A Newcastle marketing training academy is aiming to expand its global reach with the help of a five-figure investment.
Fabric Academy creates and delivers webinars and courses for marketers at all stages of their careers, to help them boost the skills needed to develop successful marketing campaigns.
Set up at the beginning of the pandemic, the firm has seen more than 600 people complete its courses over the last 15 months, with candidates signing up from all over the UK and Europe, and from as far afield as the US, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.
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Now the Fabric Academy has worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to bring in a £45,000 North East Small Loan Fund investment, supported by the European Regional Development Fund. It will use investment to enhance its website and digital marketing activities, as well as to bring in skilled staff to help it grow. Two new jobs are expected to be created in the coming months, with more to follow as the business expands.
Founder Lisa Eaton set up Fabric Academy, which is part of the Scale Up North East programme delivered by RTC North, after having difficulty recruiting strategic talent for her other business, marketing communications agency Unwritten.
She said: “We spent almost a year preparing, testing and filming the content we provide, along with developing the brand and the e-learning portal through which our students access everything, and now work with both experienced and new marketers, including businesses who want to incorporate high-impact marketing into their own growth plans or support the development of their marketing team.
“The feedback we’ve had from both candidates and the employers that have booked their staff onto our courses has been universally positive, and we know there is huge potential for us to massively increase the number
of students that we take on from all over the world.
“Our ambition is to see the North East become globally recognised as a centre for marketing excellence and we’re now putting the resources in place that we need to help achieve that goal.”
Jonathan Armitage, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: “Lisa and her team are applying the knowledge they’ve developed through their own successful careers in an accessible programme that has a practical impact on both the marketing skills of its candidates and the commercial performance of their employers and businesses.”
Angelina Bell, partner at Scaleup North East, added: “There are so many businesses that hire people with specific skills such as digital marketing but finding someone who can think holistically and develop a solid high level strategic plan that is right for the company is a lot more difficult. Fabric now needs to reach a wider audience with their offering and service more marketeers, which requires this investment being made in their company.”
Part of the £120m North East Fund and aimed predominantly at smaller SMEs, the £9m North East Small Loan Fund typically offers loans of between £10,000 and £100,000 to businesses in Tyne and Wear, Durham and Northumberland.
