99pShopper.com

Many of the entrepreneurs we work with are young people who amaze me with their drive and self-belief. None more so than Suleman Sacranie who dropped out of university to launch his own online retailing business 99pShopper.com. When we first met the site had just gone live and was already picking up orders, notably from British ex-pats in Spain and other European nations who, it seemed, were desperate to pick up their favourite British groceries online.

Again the budget was tiny. But we liked Suleman immediately and we really wanted to help him make his site a success. I was struck by his personal story, he had grown up above a corner shop in Leicester and was now bringing that grassroots business into the digital age. We agreed to take the project on.

I knew Suleman's personal story was the key to breaking this story. We focused on that from day one and instructed Suleman on the photos we would need. He got a friend to take the shots to keep his costs down.

Within two weeks we were making headlines. Suleman was the lead on Metro's business page. The Mail on Sunday ran a piece with a photo and Eastern Eye ran the story on their front page and as their business lead. We persuaded the Daily Mirror to lead on the site on their shopping page Cash Queens. The BBC picked up the story and sent a film crew to Suleman's home for their regional news programmeEast Midlands Today. He was also featured on the BBC's online business pages. Other coverage came from such diverse media as the FT and Woman's Ownmagazine! As I'd grasped at the outset, there was a huge appetite for Suleman's story.

The coverage we generated was worth well over £100,000 in ad value equivalent. Suleman reported a huge spike in sales which converted to many repeat customers. He was also approached by several potential business investors. We are now working on a 12 month plan for continued PR support throughout 2011. To see more of the coverage achieved please click here.

Suleman Sacranie said:

“I'd never worked with a PR agency before and was a little unsure what to expect. However, I'd been impressed with the results the company had achieved for other start-ups and decided to give them a call. From day one the team at The London PR Agency did everything they could to ensure I was involved in the planning process and featured in as many target titles as possible.

“They were extremely welcoming and I always felt like I could pick up the phone to discuss the campaign. The team put their heart and soul into achieving coverage for my website and developing the 99pShopper brand.

“Since being featured in the national media I've been contacted by venture capitalists interested in my company, as well as receiving numerous franchise enquiries.  I'm a hard person to impress but I'd like to say a massive thank you to the team for gaining 99pShopper.com coverage, both in the UK and abroad. They guarantee national media coverage, a criteria they satisfied many times.”