A Birmingham firm is being driven to success after using e-business to help promote the company.

Campus Martius has been making products to help teach road safety since the early 1980s, in particular the popular family board game Motorway.

With extensive knowledge of road safety, the firm branched out and produced The Learner Packs which are designed to aid drivers and bikers in passing both their theory and practical tests.

The company launched its website – www.learnerpack.com – in 2004 and after running a number of e-marketing campaigns, the company sealed its biggest deal to date when Tesco placed a large order to sell in their store. The company now also sells packs through Amazon, one of the largest online retailers in the UK as well as having its own eBay store. To that end, sales have trebled since 2004.

Paul Moorcroft, Learner Pack sales and marketing manager, said: “We knew that the internet would be a powerful sales channel, the problem we had was applying this as a marketing tool.

“We ran a Google AdWords campaign and used literally hundreds of words to try and drive traffic to the website. This had mixed results and we turned to the National B2B Centre to find out how we could benefit from using specific phrases.”

By attending several National B2B Centre events the company learnt how to dramatically change the way in which it marketed its product.
Advice from the B2B Centre helped the company revise how customers bought the product and this was crucial in improving sales.

“We have learnt how to use e-commerce software for our online store which has given us more control. We are also now able to track the success of our direct marketing which means we can see more accurately which types of marketing works for us.”

Paul added: “After taking on board the advice from the National B2B Centre we have nearly trebled our level of sales since 2004.”
Liz Rowe, of the National B2B Centre – the e-business centre of excellence for the West Midlands, said: “This is a fantastic example of the how effective use of e-marketing can have a dramatic effect on a company’s bottom line.

“I am very pleased we were able to offer advice which quickly translated into sales and established the company as a market leader.”