Driving Growth and Efficiency for Cottoms through a Digital-First Marketing Strategy and Custom Ordering App

by admin | Aug 4, 2025 | Digital, Marketing, News

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Client: Cottoms – Traditional Pie and Sausage Manufacturers
Website: www.cottoms.co.uk
Sector: Food Manufacturing / B2B Wholesale

Overview

Cottoms, a renowned name in traditional pies and sausages, approached iQ Media with a clear brief: help the business grow through smarter marketing and streamline their wholesale ordering process. With a loyal commercial customer base and a proud heritage of quality, Cottoms wanted to scale efficiently while showcasing their full range of products.

iQ Media partnered closely with the team to deliver a comprehensive marketing strategy and develop a custom mobile app that enabled next-day ordering for trade customers—enhancing convenience, increasing exposure to product lines, and dramatically improving internal workflows.

The Challenge

Cottoms was facing a familiar challenge in the food manufacturing industry:

• Time-consuming and manual order-taking processes
• Limited visibility of product range to wholesale and commercial customers
• A need to modernise communications to support business growth

They needed a marketing and digital solution that wouldn’t just look good, but deliver operational value and a competitive edge.

The Solution

iQ Media delivered a digital-first strategy built around two core pillars:

1. Marketing Strategy and Plan

We developed a clear, actionable marketing strategy designed to:

• Build brand visibility across digital channels
• Tell the story of Cottoms’ heritage and product quality
• Position the company for future expansion into new wholesale markets
• Support sales with targeted communications and promotional assets
• Target key sector customers

2. Custom Wholesale Ordering App

To solve the operational challenges and support sales, iQ Media designed and developed a bespoke ordering app tailored for Cottoms’ commercial customers. The app allows:

• Simple, fast product selection from the full pie and sausage range
• Next-day delivery options
• Live stock availability

Results

Since launch, the new marketing plan and custom app have delivered measurable business impact:

• 40% reduction in manual order processing time
• Significant uptake of app usage by trade customers
• Improved accuracy and efficiency in order handling
• Increased visibility of the full product range to customers
• Enhanced customer satisfaction due to ordering convenience and speed

Most importantly, the solution has laid the foundation for scalable growth, allowing Cottoms to focus more time and energy on production and customer service.

The strategy was distilled down into a  quick reference one page sales and marketing plan, for quick day to day reference by the Cottoms team.

“The team at iQ Media understood our business and challenges straight away. The new app has transformed how our customers order from us—it’s faster, easier, and helps showcase everything we offer. It’s made a real difference to our operations and how we’re perceived in the market.”
– Will Munro, Managing Director, Cottoms

Why Digital-First Matters

At iQ Media, helping clients like Cottoms achieve competitive and market advantage is core to what we do. By adopting a digital-first approach to marketing and communications, we empower businesses to operate more efficiently, engage more customers, and stand out in crowded markets.

Visit www.iqmediagroup.co.uk to find out how we can help transform your business with digital thinking