Like thousands of parents across the country, Kieron Summerhayes struggled to juggle running his business from home while his children were running around the house.

The 43-year-old, from West London, who runs an events and exhibition company, was getting frustrated with having to do his paperwork in the kitchen – and clear it all away before dinner time.

So, with his business partner Matthew Wozniak, the duo decided to pivot their skills, and launch My Retreat Garden Rooms, offering bespoke garden rooms.

Kieron said: “We were sitting trying to do our work with kids running around, like everyone else in the country, realising how impossible it was when the kids finished school at 3.30pm – this is when the schools were open.

“I said if only I had a garden room – it would be the shortest commute ever, but I could have all my stuff in there, and leave it all out rather than have to tidy it away when the kids get home.

“We’ve got a great team of builders that we’ve worked with for a number of years that built a lot of features at our exhibitions.

“So, I approached them about a garden room business. One of the things we wanted to focus on above everything else was making sure the customer service was right.”

Kieron and Matthew put together a business plan, and came up with three contemporary designs, with prices starting from £22,500 ($31,000).

Their website was launched in November 2020, and by the following month they had their first sale. Fast-forward to today, and they’ve built 24 buildings in their local area.

“We’re doing brilliantly well. We’re an all-British team. We sit with the customer to understand exactly what they want, because although we offer three models, all our rooms are bespoke, so far, every single one has been different.

Kieron says: “Ad Manager was easy to use and to keep on track of and we will definitely use the platform again in the future.”

Kieron says: “Ad Manager was easy to use and to keep on track of and we will definitely use the platform again in the future.”

“We’ve done everything from garden rooms that are housing swim spas and hot tubs, play rooms and an amazing gym, made out of all different materials.

“And we built a showroom in Addlestone, Surrey, as we felt it was important to have something for people to come and have a look at.”

It’s with SMEs such as Kieron and Matthew’s in mind that MailMetroMedia has created a brand-new advertising platform called Ad Manager to help companies come out of lockdown thriving.

The easy-to-use service puts the control of advertising firmly with the business owner, and means you can advertise your company to MailOnline, Metro and iNews” huge audience of 25 million, without a hefty price tag.

“We’ll definitely be using Ad Manager again”

As well as being able to target more people in your area than local titles, you can also target customers by postcode, interests and life stage. What’s more, the campaign is very easy to set up and can be live within just 24 hours.

Kieron was one of the first business owners to try out the new system, with incredible results including one million advert impressions and nearly 800 clicks to his website, in just one week.

Kieron said: “We were looking for brand awareness, and to be able to drive that awareness and advertise on a platform such as MailOnline is incredible.

“I’ve been really impressed by the number of impressions at just under one million, and we’ve had 760 clicks to the website, and we’ve had around four sales enquiries from it so I’m over the moon.

“We were very pleased with the results of the campaign. We are a relatively new company and felt that the Mail/Metro would elevate our brand awareness.

“Ad Manager was easy to use and to keep on track of and we will definitely use the platform again in the future.”

MailMetroMedia’s new Ad Manager advertising platform is ideal for SMEs who want to reach a large, but targeted audience of thousands of potential customers.

The system is easy to use, taking just minutes to set up – and it could be live the following day.

Ad Manager enables small businesses to reach more adults across all UK regions than ever before, with hyper-local advertising for relevant, affluent customers.

Not only can you advertise to more people in your area than your local titles can reach, you can also target customers by postcode, interests and life stage, ensuring you reach as many of our 25 million consumers as you choose.

There are no hidden fees and you can control everything, from budget to target and audience to creative design.

• A Tell / Metro report