A survey of Manchester digital agencies shows that 54% of them expect to see their revenue grow by up to 50% over the next 12 months.
It was carried out by independent trade association Manchester Digital and it also found that 45% of respondents had no idea of the impact of Brexit and 32% predicted a negative impact.
While broadly positive, the biggest challenge faced by most was finding talent (34%), followed by winning new business (30%) and then losing work to in-house operations (16%).
On the final point, 1 in 3 agencies said that they were losing clients to in-housing. This was particularly so in development (22%), followed by content (13%), digital marketing (11%) and paid search and social media both at 10%. As well as work going in-house, it has also had an impact on staff retention, with 27% saying staff had opted to work client-side.
“Manchester’s digital landscape is incredibly diverse and open to harnessing change, making it the perfect environment for digital agencies to thrive, but change will only come if agencies are proactive in working together and embracing one another’s knowledge and expertise to achieve a common goal of driving future growth in the region,” said Manchester Digital’s Managing Director, Katie Gallagher.
“Given the digital skills shortage that’s currently hampering the North West, it comes as no surprise that finding, and retaining, talent is the main challenge digital agencies across Manchester are facing, and collaboration is key to solving this.
“We hope that this report will act as a useful guideline for all businesses operating within the tech and digital sectors across the North West, outlining how we can pull together as a region to collectively improve the landscape for Manchester’s agencies.”
The full report can be found here.
