Skipton based fitted furniture company, Hartleys, has received a business boost from TV Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis. Marketing manager Sara Haggas tweeted Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’, a weekly Twitter initiative set up by Theo. Theo re‐tweeted Sara’s message to his 400,000 followers and Hartleys now joins other selected businesses profiled on his website (www.theopaphitissbs.com), coverage which is exclusive to Small Business Sunday winners.
As a result of the celebrity exposure, Hartleys has already gained a flurry of new interest which has kept Sara busy for several hours since, generating not only followers nationally, but also valuable local business enquiries from homeowners interested in their service.
Initially unsure that social media was relevant to Hartleys’ demographic, Sara was nonetheless open to learning about it from their local marketing agency and was quick to embrace the potential of Twitter in particular.
“I’ve been really impressed with how the Twitter platform can really work for a business like ours offering a very visual product and bespoke service. I was delighted that we actually managed to capture Theo’s attention which is held in high esteem in business circles as well as the wider public, and very excited to see how this will continue to impact on Hartleys as we interact with other winners,” says Sara.
Anyone looking for a re‐tweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday between 5pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are re‐tweeted every Monday at 8pm and then invited to enter their profile on the new website, as well as attending a networking event hosted by Theo.