Background:

Kybotech Group is an e-commerce business and manufacturer based in Worksop, a Nottinghamshire market town. The business was founded by Charles Walton in 2000 and launched specialising in the manufacture and sale of garden sheds online. The first site was GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk, closely followed by BillyOh.com.

Over the last 25 years Kybotech has invested heavily in research and development leading to a series of innovations in the manufacturing process. It can offer buyers of garden buildings a range of options at a  lower cost than other manufacturers. 

Now the business has evolved to cover a number of core business areas including manufacturing with the garden building brands and retails sales in cycling with Bobbin Bikes, sports and rehabilitation with PhysioRoom and homewares and furnishings with Trueshopping.

Kybotech approached us to help raise awareness of the business. We were already working with their brands GardenBuildingsDirect and BillyOh, and whilst these were winning coverage, links and consumers were aware of them, very few people knew about the parent company Kybotech.

Our challenge was to get the Kybotech name out there, particularly on a regional level and raise Charles’ profile within the business community. The business was keen to recruit more manufacturing staff and graduates to support their growth but with so few people aware of the business, that was proving difficult.

Strategy:

Our goal was to win recognition and coverage for Kybotech on a local and regional level to raise awareness of the brand.

There were two core tactics - entering the founder Charles Walton for business awards and writing press releases about the business to pitch to local press and regional business magazines.‍

Awards:

Despite launching the business in 2000, Charles had never entered himself or Kybotech into local business awards. Since launch the growth in the business had been quick and consistent, and as one of the first online shed retailers, they were ahead of the curve. We researched East Midlands and national awards and identified five relevant to the business. 

They included:

• Made In the Midlands
• Nottingham Post Business Awards
• IOD East Midlands
• Nottinghamshire Business Awards
• SME Awards 

We entered submissions into categories including Company of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year and Director of the Year. For those awards where Kybotech were shortlisted and / or won, we were able to leverage this good news by creating press releases for local and trade publications.

Press relations:

Alongside the award submissions we ran a very focused, primarily trade and B2B based media relations campaign by profiling the business and its founder Charles Walton and telling positive news stories from within the business. 

As a major employer in Worksop and with the heritage of the business there was lots of news to share. Among the press releases created:

• Key appointments within the business including a new Buying Director and a Factory General Manager
• Investment in the manufacturing business
• New factory shop
• Company results
• Award shortlist and results

The targets differed slightly for the press releases depending on the news being shared. There was pitching to local news outlets, regional business titles and trade publications including Warehouse and Logistics News, Timber Trades Journal and DIY Week.

Results:

Out of the five awards we entered Charles Walton and Kybotech for, the business won two and were shortlisted in an additional three. 

• Entrepreneur of the Year, East Midlands Chamber of Commerce Awards 2019, Winner
• Entrepreneur of the Year, Nottingham Post Business Awards 2019, Winner
• Company of the Year, Made in the Midlands Awards 2019, Finalist
• IOD East Midlands Director of the Year 2019, Finalist
• Manufacturer of the Year, East Midlands Chamber of Commerce Awards, Finalist

This was then leveraged as part of the media relations campaign to win coverage in titles including major trade publications like Timber Trades Journal.

The media relations campaign, which ran over an eight month period, achieved 32 items of coverage across regional business publications and pages, regional press and trade publications.

Among the highlights:

• Love Business East Midlands covered the founders story / business profile.
• The Business Desk covered the opening of the new BillyOh factory shop.
• Worksop Guardian also covered the opening of the factory shop with a more consumer facing angle. 
• DIY Week covered the appointment of the new buying director.
• Timber Trades Journal covered the appointment of the factory general manager. 

Other titles that covered our stories include Connect East Midlands, East Midlands Business Link, Business Leader, Insider Media, Business Live and Warehouse & Logistics News.

Client feedback:

Charles Walton, founder of Kybotech:

“I recommend Motive to anyone seeking serious media coverage and awesome results. The team helped to enhance my own personal profile by helping with award submissions which led to two Entrepreneur of the Year awards.”

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