Sanjay Aggarwal, co-founder of Spice Kitchen, explains why the business should win the marketing and PR category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition.
We are a small mail order artisan spice company based in the West Midlands, consisting of just three people – me, my mum and my dad. I am always looking for clever and exciting ideas to get our name out there on limited or no budget.
The company started back in early 2013 where I took some pictures of my mum’s spices and listed them on eBay. Our first order came within 48 hours and since then they have grown to up to 50 orders per day. Although we sell across a number of online platforms now, including our own dedicated online shop, we have consistently mentioned eBay being the launchpad for our business, which was finally picked up early last year by eBay HQ.
Ebay has since featured us in one of its [promotional] films, in national publications and we have been selected as one of only eight international sellers to fly to Brussels as part of a new eBay Europe launch. With this growing relationship we are gaining international publicity for our business for free, and in areas we would never have been able to access on our own.
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.
