Digital Marketing Case Study: How Junk Hunters Went From One Van to One of London's Top Independent Operators
Harsha Rathnayake came to TU Marketing in 2010. He had one vehicle, a strong work ethic, and a small but growing waste clearance business operating out of North London. He had joined a local networking group, he was running leaflet drops in his area, and the phone was not ringing often enough. He was also nervous about investing in digital marketing, which is the position a lot of founders quietly find themselves in. This digital marketing case study tells the story of what happened next. How we built the business out of North London, helped Harsha rebrand and expand into Birmingham, and turned a one-man, one-van operation into one of the top independent waste clearance operators in London.
Who Junk Hunters Are
Junk Hunters is a waste clearance company operating across London and Birmingham. They handle domestic and commercial clearances, from a single appliance through to full house and office strip-outs. They are best known for fast, transparent pricing and a same-day or next-day service that competes head-on with the biggest names in the sector.
They are also, more recently, the team behind a new on-demand booking app that is bringing consumer-app convenience to waste clearance. We are working with them on the marketing for that launch too. The kind of forward thinking that has kept this relationship going for well over a decade.
The Problem: Networking and Leaflets Were Not Enough
In 2010, Harsha was doing what most founders do when they are starting out. He had joined a local networking group, he was hand-delivering leaflets in his area, and he was relying on word of mouth to fill the diary. It was working, but slowly. And he could see that to grow beyond a one-van operation he needed customers who were actively searching online for waste clearance. Not just neighbours who had picked up a flyer that morning.
Digital marketing was the obvious answer. The problem was, Harsha was nervous about investing. He had heard the horror stories. Agencies that overpromised and underdelivered. Big spend on campaigns that went nowhere. He wanted a partner who would tell him the truth, work to the level of his business at the time, and grow with him as the business grew.
That is the conversation we have with founders all the time. It is exactly the kind of business we exist to help.
The Brand Rename and the Real Test
For the first few years, we worked with Harsha under his original brand, London Junk. We built out his website, optimised it for the search terms his customers were actually using, ran paid campaigns alongside the organic work, and helped him build a steady, growing pipeline of enquiries across North London.
Then the business outgrew the name. London Junk worked when he was operating in one city. It did not work the moment he wanted to expand into Birmingham. The decision was made to rebrand to Junk Hunters, register a new domain, and open the business up to a second city.
This is where the technical work really mattered. A brand rename combined with a domain migration combined with a geographic expansion is one of the riskiest sequences a service business can undertake. Done badly, you lose years of accumulated SEO equity overnight. Rankings collapse, the phone goes quiet, and you spend the next twelve months rebuilding what you used to have.
We did not let that happen. The migration was planned carefully, executed in stages, and rolled out without the business losing what it had already built.
What the Migration Actually Involved
- A full URL-by-URL redirect plan from London Junk to Junk Hunters, preserving the link equity and domain authority that had taken years to build.
- A dedicated London-only content section on the new site, so the geographic specificity of the original brand was not lost when the business went national.
- A fresh round of keyword research for Birmingham, separate from the existing London keyword set, so the new market was targeted properly rather than treated as an extension of the old one.
- A site structure that cleanly separated the two cities, keeping the user experience strong and the on-page SEO targeted by location.
- A new PPC campaign across both regions with better landing pages, so paid traffic actually converted rather than bouncing.
- A content marketing plan that worked across the older migrated material and the new content, attracting and converting visitors in both cities.
The result was a successful rebrand that did not just protect what Harsha had already built. It accelerated him into a second city.
How We Approached It
We do not start with tactics. We start by understanding what the business needs to look like commercially in six, twelve, and twenty-four months, then work backwards into what the marketing has to do every month to get it there. With Junk Hunters, that meant treating the relationship as a series of connected phases, each one building on the last.
The Results That Matter
We do not pretend marketing is a magic trick, and we do not promise specific numbers up front. What we will say about Junk Hunters is this. They are now one of the top independent waste clearance operators in London. They hold top-five organic positions across many of the most valuable search terms in the sector, competing directly with national operators and a very crowded field of smaller competitors. Traffic has increased year on year, every year, since we started working together. And the business has grown from one man and one van in North London to a multi-city operation with a new on-demand app on the way.
The Relationship Today
We have been working with Harsha for well over a decade. That is not normal in this industry. Agencies tend to get traded out every two or three years. We have stayed because the work has continued to deliver, because Harsha is a brilliant client to work with, and because we genuinely care about where this business goes next.
The app launch is the next chapter. We are excited to be part of it.
What Our Clients say about us?
"Great support!"
Great company all of the staff are great and very helpful. My business will be clients for a very long time. I would recommend TU Marketing's services to anyone.
"Faultless Team"
Neil created and has managed my website for many years now and I wish to say that the team are Faultless.
"Excellent Job"
I’ve been very satisfied with the work that you’ve done for us and think that you’ve done an excellent job with the new website.
"Highly Recommend"
We have been working with TU Marketing (for the last 6 years) and we highly recommend their services. They are by far the best company we have ever used for Website Design, SEO and PPC, they are a great UK Company..
frequently asked question?
Can you really protect SEO performance through a rebrand and domain migration?
Yes, if it is planned properly. The Junk Hunters migration is a working example. Domain authority and link equity were carried over through a careful URL-by-URL redirect plan, and the geographic specificity of the original brand was preserved through a dedicated London content section on the new site. Done well, a migration accelerates a business. Done badly, it sets it back years.
Do you work with service businesses or only ecommerce?
Both. Junk Hunters is a service business. We also work with ecommerce, professional services, and a range of other B2B sectors. The principles are consistent. The execution adapts to the business model.
Can you handle SEO and PPC together?
Yes. We have run PPC for Junk Hunters across both London and Birmingham for over a decade, alongside SEO, content, and now app marketing. Channels work best when they are planned together rather than treated as separate projects.
Could you do the same for our business?
Possibly, if you are a founder-led B2B business that wants a long-term marketing partner rather than a short-term fix. The starting point is always a proper look at where you are today. Our free audit is the best way to find out.
Our Work
Take Away Supplies
Vestibulum leo purus, ullamcorper hendrerit aliquet ut, sagittis non est. Cras vitae nibh a turpis efficitur auctor in eget magna. Donec vestibulum, ante dapibus pharetra placerat, eros felis venenatis leo, et fermentum nibh nisl eu erat.
→
Junk Hunters
Vestibulum leo purus, ullamcorper hendrerit aliquet ut, sagittis non est. Cras vitae nibh a turpis efficitur auctor in eget magna. Donec vestibulum, ante dapibus pharetra placerat, eros felis venenatis leo, et fermentum nibh nisl eu erat.
→
DSL
Vestibulum leo purus, ullamcorper hendrerit aliquet ut, sagittis non est. Cras vitae nibh a turpis efficitur auctor in eget magna. Donec vestibulum, ante dapibus pharetra placerat, eros felis venenatis leo, et fermentum nibh nisl eu erat.
→Want a Marketing Partner Who Will Still Be Here in Ten Years?
The work we did for Junk Hunters was not a quick campaign. It was a decade of consistent, commercially focused marketing through one brand rename, one geographic expansion, and now one app launch. If you want a partner who takes the long view, we should talk.
Insights
Dive Into Our Top Blogs
Why Blogging Still Matters in the AI Search Age
Many people wonder if blogging still matters amidst the AI hype. With AI-powered search engines and content generators like ChatGPT…
