Salford graduate launches digital marketing agency

The MSc Digital Marketing graduate started his business, Lumos Digital Marketing, in 2020 after doing freelance work and deciding to create his own business. Lumos Digital Marketing offers a range of services, including search-engine optimisation, pay per click and website design.

Andy said: “The unique selling point of Lumos is that we try and take the in-house marketing experience out-house. So, we try and provide our clients with the same quality and experience that they would get if they had marketing working in-house with them, but obviously with the benefits of having an external agency to help.”

Having worked in shops like Lidl and Waitrose, Andy gained management experience before deciding he wanted to build something for himself and study a master’s at the University of Salford.

He added: “I think you get as much out of the degree as you put into it, so I was quite focused on any opportunities that I got and any networking events that happened to really hammer down on them and make the most of it.

“And then the biggest thing for me was the theory that I got from the course. I had a rough idea of how things worked practically, in terms of website design and SEO, but understanding the theory behind that as well was really valuable.”

Working with small and medium-sized businesses, Andy currently has eight clients and has recently hired a full-time employee in his team. To get to this point, he sought help from Launch@Salford, the University of Salford’s business incubator.

Launch was set up in 2018 with the idea of aiding students and alumni in developing their own business. As part of a six-month support programme, users get access to a plethora of support from the team, including training, guidance, office space and financial aid.

He said: “I knew how to run somebody else’s company, but I’d never done it myself and I didn't have that experience of being able to, essentially, launch a business myself. There's a lot of the finer details that I'm not aware of, so to have that support from Launch is invaluable to me.

“I also saw it as an opportunity to meet similar people that are on the same journey, and get that peer support as well.”

With Launch’s help, Andy is hoping to build a long-term, sustainable business that has specialists in its team, so he can scale up and support clients in the best way possible.

“I think being able to build it in the way that I want to was a big factor for me,” he shared. “I didn’t want to have to compromise on certain issues.

“I know a lot of the interactions that I've had with agencies have been quite money-driven, so I want to try and flip that around and be able to help businesses before we take profit. Obviously, the business must be profitable, but it's not our main driver.”

His current services can be found on his Lumos Digital Marketing website.