Today we’d like to introduce you to James Trumbly.
James Trumbly, HMG’s founder, enlisted in the Marine Corps at 18 years old, beginning a life of bold ventures. After the completion of the tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, James returned home. Following his service, James started a new season of life as an entrepreneur, opening a car dealership and auto brokerage with a friend. The auto business grew and experienced immediate success, prompting James to recognize the increased need for web presence necessary to remain relevant as a company. James decided to take on the designing and development of the company’s first website.
Entirely self-taught, James gained development and marketing skills while managing the auto business. During this period of growth, James met a small business owner whose local company sparked an innovative idea: an online center that synthesizes content for specific geographic regions. With new expertise in web development and the enthusiasm of a true entrepreneur, James launched 411NorthCounty.com, an online community sourcing local content for eight North County cities of San Diego.
As James and his team approached businesses to provide advertising services, it became evident that many lacked the resources for full-service marketing. As a solution, 411NorthCounty.com expanded its offerings to include creative and marketing services for businesses in need of supplemental marketing support. The creative side of the business took off, so James sold 411NorthCounty.com to a local publication and honed his focus on the newly-founded creative agency…\ HMG Creative.
During the initial stages, James ran HMG out of a friend’s small rented room where he lived. Even still, the agency continued to grow and thrive, with expansion hinging on the addition of a talented designer/creative director. Fortunately, at the same time, James’ childhood friend Johnny Jeffers, located in Austin, TX, was ready for the next step in his career and looking for a creative position. The two decided to partner up, and the rest is history.
After a few years, HMG Creative upgraded from coffee shops and in-home offices to its first physical office location in Vista, CA. Team members like Johnny continued to work remotely until 2011 when HMG made its most significant business move yet. To bring the whole team under one roof (and bring James back to his Texas roots), HMG moved its headquarters to Austin, planting HMG in a booming market, positioned for wild success and exponential growth as an agency expert in the creative industry.
From our beginnings as a simple, home-grown agency to a well-respected, award-winning top agency, HMG has continued to provide quality digital marketing and creative services to clients for over 15 years. Throughout our years of growth, we learned that our key to success is not trying to be everything to everyone but to find out what we’re good at and focus our efforts there. We’ve since built a well-rounded, talented team with a sweet spot in mid-market companies where we feel we can offer the best services and value at a competitive price. We’re privileged to work with clients like Buc-ees, RetailMeNot, Ikea, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Capital Factory, and State Bar of Texas as a collaborative partner for their creative needs.
As we continue to grow and evolve, HMG aims to be the go-to creative partner in Austin and Central Texas for brands seeking their next level of business growth. Our goal is to provide the best ideas, expertise, and experience any agency can offer with unmatched reliability and talent.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Providing services within an aggressively developing industry over the past 18 years has provided obstacles. Dating back to the humble beginnings of HMG Creative, there were no apps or social media platforms and little pressure to maintain a web presence. Such rapid growth requires time-saving tools, such as automation, substantially reducing employee workloads, leaving time for personal development. With each challenge, we utilize a creative, team-centric, problem-solving mindset.
Our founder James understands that we are becoming obsolete as a marketing agency if we are not striving for growth. Learning to pivot alongside the accelerating advancements of technology is challenging, and we prepare by educating ourselves on relevant topics. We stay competitive by relying on new tools, efficiencies, and trends.
Running an agency in Austin is quite idyllic; however, acquiring talent is becoming more challenging as the influx of tech giants continues. At HMG Creative, we have a small and talented team. We overcome the difficulties of talent acquisition by hiring mid to senior-level employees with years of expertise and a strong focus on work-life balance.
We and all project-based agencies face one additional challenge: the cycle of beginning a project, completing a project, and searching for the next opportunity—rinsing and repeating. Over the years, we’ve found success and broke the cycle by providing a lifetime of value to our clients. We are continuously looking for new ways to increase and improve long-standing relationships with our clients, whether it’s providing ourselves as an extension to their team, continue fostering partnerships, and offering ongoing services into the future.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about HMG Creative?
We are HMG Creative, an Austin-based award-winning digital agency that boosts the marketing efforts of growing brands. As a full-service boutique agency, we create and build up brands, websites, and marketing content for companies. Our team consists of passionate strategists, top-of-the-line developers, and forward-thinking designers whose approach is propelled by innovation and shaped by industry experience. Our goal is to empower our clients in their evolutionary process and provide high-quality content. We deliver creativity that launches brands into expansive growth and empowers their next business evolution.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Likes: good coffee, an inspired person, someone who is happy to be where they are, and creativity.
Dislikes: bad hospitality, the bare minimum, bad coffee, slow traffic, lack of inspiration or drive.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@hmgcreative.com
- Website: hmgcreative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hmgcreative/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hmgcreative
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hmgcreative
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thehmgcreative
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hmg-creative-austin
Image Credits
Shot in-house by HMG photographer
