Growth Report 2017: Houck Agency Leverages Content Marketing
Editor’s Note: The following story is from Growth Report 2017, published by The Business Journal.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Now in its fourth year in business, The Houck Agency grew from 11 clients to 18, and increased its revenue 15% over last year.
The Houck Agency is a boutique marketing and copywriting services firm. It performs outsourced digital marketing, public relations, social media marketing and professional writing services for local and national companies based throughout northeastern Ohio. The agency’s offices are in downtown Youngstown.
“We’re honing in on our sweet spot as far as what we do best and most competitively among our offerings, and at the same time we’re benefiting from positive word-of-mouth from our clients and being more visible in the community,” says Jim Houck, company president.
Market forces such as the proliferation of content marketing combined with understaffed corporate marketing departments are leading to a strong demand for the types of services his agency offers, Houck says.
“We execute, plain and simple,” he relates. “We’re comfortable in the role as consultant and strategist, but where we really shine is producing engaging content, generating creative ideas and being that extra set of hands that’s reliable and adds value to a project.”
Nearly 40% of Houck Agency’s business comes from outside the Mahoning Valley, a statistic Houck attributes to competitive hourly rates as well as his network of contacts in Cleveland and Akron where he spent 12 years of his career.
Locally, Houck counts Simon Roofing, NECA-IBEW Electricians, Akron Children’s Hospital, as well as a pair of Mahoning Valley marketing firms among his client roster.
Growth areas in 2017, he says, include website search engine optimization (SEO), copywriting, content marketing and crisis management. He’s also planning to add resources to his team and expand his office footprint in the Ohio One building.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
