While many companies continue to reel from the fallout of the “Great Recession, “ one of Central Oregon’s tech sector stars is bucking the trend and continues to hit new heights.
G5 Search Marketing, Inc. just announced that it has again hit 100 percent year-over-year growth for 2009 – while also adding employees in economically-battered Bend where unemployment hovers around 15 percent – and predicts further strategic growth throughout 2010.
As the leading provider of vertical-specific (industry-specific) Local Marketing Solutions, G5’s latest earning figures represent the company’s fourth consecutive year of triple digit revenue growth.
The company’s Local Marketing Software Applications and Services address the growing need of mid-market companies to get found online, generate more qualified leads, convert more leads into new customers, analyze marketing performance – including offline – and optimize to the marketing sources that provide the best return on investment.
Marketing Director Devin Davis said that the current economic climate has actually worked to G5’s advantage as savvy companies recognize opportunities to take market share from competitors and the benefits of effectively switching advertising dollars from traditional mediums to the Internet.
In 2008, the company also signed a strategic alliance deal with Google to boost advertising programs.
The most recent growth has been primarily fueled through G5’s entry into the senior housing, multifamily and student housing vertical sectors. Its client base has grown over 80 percent in the past year, and the company now serves nearly 2,000 client locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Additional revenue growth can also be pegged to existing client demand for G5’s new product and service offerings, including a Twitter Widget, Real Time Reservations Module and Social Media Advertising.
The company reports a client retention rate of over 93 percent in 2009 and attributes its high customer satisfaction to the increase in business that clients experience after launching the G5 Local Marketing Platform.
Continued success has seen G5’s employee base swell to 55, with further strategic job growth anticipated this year, and has prompted the company to expand into larger space, spanning over 14,000 square feet, in the mixed-use Franklin Crossing building in down-
town Bend.
G5 CEO Dan Hobin said part of the company’s success is derived from being able to measure what’s working for clients’ marketing and advertising so budgets can be optimized in the most effective channels, adding: “We’ve built vertical-specific solutions that deliver better business performance for our clients. We’ve taken the time to learn the nuances of each new vertical and tailor our solutions to meet the needs of company owners and operators.”
G5 was recently named the 146th Fastest Growing U.S. Private Company by Inc. magazine. Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) also named G5 founders Dan Hobin and Greg Meier as the Entrepreneur(s) of the Year for 2008.
Local economic development leaders have identified a healthy information technology component as key to establishing a more high-tech focused economy, better insulated from the cyclical nature of more potentially volatile sectors such as real estate and construction.
Deschutes County has also been ranked among the top areas in the Northwest best suited to grow its information technology sector, with the innovation and entrepreneurship that accompany the field well-suited to create desirable “clean industry” family wage jobs.
For more information, visit www.G5searchmarketing.com or contact Devin Davis, 541-306-3389 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 541-306-3389 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; devin.davis@G5searchmarketing.com
