Well the North is certainly thriving, and there’s plenty of excellent universities churning out fresh new talent, but are we really any match for the capital? We don’t know the answer to this so here’s a guest blog from Martin Woods, one the organisers behind the new ionSearch Conference coming to Leeds in April.
The North of England was once known as the ‘powerhouse’ of the industrial revolution and in recent years there has been a revival of the north being known as a ‘powerhouse’, but this time for the digital marketing industry. The North is now home to some of the country’s biggest and most respected digital marketing companies. Perhaps one of the biggest areas of growth in the last few years has been in the online marketing sector specifically SEO, PPC and Social Media, with many traditional ‘full service’ agencies expanding their in-house marketing teams due to the demand.
This in turn has led to significant interest and investment in digital cities such as Manchester and Leeds with a wide range of events such as the Leeds Digital Festival, and the newest addition ionSearch servicing this new tech-savvy community.
As the public sector faces cuts people are increasingly looking to the private sector to create new job opportunities, especially entry level jobs for recent graduates who are struggling to find employment during the recession. Top marketing companies such as Branded3, Blueclaw, Twentysix, Stickyeyes and Bloom have all seen significant growth fuelled by the demand for SEO and Social Media services, so it makes sense that Leeds is to be the host city for the new conference.
“Leeds was chosen as the location for ionSearch due to the growth in the Yorkshire region over the past year. Using data supplied by ITJobsWatch we analysed the number of marketing jobs with ‘online marketing’ in the title for different regions across the country. Our findings showed that Yorkshire shows the highest level of growth within the sector outside the capital” says Kirsty from Blueclaw Media, one of the organisers behind the conference.
Over the past four years the Yorkshire region has seen a rise in the number of ‘online marketing’ jobs in the Yorkshire region has increased by 240% slightly above the UK average of 233%. In comparison London has seen an increase below the UK average of just 157% indicating that marketing companies are investing in regions outside London where wages are typically lower. At a time when companies are looking to reduce costs it only seems sensible that to more ‘up north‘ like the BBC, who have recently completed phase one of the controversial move to Salford.
This begs the question, shouldn’t all online marketing jobs move up north to cities like Leeds and Manchester?
Typically clients will receive the same quality of work, but at a much lower cost (both in terms of business overheads and wages). Online marketing jobs in Yorkshire are typically pay around a quarter less than similar jobs in London; The average wage over the past two years in London for jobs containing ‘online marketing’ in the title is £39,696 compared to just £30,169 in the Yorkshire. Taking in to consideration the factors such as lower costs of living and shorter commuting times hosting IonSearch is being held in Leeds starts to make a lot of sense.
If that’s not a strong enough case to bring business north, Jonathan Hirst from Network Marketing Jobs Leeds, another partner in the event, also has some reasons to look beyond the capital. “Over the past 12 months we’ve noticed a significant increase in demand for experienced digital marketing professionals, both agency and clientside, designers and developers. This demand is coming from digitally savvy clients and growing digital marketing agencies across Leeds and Manchester despite warnings of the ‘double-dip’ recession. In fact one of the main obstacles we face is finding enough skilled digital experts to fill the demand. The increasing amounts of people prepared to move to the north from the south east has increased as agencies move much of their workforce away from the ‘big smoke’ to reduce costs.”
However there are still those who believe that agencies need a presence in London to be able to draw in blue-chip clients. Whatever your view the issues raised at ionSearch are likely to get the digital community fired up, and if you like the sound of a good debate but can’t afford the ticket price there’s a chance to win tickets to the newest conference in town.
IonSearch are running a competition for two VIP tickets to the conference through Twitter. So what are you waiting for? We really do want to know if all on-line marketing jobs should move North.
Tom Ashurst from the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce explains; “.. bringing such an event to Yorkshire creates a real buzz. The speakers include some of search marketing’s most accomplished experts which can only benefit the region.”
It is certainly no surprise why Leeds has been chosen to host the conference which is taking place at the stunning Carriageworks on April 18th 2012.
I personally think that we’ll see even more marketing jobs moving up north over the next couple of years. The north is booming for this sector. We’ve been seeing a pattern of digital agencies moving to cities such as Leeds and Manchester for the past 10 years. Many of the companies only have an address in London because it’s easier to get the work, it’s then farmed out ‘up-north’ to save money. I would personally expect the number of marketing jobs to continue to grow in Leeds. I think ionSearch will highlight just how many digital marketeers there in Leeds. I’ve just booked my ticket, can’t wait to see what Google’s Matt Bush has to say about Google +
There is a large number of companies in this, most being a london or manchester marketing company. I think we need more in other parts of the country instead of bunched up in just two.