark Brands. “We want to do things differently and not be office based. We want a truly remote way of working -and our structure and IT support that goal.”
“We’re in the process of launching a number of B2B and B2C web stores and we want to ensure that our marketing and digital strategy is in line, to ensure the success of these projects.”
“We’re currently using two PR agencies and we wanted to broaden our knowledge, to ensure we maximise the effectiveness of what these agencies are doing.”
Solutions for Growth
“We initially went to The Growth Hub as a convenient place to work. It’s a great place to meet other directors and clients and to be able to ask advice about all sorts of subjects, from business planning, marketing & PR, to digital marketing and design. It’s a really handy place to be, to get expert advice straight away. We’re there once a week at the moment.”
The Growth Hub’s courses are the best way for us to broaden our knowledge. One course in particular has been instrumental. The PR Dos and Don’ts Masterclass was delivered by an incredibly knowledgeable speaker and opened our eyes on how to effectively to manage our PR strategy, as well as how to measure success.
“We’ve been getting great advice from our Business Guide on marketing and social media and again, the courses are really useful. Digital marketing is a really complex area at which we want to get better. We’ve used what we’ve learned from The Growth Hub to look at how well our websites have been built and focus our SEO. We’ve been able to make amendments to our site that have improved our search rankings and the amount of traffic we get. We’re also now looking at Adwords, Facebook advertising and various other ways of marketing the business better online. We’re already having good success with one of our recent products, Squid Soap, that has grown our Facebook following quite rapidly. The Growth Hub really is a wealth of expertise and advice.”
What’s Next
“We’ve just launched a new e-retail store called marketgoodness.com and we’re launching several brands into major UK retailers, including Boots and Holland & Barrett – and expanding our export into China and the US. Even though we’re a start up, we’re very experienced in export, so it goes to show that The Growth Hub isn’t just for new businesses. You never stop learning, there are always things you need to ask and The Growth Hub is the perfect place to get the answers, advice and guidance that you need.”
