Beton Creatif
Nick Lorenti has been grateful for the help Innovation Lincolnshire has provided to raise the profile of his Lincoln-based company Béton Créatif .
Béton Créatif
Nick has been attempting to establish his specialist external and internal concrete floor engraving and decoration service in the UK since September 2007, but he has found this difficult owing to the innovative nature of his product.
After finding out about Innovation Lincolnshire, Nick contacted them for help with marketing the company. "After the first meeting they went away to discuss what they could do to help me," he said. "They'd never seen anything like it and came back to say that they could help with an awareness campaign.
"I had a lot of input in it; I know what my weaknesses are. But I think Innovation Lincolnshire managed to make it a more targeted campaign and they understand about awareness."
Innovation Lincolnshire has provided Nick with an Innovation Manager to mentor him and help produce marketing literature that tackles negative perceptions surrounding concrete.
"The growth opportunity is huge as this is an alternative to any flooring. It's new and it's modern, but people are used to what they're used to.
"The challenge is getting people up to speed. If they don't understand what you're talking about, they won't have anything to do with you," said Nick.
Innovation Lincolnshire has introduced Nick to contacts in the public sector as well as identifying other possible businesses who may be interested in having decorative concrete floors designed.
"At the moment they're doing a presentation for me at a local council for work on the regeneration of a really run-down estate. It is currently block paved, so the idea is to lift the paving and lay concrete slabs there and get the community involved in the design and colour of it," said Nick.
Nick is also hoping that once he has a sample floor secured, word of mouth will result in new clients that will create enough profit for him to purchase a business property where he can carry out precasting work alongside the creative concrete floorings.
