THE digital marketing industry in Oxford is flourishing but a shortage of talent is holding it back.

Cardiff-headquartered web design and digital marketing agency Spindogs is investing in a base at Oxford Science Park, having won £500,000-worth of new business here, including with Oxford University.

Spindogs won competitive tenders for the University’s Department of Life Science, Department of Engineering Science and Exeter College.

The firm, which employs 31 and expects to turnover £1.5m this year, has Cardiff and Swansea Universities and Arriva as clients.

Managing director Liam Giles said Oxford’s location was a big draw, as it is within easy reach of Reading, Milton Keynes, Birmingham and London.

He said: “We felt there were opportunities in the city but also within an hour’s radius there’s a hotbed where work is.”

Home-grown success stories in Oxford’s digital marketing sector include White October in East Oxford, which develops web and mobile apps on projects of up to £500,00-plus.

Others include Summertown-based One, a web design and branding agency which has the Said Business School and Pearson as customers.

Kidlington-based Zest employs 13 staff and clients include The National Trust, Warner Leisure and Pipers Crisps.

Zest founder and managing director Alex Minchin said Oxford’s digital sector was “definitely showing signs of growth” but was more “jumpy”, due to Brexit and political upheaval, with more clients opting for six-monthly rather than yearly contracts.

Biggest growth, according to Mr Minchin, is coming from the web design and paid advertising sectors, with an increasing shift by businesses to hire content and social media roles in-house.

Google is increasingly emphasising mobile first, which can affect firms with dated websites that do not provide an optimum mobile and tablet experience, he pointed out.

Clients are also spending more on ‘personalisation’ technology, which memorises a browser’s history to show information linked to what they searched on before and Pay Per Click such as Google Ads.

He warned: “We have really strong agencies in Oxford but the big problem is lack of talent.”

A shortage of web and digital specialists with between four and eight year’s experience is holding back many firms, he believes.

And he called for digital firms to be treated separately from science and space tech companies.

This would include an annual event, similar to those run in Brighton and Bournemouth , which would draw more attention and digital talent to the city.

He said: “Oxford has some of the UK’s best agencies and it would be a boost to business and for talent recruitment if we were given a chance to shine on a bigger scale.”