A Birmingham agency has secured £150,000 of angel funding which is allowing it to expand its team as well as its marketing capabilities.

Digbeth-based Tomorrow People has appointed sales and marketing director Alistair Norman, who has a background at several tech firms, and his brother Jonathan, who will work on business development.

Currently the firm has six people in-house and a team of up to 12 people who it uses for freelance work – and it hopes to expand on this number following the investment.

The firm, who declined to disclose the identity of the investor, said the money would be used to support its move away from a traditional design and communications agency and towards being “inbound marketing” specialist.

It defined inbound marketing as a “pull rather than a push approach to marketing”.

It claims that by using a combination of content marketing, social media and marketing automation it can attract visitors to clients’ websites.

Mr Norman said the approach had come over from companies in the United States.

“The world of marketing is changing quicker than anyone has expected,” he said.

“With the merging of disciplines and the emergence of new platforms and technology, we have the opportunity to take our customers to the forefront with our inbound marketing approach, not only improving their web presence, but most importantly, transparently improving their bottom line.”

Mr Norman has more than 15 years’ experience in marketing, with senior positions at firms like MVI Technology, which was funded by venture capital firm Midven.

He has also worked for Qliktech, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Stephen Walls, creative director of Tomorrow People, said the firm was happy to welcome Mr Norman on board.

“Alistair’s vast experience in the convergence of marketing, technology and innovation will be a tremendous asset as we seek to further expand our business,” he said.

Tomorrow People account director James Walters said the £150,000 angel investment would play an important part in enhancing the firm’s service.

“As a small team of experts, we will be using the funding to expand our delivery capability with the launch of our community management hub, focused on engaging our customers’ target audience with our inbound marketing methodology.

“We will also be investing heavily in our content creation team to differentiate our customers with strong informative content,” he said.

The firm, whose clients include QlikTech and Westfield, is based in the Rhubarb building in Digbeth.