Fort Wayne marketer poised for more growth

By Dan McHowan | Inside INdiana Business

The founder of a rapidly-growing Fort Wayne marketing company is eyeing a larger footprint throughout the state and beyond. Cyclone Social Chief Executive Officer Andrew Lamping launched the company in 2012 from his bedroom and says revenue has tripled each year since. As a result, staff size has jumped from five in January to 15 currently. Future plans include more employees and additional offices in markets like the company's "next major push" in Indianapolis.

Lamping says an Indianapolis office could be in the works and the company plans to build onto its small central Indiana presence that includes its most recent client, Noblesville-based BeeFree Gluten-Free Bakery. "Right now we're really pushing Noblesville, Cicero -- we have a couple of clients in that area -- we'll move into Carmel, we'll move into Indy, we'll move into Greenwood," Lamping adds. "My other big market focuses will be Detroit, because one of our largest clients is based out of that area, and Columbus, Ohio is another market that we really want to focus on." Its client list started with a small pub in the city and has grown to include Subway, Eddie Merlots, Shindigs and Cyclone Social's neighbor, Coney Island.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Lamping says Cyclone Social emphasizes integrating social media anywhere it can with customers. "Probably the biggest misperception we see is that social media is just part of marketing. Where realistically, what I look at is social media is marketing and all of the tools kind of fall around that," Lamping says. "It's not about the platform. It's not about posting on Facebook. It's not about posting on Instagram or Twitter, it's about maximizing that every element of exposure to get that person (consumer) to post for you or talk about it for you."

As the company grows, so does its home city of Fort Wayne. Lamping says the city has provided a good opportunity for his company to build, because its size and interconnected business atmosphere provides better access and ability to gain referrals than larger-sized communities. He says Fort Wayne is "still pretty old school" in many respects, but his company receives hundreds of responses from potential employees inside and outside the area every time a job opening is posted.