A County Durham digital marketing professional is aiming to build on the fast start he has made to running his own business with the help of a five-figure investment.
Shane Parkins set up his agency in Shildon 18 months ago, using his own name as the company name, after spending 14 years working in a number of North East agency and in-house roles. He and his team provide search engine optimisation, pay-per-click and related digital marketing services to a range of clients both across the UK and overseas.
He has now worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to obtain the £20,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund, which is being used to bring in the resources needed to manage growing client demand. Three staff have already been taken on, with further jobs expected to be created as the business grows. The firm is on track to hit his target of breaking the £1m turnover barrier within five years.
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Mr Parkins said: “Our growth has been based around using the SEO services that we provide ourselves, which are bringing in significant numbers of new leads and which demonstrate the measurable impact that we could have on potential clients’ marketing activity.
“We’re passionate about doing the best possible job for our clients, which feeds into the ongoing relationships that we’re building with many of them and which in turn underpins our commercial success.This investment gives us the resources we need to bring in the staff required to manage growing client demand and is allowing us to give young people from our area the training they need to begin to build their own careers in our industry.
“We’re well on track to hit our million pound turnover target and expect to see our headcount continuing to increase as our growth plans are fully rolled out. NEL’s backing is helping to accelerate our growth plans and the team gave us exceptional support as we worked our way through the application process.”
Jonathan Armitage, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: “Shane’s confidence in applying the knowledge he’s built up through his career has proven to be well-founded, and after making a very impressive start, his business now has the resources it needs to fully maximise its growth potential.”
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