We take a closer look at the winning marketing campaigns created by readers of Growing Business, as part of the ‘How good is your marketing?’ competition run in association with Canon
Earlier this year Growing Business and imaging experts Canon teamed up to discover the best examples of SME marketing. Many assume the most innovative and effective marketing comes from the enterprise giants or as a result of a hefty outlay. Not so, as the ingenuity shown in the entries submitted to us demonstrated. When times are tough, the tough get going, it seems.

Creativity is often a survival instinct, to the extent that fighting to maintain or improve market share when resources are constrained and the environment is fiercely competitive has the effect of producing novel solutions. While only three companies were selected as winners of a top of the range A3 Canon PIXMA iX7000 printer, there were many other deserving cases.

Below our three winners give the lowdown on the thinking behind their winning entries and the effect their campaigns have had on business. In addition, four other companies were highly commended for their efforts: social recruitment company BraveNewTalent; web design agency BrixArt; TV and creative production company Bad Pony Media Group; and bespoke suits tailoring company A Suit That Fits.com.
Finding new routes to target market
Croydon-based pest control company Cleankill came up with its ‘Weapons of mouse destruction’ journals, hoardings and flyers campaign in an effort to catch the eye and raise a smile. The company targeted the ABC1 manager demographic with its eye-catching adverts in magazines not normally targeted by competitors.

Canon UK’s Anna Ghosh says: “Cleankill produced great examples of their previous marketing work, using quite humorous ads to bring colour to what can be seen as an unglamorous industry.”

Company: Cleankill Pest Control
Managing director: Paul Bates
Campaign: ‘Weapons of mouse destruction’, and other target-specific adverts.
Who devised the campaign? We did.
Why did it stand out? We went for a humorous style not normally associated with a ‘distress’ industry like ours.
What was the purpose? To raise the profile of Cleankill against better known national names within the industry.
How was it delivered? Through magazines read by our specific target markets, including the Chamber of Commerce, Diocesan Church magazines, football programmes, and theatre programmes.
How did you ensure you reached the right audience? Pest control is an industry which affects everybody in all areas of life – our main market is property, facility and building managers and the magazines and publications will find many of these both in the workplace and socially. Many people find it unusual for a pest control company to advertise in church magazines, theatre programmes or football programmes. Indeed very few pest control companies do any kind of true marketing, therefore a humorous advert is more memorable.
How much was invested? Approximately £10,000.
What did it achieve? It has led to us starting to use a PR agency which has now got us regularly featured on BBC Radio and into the national press with other press releases.
What was the ROI? Organic turnover growth for the first quarter of 2010 was up 16.5% over the previous year.
What other metrics did you measure? Google hit rates – we are working hard on improving the search engine optimisation of our website and part of the aim of our advertising is to drive people to our website as opposed to our competitors. We are also starting to use Facebook and Twitter with this in mind.
Letting the consumer lead the direct push
Started by a jam-loving Scottish teenager, Superjam supplies all the major UK supermarkets. That didn’t stop Fraser Doherty targeting new outlets – and what better way than to approach them at the behest of their existing customers? He utilised social networks to source names of farm shops and delis across the nation. What Canon UK’s Anna Ghosh says: “SuperJam appealed to us because it’s a small company with big ideas. While it has wide appeal it’s still keen to give its customers that personal touch.”

Company: SuperJam
Founder and CEO: Fraser Doherty
Campaign: ‘Suggest a Store’.
Who devised the campaign? I did.
Why did it stand out? I am excited about the idea that grocery brands can use social media and the web to have a meaningful conversation with the people who buy their products, something that hasn’t historically been possible.
What was the purpose? We wanted to find out from consumers which stores they think we should sell our products to.
How was it delivered? We used our website, blog, email newsletter and social networks to ask consumers to tell us about stores in their area that they think should sell SuperJam. We got in touch with the stores (and there were hundreds of them!) and told them more about the products. If they placed an order, we sent a free jar of jam to the person who suggested the store. Pretty simple really.
How did you ensure you reached the right audience? People who use our site, read the blog and are fans on Facebook are people who love the brand; exactly the type of people who can give us advice.
How much was invested? We invested about £10,000.
What did it achieve? We got hundreds of new stockists, opened meaningful dialogue with the people who buy our products and the campaign was even featured in the Financial Times as an example of an ‘old industry’ grocery company using new technologies to talk to consumers.
What was the ROI? Hard to say but we are still running the campaign now so it is definitely generating sales and profits.
What other metrics did you measure? How many stores individuals suggested – they are the people who I believe really care about the brand, so I also phoned some personally to thank them.