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Garage to Growth: How Mr Plates Turned a Shed Start-Up into a Scalable Brand
Launched in February 2023 by Chris Coops, Mr Plates begun as a side hustle in a shed, selling custom number plates in the competitive UK automotive space. With Chris’s values of transparency, trust, and service at its core, the brand faced a pivotal moment: without consistent digital performance, the business risked stalling.
From a home grown hustle to fast scaling brand, Mr Plates now runs on a smart, omnichannel strategy with a focus on sustainable, data driven growth proving what’s possible when creativity and consistency meet performance marketing.
Company
Mr Plates is a UK based company selling custom number plates since February 2023.
Location
Nottingham, UK
Industry
Automotive
Services
total website sales grew YoY
(Google Shopping, SEO & PR)
traffic value increase
(SEO)
uplift in revenue from
(Google Shopping)
The Challenge
Mr Plates launched in 2023 which begun as a side hustle in a shed, selling custom number plates in a competitive market within the UK. They had been running Google Ads themselves but didn’t see any return. To enable them to take the business to a new level a return on one paid channel was crucial to enable to invest in more digital marketing to create an effective funnel.
The challenges were clear:
- Run successful Google Ads that deliver a return to enable scalability and making the business a success.
- Achieving profitability from at least one paid channel was essential to fund broader digital marketing and build an effective sales funnel.
- Breaking through a saturated market with limited resources due to being at the early stage of building the business.
The founder knew there was strong opportunity for the businesses product and outstanding service, but also knew investing in digital marketing experts was the right decision however daunting.
Our Strategy
To drive consistent growth for Mr Plates across a limited product range, Add People implemented a strategic multi-channel approach focused on increasing visibility, engagement, and long-term authority. The initial priority was paid marketing, ensuring the client’s KPIs and short-term goals were achieved to build confidence for further investment.
Our guiding principles were:
- Strategic Multi-Channel Approach → A designed tailored strategy combining paid and organic channels was developed to boost visibility, engagement, and long-term authority for Mr Plates.
- Foundation for Sustainable Growth → By aligning short-term wins with long-term goals, the team established a strong digital foundation to support ongoing and continual business growth.
- Seamless Channel Integration → Ensured paid and organic efforts worked cohesively, creating a unified digital presence that amplified results across all marketing touchpoints.
The Results
Our approach was to lay the groundwork for scalable and sustainable growth by first optimising Google Shopping Ads, then expanding reach through Paid Social, and ultimately building long-term momentum with SEO and PR.
Turning Around Underperforming Google Ads to Unlock Scalable Growth
The Results
uplift in revenue
How We Achieved This
To recover performance and lay the groundwork for scalable growth, we started by overhauling the Google Ads account.
Every product was given strong coverage through segmented campaigns, allowing for more precise targeting and budget control. This structure enabled us to optimise effectively for both visibility and revenue across the full product range, ensuring that high-performing products were prioritised while maintaining exposure for the wider catalogue.
This strategic setup created a solid foundation for immediate results and long-term scalability.
Growing Brand Visibility with Paid Social
The Results
uplift in accounts reached through Meta
engagement growth YoY
How We Achieved This
To recover underwhelming paid social results and establish a scalable funnel, we developed a full-funnel campaign structure that guided users from awareness through to conversion.
Using dynamic product carousels, refined audience targeting—including remarketing, lookalikes, and interest stacking—and authentic, seasonal UGC-style creatives, we boosted engagement and click-through rates.
This strategic layering of paid social efforts created a sustainable pathway for ongoing growth and maximised return on ad spend.
Strengthening Organic Presence with Strategic SEO and PR
The Results
traffic value increase
keywords in position 1-3 on Google
increase in organic clicks YoY
How We Achieved This
To drive long-term organic growth, we focused on elevating Mr Plates’ visibility and credibility through a targeted SEO and PR strategy. On the SEO side, we identified high-value keywords through in-depth competitor research, built a complete keyword map, and improved topical authority with optimised content and a more strategic site structure.
These efforts significantly enhanced the client’s organic presence and trustworthiness across search engines. By executing a seamless, multi-channel approach that aligned both paid and organic efforts, we created a strong foundation for scalable and sustainable growth.
Chris is an absolute pleasure to work with. His energy, openness, and passion for growth makes our collaboration truly rewarding. He brings a great balance of humour and focus to every call and is always keen to test new ideas and strategies. As a web developer, he understands that marketing is a long game, and he’s fully embraced an multichannel approach.
— Nicky, Nicole & James – Add People Team
I've been working with Add People for over two years now, and I honestly couldn’t be happier with the results. From day one, they’ve been supportive, creative, and genuinely committed to helping my business grow. Their marketing strategies have brought in a steady stream of sales and helped me reach customers I never thought I’d connect with. What I really appreciate is how easy they are to work with—always approachable, full of ideas, and quick to respond. It feels like they’re part of my team, not just a company I hired. They’ve taken the time to understand my business and tailor their approach to what works best for me. If you’re looking for a marketing partner who truly cares and delivers real results, I can’t recommend Add People enough. They’ve made a big difference to my business, and I’m excited to keep growing with them.
— Chris, Founder of Mr Plates