Gardamed is a medical equipment supplier, established in 2016 and based in North Hertfordshire District. The company distributes a wide range of medical equipment to the NHS, hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics across the UK.
Mandy Wright – Director of Gardamed – found out about Get Growing 2 (GG2) through an event with Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Get Growing 2 (GG2) is a structured and comprehensive package of business support designed to help small and medium-sized businesses in Hertfordshire overcome barriers to growth. The Get Growing 2 Programme is funded through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
The Challenge
During the height of the pandemic, product sales and operations were almost halted to the NHS supply chain and other health care services. As a result, the company had to re-assess its target market and moved towards selling directly to patients, and not just nurses and hospital procurement and other professional staff. Covid meant that the usual face-to-face meetings with healthcare professionals stopped.
The Solution
Gardamed’s focus moved to the development of its social media platforms and general online presence. Gardamed received a grant from the Get Growing 2 (GG2) programme to explore support from marketing agencies, enabling it to access the advice they needed. Mandy found the knowledge and expertise shared by Steve Armitage (Growth Account Manager) to be invaluable. He kept in regular contact with the company throughout the project, particularly during the grant application process.
The Impact
As a result of the support, Gardamed were able to create a new position in the company, focusing entirely on online promotions and implementing the actions advice developed from the GG2 Programme. This extra post allowed the company to embark on social media influencer campaigns and the development of the company website. The grant from the programme also allowed for some in-house training around digital marketing.
These new sales added to the company’s turnover and broadened its customer base. Looking to the future, Gardamed would like to continue with what they learnt on the programme. Mandy said she was ‘very satisfied’ with the support they received and is working to improve its approach in selling directly to private customers.
Hear what Mandy said about the GG2 programme and support received from Hertfordshire Growth Hub:
“With the help of this 45% matched grant, we were able to access digital marketing advice. Without the support, a lot of these agencies would have been beyond our budget. In fact, we would not have even thought about taking this kind of support from the marketing agencies.”