Member Article

Sunderland graduates set up 'hyperlocal' marketing venture

A Sunderland graduate is on a mission to market local business in his home town with the launch of his own first venture.

Stephen Whitfield has set up South Tyneside Business Marketing (STBM), a web design and business marketing company, alongside friend and fellow North East graduate Dan McManus, both South Shields born and bred.

The fledgling business covers South Shields, Hebburn, Jarrow and the surrounding areas, providing digital marketing services and helping companies to improve their online presence.

Although its early days for STBM, Stephen and Dan, are already making a name for themselves having secured contracts with a number of individual clients including a pharmacy, garage and a snooker league, to help promote their business and raise their profile.

In addition to supporting business clients, the pair are also offering students a specialist portfolio service to help market themselves in a competitive jobs market.

Stephen, 22, says he is using all the skills he developed while studying his Media Production (Video and New Media) degree at the University of Sunderland and the commercial experience he gained since while working at a Durham based Spanish property portal, redesigning their website and helping promote their products, to ensure his own business is a success.

He said: “We have one simple goal, to use experience and knowledge to offer affordable business marketing to local South Tyneside businesses,

“We are a ‘hyperlocal’ company meaning that instead of working in unfamiliar locations, we aim to provide a quality and unbeatable service in the local community which we know inside out.

“The North East loses many of its media/marketing graduates to the South as there are many opportunities there within the creative industry. However, we have a huge level of local pride in South Tyneside and everything it has given us. As such when we finished our university degrees we decided that instead of leaving the area we wanted to give as much back as we possibly could and help it to grow.

“So after gaining all of the necessary educational and commercial experience; we are now South Tyneside Business Marketing.

“We truly believe that in order to be able to promote a business that you must know its location and the people within it. We have that knowledge and the technical ability to promote local businesses and to ensure that their online presence is as good as it possibly can be.”

Stephen says he credits his experience at the University of Sunderland for helping him have the confidence to set up his own business.

“My degree was amazing and the level of experience that I got and the variety really carried me forward. It was not just learning about video and new media, it was web design, radio and video production, all these elements gave me the depth of experience that’s unmatched.”

STBM offers web design services, search engine optimisation and digital marketing packages.

Dan added: “We specialise in bringing modern advertising methods to the region. Our website developers are pioneers of the most up-to-date and effective marketing. We employ techniques that ensure local companies will have all the resources it needs to be seen on an ever-growing online platform.

“We have a great deal of passion for South Tyneside and believe that contributes greatly to our exceptional business marketing standards. Our aim is to promote local businesses online in a variety of ways ranging from creating professional websites to digital marketing campaigns.

“We offer a great selection of services to meet any customers’ needs. We work closely with clients to ensure we all have a full understand of any project.”

Vince Robson, University business development manager, who manages The Enterprise Place, University’s support facility for students and graduate entrepreneurs, said: “It’s really pleasing that another of our graduates has drawn inspiration from their studies and time at University and achieved their ambition of running their own business here in the North East.

“We wish Dan and South Tyneside Business Marketing the best of luck for the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by University of Sunderland .