Serving the Teesside Business Community | 35
No Mabo about it... this digital firm is going places
By Martin Walker
Mabo Media managing director Lee Mableson has grown his pay-per-click firm from a spare room to a 23-strong team operating from Middlesbrough’ s thriving digital sector.
A
thriving digital marketing agency which started out in a spare room four years ago is now thriving at the heart of
Middlesbrough’ s bustling digital sector.
Former accountant Lee Mableson launched Mabo Media in May 2013, operating as a freelance from his Guisborough home.
Now he heads up a 23-strong team which is working with more than 200 clients up and down the country, offering a no-nonsense approach to paid search management services.
Mableson is so confident in his company’ s services that he refuses to tie clients up with contracts.
And as he continues to pick up new clients on a weekly basis, the 30-year-old has ambitious plans to double turnover each year and grow his team to 100 over the next three years.
“ I’ m always looking three years ahead,” says Mableson in his office, which boasts some stunning views of Middlesbrough from the fifth floor of the swanky Boho Five building.
“ And we have a lot of work to do! It’ s not a case of being happy with what’ s been achieved so far, we’ re always looking for the next stage of development.”
Mabo Media is a pay-per-click specialist – already the second largest in the North- East – which is recognised by Google as one of the UK ' s few Premier Partners, and is one of the first recruits to Bing’ s partner programme.
The firm, which works with high-profile brands including Montane, Lifestyle Fitness and Totes, recently added four new members of staff including three apprentices.
Mableson says:“ As we continue to grow, the number of clients we serve, we need to invest in more staff to ensure our high service levels are maintained.
“ Being located in central Middlesbrough has made recruitment much easier and has helped enhance our reputation by having a greater choice of higher-calibre staff.”
Mableson says Mabo’ s roots are firmly entrenched on Teesside and the firm will continue to recruit locally, as he looks to set up partnerships with local colleges and Teesside University to help people find work in the digital sector.
“ We’ re also big into making work a happy place to be,” he adds.“ There’ s nothing worse than hating your job – I’ ve been there myself – and I’ d hate to think anyone didn’ t enjoy working for us, so we try to keep a happy ship and look after our staff.
“ That tends to filter through to our clients. If our staff are happy then, generally, our customers will be too.”
Mableson has now appointed four other senior people to key positions – including heads of departments Rob Jackson
( paid search), Dean Yates( research and development), James Lees( marketing) and Craig Griffiths( sales) – which he feels puts Mabo in an even stronger position going forward.
“ We’ ve got a proper set-up now and we’ ve got big plans for growth,” adds Mableson.“ I’ m not driven by money, it’ s not about that for me, it’ s about building a team and a successful company which has a reputation for being the best and creates jobs. That’ s something I can be proud of.
“ Our aim is to become the best and biggest PPC management agency in the UK. The only way we can do that is by continuing to offer a high-end but affordable resultsdriven service for our clients. We have to be better than everyone else.
“ Our clients are happy and that’ s paramount to us. As long as we’ re doing the job then we’ ll continue to grow.”
Find out more about Mabo Media at mabo. co. uk