Mark Musgrave, creative producer at The Level Collective, explains why the business should win the marketing and PR category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
We are an ethical clothing label partnering with artists and ethical makers from across the world to create ethical adventure-inspired apparel screen-printed by hand in Sheffield, where we’re based.
Like most startups, we have little marketing budget. But we do have a strong story, ethos and purpose. Last April we started our Instagram account @thelevelcollective and have since grown organically to over 22,000 followers. We have received orders from customers in over 35 countries and now export 70% of our orders to the US and Europe.
How have we achieved this? We partner with like-minded folk who share our ethos and become our brand ambassadors by promoting apparel that we send to them. Sometimes we contact specific people but often people approach us. Their followers then follow us and some of them become customers.
We also run regular competitions where people have to comment and tag a friend to win the apparel in the image posted. Their adventure-loving friends often then follow us and some of them become customers too. Instagram has been an amazing tool for us to communicate our brand values of design, adventure and change and has helped us to reach a truly international audience through engaging with an online community of individuals.
We think this is far more authentic and personal than paid advertisements, and much more cost-effective.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
