Norfolk Industries is a small business employing people with disabilities and offering work experience placements to others who have barriers to work. We manufacture small animal bedding products from varius waste paper streams. Dealing with supermarkets and wholesalers across the UK and into Europe.

1. Operating
Commercially
Sharon Tooke
Service Manager

2. About Us
 Norfolk Industries has traded for over 200 years in Norwich
 Originally the work element of the NNAB site in Magpie Road
 In 1979 the Council took over at which time the workshop was
struggling to survive
 Has always employed people with disabilities and produced
products – from donkey nuts to doormats!
 In 2012 Norfolk Industries cost the Council £220k per year and
employed 14 disabled people
 Due to funding cuts was remodelled by NCC and Wire Shop
closed Dec 2011 – developing Pet Bedding side of business
 New remit, branding, logo, signage, website etc.
 Working to become financially sustainable as a commercial
business
 Looking at various income streams such as Personal Budgets
programme
 In November 2013 Norfolk Industries stepped away from the
Council into Independence Matters

3. ‘Caring about people, caring
about nature.’
As our tag line above suggests, we operate the
business as a Social Enterprise, in that staff are
consulted in most aspects of the business.
Independence Matters is a Community Interest
Company and we provide Voluntary Placements to
meet this requirement.
We utilise waste materials for our products and so
recycle on a large scale.
We like to think that we are providing good
quality products for our animal friends in the
UK and abroad.

4. Our products
Norfolk Industries manufactures small animal bedding
products from various waste materials, such as tea bag
paper, j-cloth material and recycled newsprint paper. We
also purchase viscose fibre which we affectionately call
‘fluff’.
The products manufactured are aimed at small animals
generally (rabbit and smaller) but we also produce 12kgs
bales aimed at cats, dogs, pigs and horses.

5. Current customers include –
Tescos
Sainsburys
Asda
Pets at Home
Morrisons
as well as various wholesalers, independent stores and
end customers in the UK.
We also export to Spain and have exported to Japan in the
past!
We are currently in talks with Wilkinsons, Ocado (on line
retailer), Pets Corner and several other European pet supply
companies.

6. Branding – Meet Hank!
‘Hank’ is our brand character and features on our
own brand packaging. He has been developed since
our remodelling 3 years ago.
How we went about it -
-We talked as a team to find out what we
all wanted from the character.
-We had no real money to spend, so
looked on line for images of small
animals which were available to
purchase for our use. (Fotosearch,
Fotolia, iStockphoto etc)
-Printed these out and asked the team.

8. Hanks World -
 Hank’s own page on website
 Hank has his own Twitter and Facebook accounts
http://twitter.com/HankGerbil
http://www.facebook.com/hanknorfolk
 Hank has his own bi-monthly newsletter which people can
sign up to from Norfolk Industries website.
 Hanks Guides to owning small animals as pets
Hank has his own
friends and
followers. He talks
about his various
life experiences
such as being an
actor, an astronaut
and a Hells Angel!

9. Branding
All of the work carried out around developing Hanks profile and his
character is designed to encourage people to get involved with Norfolk
Industries through our own brand, but on most occasions our
customers prefer for us to package into their own brands.
The ‘non-profit’ or Social Enterprise element of Norfolk Industries is also
used readily to promote the business to new customers. After all
employing disabled people and recycling are two very important aspects
of the company and this does provide us with a unique selling point
(USP) which you may have heard marketing companies talk about.

10. NIDP Branding
Norfolk Industries has it’s own product line called
‘Snooze’.
This was redesigned during our remodelling some 3
years ago and Hank was introduced onto redesigned
packaging.
This brand currently offers -
Fibre products
(redesigned with Hank)
Paper products
(old design)
Snooze Tube
product
(redesigned
with Hank)

11. Why have a brand?
 Raising your profile particularly within your sector
 Creating a ‘vision’ of the business
 Getting across information about the business
 Appealing to your target market
 Enabling your customers to find your product
 Developing sales
 It just looks professional!
 Hopefully it makes you look unique
On the next slide there are some examples of
great branding.
Can you guess the company names?

12. ShellMcDonalds Citroen
Nike HSBCTwitter
This is the power of good branding! Instantly recognisable.

13. Norfolk Industries marketing
structure
Logo, tag line, mission statement etc
Norfolk Industries newsletters,
facebook, twitter and website
Product lines and branding – Snooze,
Snooze Flakes, Snooze Tubes, Snooze
Multis
Branding character – Hank including
newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and
page on website

14. Social Media
There are many reasons to promote your
branding with Social Media –
Appeal to the younger audience
Engage with more people
Spread the word
Demonstrate that you are in tune with current
trends
Get important information out immediately
Build your brand
Use to compliment other marketing methods
Get lucky and go viral!

15. The pitfalls of Social Media!
You need a good solid strategy and stick to it!
It takes up loads of time to make an impact
Its not easy to build an audience
You need to be creative and think outside of the
box
Develop lots of content before starting
Don’t rely on this alone, it should compliment
other forms of marketing
Its technically challenging!
If you want to know more, Broadland District
Council offer some great day courses at about £80
per day.

16. Marketing
There are so many other ways to market the business, but
it must –
Be affordable
Hit your target market
Generate a level of sales to cover the costs involved
We have already tried the following –
Developing the website and providing lots of content
Regular newsletters to people who use the volunteering
service
Building databases and sending leaflets all over the UK
Trade Shows in our sector – both in UK and abroad
Promotional products – such as pens, notepads etc
Advertising in magazines within our sector

17. Marketing continued …
Testimonials - a great form of marketing and are even better
if the customer will give their name.
If it’s good information, shout about it!
As mentioned before, your website is also an important
marketing tool. On our website -
content relevant to our retail customers
content relevant to our referral agencies
content relevant to our potential volunteers
Hank stuff!
REMEMBER - All content on your website, including attached
files is searchable by search engines and may lead potential
customers to you.

18. Pricing
Operating commercially
Knowing all of your costs
Developing a way of quoting which you
can add profit margin to
Knowing your competitors
Knowing what your competitors are
charging
Where you sit in the market
USP

19. Volunteering
Norfolk Industries has been supporting people in the local
community for several years now providing placements
to volunteers who have barriers to gaining unsupported
employment.
These people come to us for many different reasons –

20. Referral routes -
 JobCentre Plus
 Seetec (voluntary and mandatory)
 Meridian East
 MINT (City College)
 Norfolk County Council
 MENCAP
 NANSA
 Aspergers Norwich
 St Edmunds Training
Several different routes into the programme -

21. Flexible programme – Don’t panic
Hours set to suit individual
No term set on programme
No set speed or productivity requirement
Visits can be arranged
Full induction provided
Eligibility criteria
Use of upper body
Understanding of basic verbal and visual instructions
Understanding of quality requirements
Understanding of Health and Safety issues
Ability to work with others

22. What do we all get out of it?
 Work experience
 Confidence
 Active reference
 CV entry
 Skills build
 Stamina
 Realistic view of
work
 Social skills
 Providing a community service
 Wider skills base
 Free labour to subsidise other
additional costs
 Offering supportive
environment to people who are
furthest from the jobs market
 It’s part of who we are
 USP (Unique Selling Point)
Customer Norfolk Industries
Everyone’s happy!!

23. Social Impact Measurement
What is it?
This statistical information then allows you to
analyse whether you are meeting the required
results with certain groups, in certain areas,
with certain products or services etc.
The process of evidencing how a service or
product you are providing is improving (or
perhaps not) situations for people, groups
and the community at large.

24. Social Impact Measurement –
Why?
Obligation as part of a Community Interest Company (CIC)
Reviewing current systems
Quality of the programme
Who are you reaching - Equality of the programme
Are you excluding potential users of the programme
Collecting the data
Social Enterprise – triple bottom line
The Guild has a Social Impact Toolbox which is a step by
step guide and allows you to develop systems which will
analyse what services you offer, how you do it, the quality of
what you do, how you can improve and how you document
it all. This costs about £150, but is well worth it.

25. What’s happening?
Independence Matters includes a range of services which
have ‘stepped away’ from Norfolk County Council.
These include –
Community Hubs
Respite Care
Supported Living
Stepping Out
Norfolk Industries

26.  No real change for Norfolk Industries
 Putting together various boards and forums
 New systems being developed
 Website being developed
 Receiving training
 Finding our feet
And that takes time!

27. Thank you for your time.
Any questions?