Note: This post has been Sponsored by O2, but all narrative and opinion is my own.

I love stories of businesses that are doing things that make them stand out. and then are delivering on them too.

You know the type. The sort of businesses that do cool things for their customers, are very local in their orientation but have a big reach and impact, that experiment and try new things, that create great experiences, that treat their people really well and get them involved (really involved) in the business and have been around for either a long time or are very early in their journey (innovation and age are not correlated, right?).

This post is the first of two that features videos of two businesses that fall into that category.

The first business is Fred Aldous, a family business that was started in 1886 and supplies ‘materials to people who make things’. Check out the videos below:

The first is a profile of the business and a bit about their history:

The second features members of the Fred Aldous team and family talking about their business and the marketing that they are doing through the O2 Priority scheme (http://unr.ly/UJ8A05):

The things that I like about this business are both professional and personal:

1. Just because the business has been around for 125 years doesn’t mean that it isn’t innovative and doesn’t move with the times. Check out Fred Aldous’ site (http://unr.ly/Tg38EK) to learn more about their story and see how they are using social media and other new marketing techniques, like the O2 Priority scheme (http://unr.ly/UJ8A05).
2. I really like the fact that they acknowledge the impact that their long-serving staff and their community of customers have had on their business (See their About Us page); and
3. My Mum and Dad don’t live far from Manchester and my Dad is an avid painter so I’ll be recommending Fred Aldous to my Dad. In fact, having had a quick browse around their catalogue, I’m going to see if I can pick up a gift for him given that Christmas is fast approaching. 🙂

Finally, do check out The Guardian ‘Loving Local’ site (http://unr.ly/Tg45gp) for more stories of small, local businesses that are doing innovative things with their marketing.

Thanks to Dan Thompson for the image.

Note: This post has been Sponsored by O2, but all narrative and opinion is my own.