Helen Kemp, founder of Just Got Made, explains why the business should win the marketing and PR category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
Just Got Made provides reliable ways for small creative companies to connect with small-scale manufacturers and suppliers. The majority of our business is online, but our community values meeting each other offline too, so we regularly organise events – including talks, socials and meet-ups – which allows us to increase our brand awareness and support grassroots maker culture.
Our most experimental event to date was Field Trip: a series of public tours to London’s hidden design workshops and small factories.
Over four days, we visited nine of the manufacturers who feature in our directory, entering normally private spaces to meet the manufacturers themselves, watch live demonstrations and understand the making process.
Engaging our audience with real-life experiences has had a huge positive impact on our business.
Before and after events we see a spike in online activity – website visits, social media engagement and email list sign-ups increase, in some cases doubling. We also generate shareable, interesting content for the press, bloggers and our audience.
During events we are able to engage with our audience in a personal way and ask questions that help shape future marketing strategies and products.
For me the most positive impact has been how we are perceived as a brand. Our audience understands us better as a company and it’s helped us become established in our industry as an innovative, pioneering and exciting company.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
