A marketing consultancy has increased its headcount after securing funding for growth from community lender BCRS Business Loans.
Martin & Jones Marketing, based in Shropshire, has recruited a new account and campaign manager after receiving a five figure loan to support its expansion strategy.
Led by founder and director Ruth Martin, the business provides strategic marketing and public relations services for a range of companies including manufacturers, along with not-for-profit organisations and charities.
Now employing five people, Martin & Jones Marketing approached BCRS Business Loans when it was looking for a loan to fund the creation of a new role to expand its customer account management resource.
Launched in 2019, the business, which has its premises in Arthur Street, Oswestry, has grown to work with clients not just in Shropshire but across the UK delivering a range of services including news writing and social media management through to merchandising.
Ruth Martin said:
“We wanted the opportunity to scale up to meet the client demand but needed funds to support our cashflow during the recruitment process especially as there were new clients who wanted to work with us.
“Now we have the skills in place to take on more clients, giving us a platform to grow and take on more employees in the future as we work with more amazing businesses and organisations, developing our team further.
“The process for completing the application was brilliant and I appreciated the support of our business development manager Mark Savill, who took the time to visit to talk through the steps needed. The personal approach worked well, rather than a series of email exchanges. It is fantastic to know there is someone we can speak to in the future.”
BCRS Business Loans delivers loans between £25,000 and £250,000 to SMEs across the Midlands and Wales who are unable to access the finance they need from traditional sources.
Mark Savill, Business Development Manager at Wolverhampton-based BCRS Business Loans, who worked with Ruth, said:
“As a community lender BCRS Business Loans which aims to support businesses, we could see the opportunity for Martin & Jones Marketing to grow their team.
“Our remit at BCRS Business Loans is to deliver funds which bring social impact, so we were pleased to support a female-led company in a rural area which is creating local employment opportunities for skilled marketing work.”
Having launched in 2002, BCRS Business Loans has now passed £100 million in total lending to businesses, generating overall £518 million in economic impact. Up to the end of April 2025, BCRS Business Loans supported 1,594 businesses that were unable to access traditional finance, creating over 5,900 jobs and safeguarding 11,779 existing roles.
BCRS Business Loans has achieved one of its best years ever for delivering funds, providing £9,900,502 to 124 businesses during the 2024-25 financial year, a 68% increase in the number of SMEs supported compared to the previous year.
In the last financial year, lending through BCRS Business Loans resulted in the safeguarding of 889 jobs and creation of 317 roles while adding £51.2m to the economy of the West Midlands, surrounding region and Wales. Of the funding, 34.6 per cent went to the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.
BCRS Business Loans was appointed as a fund manager for the small funds pot of the first £130m Investment Fund for Wales and for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, which will deliver a £400m commitment of new funding for businesses across the Midlands.
This summer BCRS Business Loans celebrated delivering £6.2m in Community Investment Enterprise Fund (CIEF) loans to 75 companies in total, creating 208 jobs and protecting a further 730 roles while generating £32m in added economic value for the West Midlands and Wales. With BCRS Business Loans focussing on firms under-represented in traditional lending, 31 per cent of the SMEs were female-led.
