Back in 2011, we placed a tiny advert for our family gardening business – WGS Landscaping – in a local leaflet delivered every two months to 30,000 homes in the Bodmin & Wadebridge area. That first advert brought us one £200 job. It covered the cost of the advertising, but not much more, and we nearly didn’t book again. Thankfully, we did. The next issue brought three or four jobs. Then came more calls, repeat customers and recommendations. One customer from those very early adverts is still a regular customer today. Within the first year, rebooking the advert wasn’t really a decision anymore. It had become part of how we ran our business.
Over the following decade, the gardening business grew steadily. Our own three sons, and our honorary sons (some of the local cricket lads) have worked alongside us over the years, usually with another one or two extra pairs of hands helping at any one time. It was very much a family and local business, ticking along successfully with a regular flow of work. We just lived it like it was the norm and would last forever.
Then, in 2022, the leaflet we’d relied upon suddenly stopped publishing. We tried newspaper advertising instead. It brought us nothing. As the months passed, our forward prebooked workload began shrinking and we could see very clearly what the loss of that regular advertising platform had done. So we decided to recreate what we knew worked.
We contacted the other businesses that had advertised alongside us, found they wanted it back too, and launched the first two editions of THE Cornish LOCAL.
When those leaflets landed, our own phones started ringing again. And this time, we advertised our landscaping business more prominently and across both areas. The response was immediate. Work increased, the team grew and, at our busiest times, the landscaping business supports seven people out working in gardens alongside a full office operation. That was all the proof we needed.
From those first two areas, THE Cornish LOCAL has grown to twelve advertising areas across Cornwall, reaching hundreds of thousands of homes every eight weeks. We’ve added supermarket distribution, social media promotion, online business directories, tracking and our county-wide Special magazine. But underneath everything we’ve added, our purpose remains remarkably simple. We want good local businesses to grow by becoming known and trusted by local people. Cornwall still has something very special: strong communities where local reputation matters. We want to see more money spent with independent Cornish businesses, more local employment created and more successful businesses building their futures here.
We don’t promise overnight miracles. We believe in something far more valuable: consistent visibility, familiarity and trust. It worked for our family business first.
Now we’ve built THE Cornish LOCAL to make it work for others. that’s you!
– Antoinette, MD
We Know What Works
We built THE Cornish LOCAL from our own experience of growing a local business through consistent advertising. What worked for us is now available to help other Cornish businesses grow.
Get Seen by Local People
We put your business in front of thousands of local households through our leaflets, online directories, social media and other local channels — helping you stay visible and familiar.
Build Trust & grow
We believe people buy from businesses they recognise and trust. Our aim is to give good local businesses consistent exposure that turns visibility into enquiries, customers and long-term growth.
