How James Starkey of Black Lab is guiding clients through the digital maze

While economic storm clouds gathered outside, he quietly built a sustainable business from his office in Wharfebank Mills, Otley and hopes to hire more staff and secure a substantial increase in revenue over the coming years.

After graduating from Newcastle University in 2009, Mr Starkey saw the power of the emerging e-commerce world as he worked with the likes of Nokia, V Festival and the BBC on app development projects. Finally in 2017, he took the plunge and set up his own business.

"I knew I had the safety net of being able to go back into the industry if I had to, but I also wanted to try to do things my way,’’ he added.

The digital creative service provider, which helps brands improve their digital positioning, had a restart in 2019 when Nick Bardsley, the director and head of performance marketing, joined to boost its expansion.

"We went from being a business providing a living to being one that we wanted to grow,’’ Mr Starkey said.

"You know what you are good at from your previous roles, but when you're running the business there are so many elements to consider. It’s a constant learning curve. I wanted to take my learnings from working with big blue chip clients and take them into the SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) market.

He did manage to attract loyal customers which provided vital early support.

“There was one brand that really helped us get off the ground; they paid early and offered advice and insight,’’ he said. “I am thankful for that support as it gave me the confidence to build and push forward.

"We offer to increase clients visibility digitally that delivers results. We adjust our strategy to meet their commercial goals and needs,’’ he added.

"We make sure that nothing is left stagnant. We take a step back..we look at what the client is doing through all the digital channels and if it is working.

"We outline the steps they can take to optimise their digital presence to meet their goals."

He says in the automotive sector there is a “huge educational piece” to ensure consumers understand electric vehicle platforms.

"The buyer journey now is messy compared to what it was like 20 to 25 years ago,’’ he added.

"There is no linear process to it. People will take a lot of time and go back and forth using various different types of media. Google has labelled this the ‘messy middle’.”

"We make sure our clients are hitting those touch points that are relevant to the consumers. We want to continue to offer our core suite of services.”

The business has grown to secure £620,000 in annual revenue and employs eight staff.

Mr Starkey said he would like to be turning over more than £1m within the next two years, but stresses that growth must be sustainable.

“It’s now about people, so we are putting the processes in place to make sure we can onboard people and ideally we want to start breaking into double digit figures in terms of staff numbers next year,’’ he added.

"We don't want to create a place that's running on the edge. I don't want people working late into the evenings and at weekends. It then creates the wrong behaviours with your clients because they expect you always to be on call.

"We’re currently undergoing a slight adjustment in structure to maximise our performance and effectiveness,’’ he added. “We have also appointed Gareth Healey as a NED (non-executive director), who was formerly CEO of marketing agency creativerace in Leeds, to help support our strategic plans.

"He brings a lot of experience to the table and will help shape our future.

"I'm keen for some of the more senior team members to focus on the strategic areas of the business,’’ he added.

"We've got two of our team members who have gone most of the way through their apprenticeship schemes; it has given us the potential to really shape the team and attract people with the right approach and attitude.

"We're never going to compete financially with big multinationals like Sky so we have to think about what we can do to offer people a better place to work.

"Working half days on Friday is an example of this, as is the ‘kudos board’ where we read out notes each month that staff members have anonymously posted about success or positive support they’ve received. It’s about celebrating small wins.

"We've implemented things like a profit share and we're trying to put people first.”

Around 80 per cent of the company’s work comes within 40 or 50 miles of its base.

He added: “Being where we are we can get into big cities like Leeds very quickly and we benefit from having affordable office space and access to plenty of potential employees in the area.

"As we grow, we aim to explore our relationships with universities a bit more.”

"The LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) are helping with some of our funding which is helping to support digital innovation projects internally.”

Above all, he takes great pride in Black Lab’s ability to provide straight forward guidance that deliver results for its fast-growing clients.

He added: "We haven't just survived over the last eight years, we have managed to grow. We've had Brexit and Covid and we've built a business that looks after people's livelihoods. I'm proud of that. I want us to be known as the 'go to' business in our sector.”