The Jamaican business Hubmark Company Limited specialises in brand and business process development services for medium and micro businesses which would otherwise be unable to make an impact in a marketplace that is more globalised than ever before.

The company, which is fully online, is run by a team of creatives who are Jahmone Salmon, Rushane Wright, and Howayne Harvey. They are also its principals. The team members are still in school pursuing advanced studies in marketing, business administration, and law, but this has not stopped them from growing the business over the last four years.

Marketing and buiness process automation have become the lines which have provided enough to keep their heads above water, with clients spreading the news of a small company with a big impact.

Jahmone Salmon, who is chief executive designer (CED) told the Jamaica Observer, “In 2018 Hubmark faced many challenges as any other company in its start-up phase. These challenges included low start-up capital, purchase of physical and digital resources, and getting recurring clients.”

The young team, comprising The University of the West Indies (UWI) students, realised that marketing was in strong demand [even when clients were not aware of their need] and solved their challenges by “leveraging our knowledge in online marketing and our smart sales strategy, which compelled our clients to understand the importance of brand development”, Salmon said.

Salmon shared, “It was never about selling to everyone, but selling to those who never knew they needed our services until we first were in contact. This accomplishment allowed us to acquire electronic devices, garner copyright licenses to brand elements, and other digital resources used to promote our growing client database.”

Hubmark started in March 2018 with seven shareholders, many of whom were students who are no longer with the company today.

The CED said, “As students, we had little financial contribution, so we decided to generate the same with the sale of fish fry tickets. The potential of the event was overestimated, and we ended the year with a loss. Throughout the next few months, we maintained little to no transactions, but our discipline afforded us the ability to record every cent in our accounting system.”

By the end of October 2019, Hubmark recognised the need to change and turned to the business of digital footprint, crafting the brand kit package in December 2019, which paved the way for business growth in the following months.

Business Kit is a hit

The business kit package covers major business tasks, such as accounting, branding, marketing, and IT related services. Salmon commented, “So some mundane, repetitive tasks, such as welcome e-mails and client onboarding, can be automated with the package. You won’t need to pay someone to do this.” The Business Kit offers, overall, e-mail automation, onboarding forms, scheduling of tasks, follow-ups, employee onboarding, performance reporting , overall process automation and development, plus some management services, including accounts.

The new Hubmark package was promoted with digital advertisements which resulted in an influx of customers and a “massive” growth spurt.

Salmon explained, “We are essentially collating multiple tasks that a start-up business would need in a simple package so that they are able to go digital without paying for different specialists in branding, marketing, or IT.”

Salmon added, “As companies grow they can be assured that having a digital ecosystem will facilitate their business growth to even the level of a Fortune 500 company.”

By February 2020, just before the pandemic hit, however, the Hubmark team had a crisis of its own. They had to pause operations in order to invest in the development of digital infrastructure, such as a CRM, to keep up with the influx of traffic.

Fortunately, the company simultanously secured a key partnership with the Young Entrepreneur’s Association which facilitated a consistent source of revenue for the business, a partnership which provided income to underwrite other offerings.

The covid pivot

Funding for the upgrade came from the profits from sales in the prior months. The cost to set up the CRM was minimal, the CED said, with the choice of economical options for digital tools made, the CED said.

A CRM is a customer relationship management tool. Its a system that should be the core part of any business. Sadly, most Jamaican start-ups do not have one, Salmon said, “hence, they are unable to track their metrics or even automate a lot of their processes. Additionally, the level of services they are able to give their clients could significantly improve with a CRM as it helps their entire organisation to by sync”.

By the end of 2020, Hubmark decided to pivot and pushed for new partnerships as it searched for a more sustainable growth model throughout the pandemic. Salmon commented, “We understood that our partnerships may not be long-lived and, as such, we revisited our strategic plan and overall direction in late 2021 to ensure sustainability.”

The company, in addition to cementing new partnerships, has had to take a robust call centre approach to sales efforts. This has proven to be a good decision, giving agility to new business flow.

Since its incorporation in 2018, Hubmark has hired over 35 people in varying lines of the company to include, resource and planning, integrated marketing and communications, as well as our infamous Creative Hub, where their most innovative brands were made.

Hubmark remains a brand development company and with that, its core product is the Business Kit, which is offered by monthly subscription, for which businesses are offered 20 hours to establish their brand.

Salmon explained, “This is not only for their logos, business cards, and letterheads but for businesses who are seeking to innovate their process by becoming digital. The kit also provides answering services (call centre) and other add-on services that a business may need to boost their efficiencies.”

The CED asserts, “Our marketing and selling ability and systems provides us with a constant source of potential clients. Since this is a core part of how we help businesses, we ensure our CRM is a major part of our operation.

Salmon said, “The Business Kit subscription is now our most in-demand service as of this time because it’s backed with so much value, a microbusiness could literally fire their virtual assistant. They’re getting help with branding, sales, and IT-related services.

“Our subscriptions are tailored specially for microbusinesses within Jamaica who require these brand development services; however, as we continue to grow on the international market, our expectations of the global target market may require further refinement. It is to be noted that we have our eyes on the food and beverage industry as the core market we wish to scale in.”

Market value

To date, Hubmark has invested approximately $300,000 in the business and has seen returns increase ten-fold. The business is currently self-sustaining, requiring no additional investment out of pocket in order to maintain its operations, asserts Salmon.

As for the strategy in 2022, Salmon said, “Our entire operation and marketing efforts are geared towards being a disruptive force in the marketplace. This is built within our core values and reflected in our brand structure. We do not use traditional titles or designations, instead we use words such as ‘hubs’ for departments and ‘designers’ for officers or associates as we consider these to be different by design.

Hubmark estimates that the market for its services is valued at approximately $1.7 billion annually, of which its current share is less than one per cent by total revenues. From making a loss in year one, the company made a three per cent net gain in 2019, 13 per cent in 2020 when revenues were over $1 million, 38 per cent in 2021 with revenues of over $4 million, and a 51 per cent margin improvement in year to date in 2022 with revenues of over $6 million. Net profit growth in 2021 was 380.19 per cent.

The chief executive designer asserts, “As part of our mission to become the go-to solution for brand development, we have upgraded our core systems to promote efficiencies for both internal and external clients which allows us to automate many of our workloads which has proven to be time-effective. Additionally, we will be scaling the business by increasing our social media presence, lead generation efforts through digital marketing, and outbound sales outreach via our internal call centre.”

Client testimonials shared include one from Great House Caterers which said, “You helped us create some consistency in our brand design, you helped us increase our leads through SM [social media] adverts, and also a lot of great feedback and advice through many of the consultation sessions we’ve had the opportunity to have with Jahmone. Overall, a very positive impact, both on the business and my personal mindset. Personally, I’ve had a greater appreciation of the importance of proper branding and creative marketing strategies.”

Hubmark provided social media advertising, a brand guide, graphic design, and brand kit plus other branding services for Great House Caterers.

For another, Yolande’s Natural Herbs, Hubmark created a Facebook advertisement and Instagram page which the company said “helped to grow the business through continuous successful advertising”.