Huebner Marketing grows manufacturing client base

LOVELAND — Jim Huebner of Fort Collins started his marketing firm in his basement and worked with a variety of companies needing promotion no matter the industry.

But within a few years, Huebner, founder of Huebner Integrated Marketing in Loveland, saw the advantage of focusing on particular clients and now works exclusively with manufacturing companies. He also expanded his company from a solo operation to two teams, one in Loveland and one in India, to be able to tackle jobs 24-6 with Sundays off.

“Our job is to make manufacturers heroes to their sales channels,” said Jim Huebner, president and chief executive officer of Huebner Marketing, 6853 N. Franklin St.

Huebner Marketing, which operates with a staff of 36, saw 463 percent growth from 2015 to 2017 when revenue reached $2.45 million. The company is a fully integrated marketing company that provides traditional advertising and digital marketing services, including website design and development, online presence management, search engine optimization, pay-per-clicks, blogs and other content development, and social media, along with helping plan trade shows.

“It’s whatever we believe is going to be the best way to reach prospective clients or customers,” Huebner said.

Huebner founded Huebner Marketing in 1989 in Grand Island, Neb., relocating to Loveland in 2004 to be near a major airport and university and for a larger recruiting pool of technology experts, he said. Previously, he had worked for three years as an advertising manager after earning a business degree with an emphasis in marketing. His first clients were a car dealership and a bank, and he moved from the old school way of doing advertising with typesetting and paste-ups to doing all of the steps digitally.

In the late 1990s, Huebner narrowed his client base to manufacturers who make products and sell them through their dealer networks and sales channels. His company helps position their offerings in the marketplace to appeal directly to customers or the intermediary dealer or retailer. The focus is on relationships, not projects, building marketing programs for companies working in the vehicle, retail, outdoor recreation, agriculture and industrial industries.

Most of the companies are in Middle America where the manufacturing industry is based, Huebner said.

“In 2008 when the economy tanked, dealers had to decide what brands to carry,” Huebner said, adding that Huebner Marketing “makes sure they will carry our clients.”

Four years ago, Huebner Marketing resigned its largest client and made changes in operations, including adding a programming team of 23 from India and trimming overall staff numbers, achieving a quicker turnaround for clients without losing out on quality, Huebner said. The result is a more experienced staff able to work faster, making the business more cost effective, he said.

“We have this amazing team of people who can do anything,” Huebner said. “I’m kind of in awe of our team right now. We all feel like we have everything we need to keep growing the way we have the last three years.”

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