Greenwood & Bell – Training courses and signposting to free market research services
City to Countryside
2013 was a big year for Mark and Mandy Greenwood. They moved from London to rural Norfolk, leaving behind successful careers in advertising graphic design. Their concept was to establish a marketing and design business – ‘Greenwood & Bell’ – to serve the Norfolk community. New Anglia Growth Hub has been on hand to give guidance and support, to help them greenlight the future.
Knowledge Development
“We’ve been on a whole series of Growth Hub training courses,” said Mark (pictured left), “for example, Search Engine Optimisation. Really interesting. Very useful and something we’re applying to our website right now. Also, it gave me background knowledge that we’ve been able to take to our own clients.”
Mark and Mandy describe Greenwood & Bell as a micro-agency. With just the two of them in their smart, home-based studio, they can be cost-effective, by pulling together teams of experts on a project-by-project basis. If someone needs a website, they’ve got a website developer. If someone needs direct mail, they know someone who can print and distribute direct mail.
Product Development
However, they arrived at a point when they were unsure how to move forward and contacted their Growth Hub Business Adviser, Chris Sharman. Mark and Mandy had developed a new product; a designed, quality print, for students to purchase at their graduation ceremonies, which depicts their university and date of graduation.
“They’d given a lot of thought to the creation of the product,” said Chris, “but needed help and support from an expert in creating an action plan for the project. So, I signposted them to Innovation Bridge.
This is a programme designed to help growing businesses like theirs access support from an academic specialist. In addition to helping them develop a successful plan to launch their products, they were also able to access the programme’s grant scheme to pay for some of their market research – a crucial part of their plan.”
Sounding Board
“The Growth Hub is a great sounding board,” said Chris. “It helped us cut through complicated decisions and made it really simple. When you need someone to bounce ideas off and get over issues – they’ve been really great for us.”
As Mark and Mandy’s company continues to develop, New Anglia Growth Hub will be on hand to provide advice to help the Greenwood & Bell company flourish. Now a successful business, it looks like the grass is greener in the Norfolk countryside.
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Get in touch
Do get in touch to find out how the New Anglia Growth Hub could help you. Call 0300 333 6536 or email [email protected]
