What Simantel does

Simantel Group, Inc. is a privately held strategic marketing agency founded in 1984 and headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, with 160+ employees distributed across 23 states. The firm operates four core service pillars — Creative Campaigns, Customer Activation, Organizational Health, and Strategy — supporting capabilities including research, content production, video and motion media, paid media, web development, and analytics. Its client base is anchored in B2B industrial, manufacturing, and heavy-equipment sectors, with Caterpillar representing a disproportionate share of case-study work across Cat Reman, Cat 306 CR, Cat CVA, and Cat GCI programs; the agency also serves healthcare (OSF HealthCare), financial services (Country Financial, RLI), agriculture (Corteva, LG Seeds), industrial (Ingersoll Rand, Solar Turbines), and nonprofit clients.

The agency's technology stack centers on its proprietary Universal Marketing Model (UMM) framework — a strategic approach that aligns people, processes, data, and platforms around a single view of the customer — combined with implementation expertise across enterprise marketing automation platforms including Oracle Eloqua, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Pardot, and SharpSpring. Simantel uses third-party AI tools (notably ChatGPT under enterprise data controls) for content creation, idea generation, and analytics, paired with an internal AI adoption gamification program that has demonstrably increased advanced feature usage across staff.

Commercially, Simantel operates a professional-services model with multi-year, custom-scoped engagements priced per project rather than through published tiers. It reaches enterprise clients through direct consultative sales, industry events such as CONEXPO-CON/AGG, content marketing (blog, case studies, the Marketing Sweats podcast), and earned media. Global delivery is enabled through membership in the Advertising and Marketing Independent Network (AMIN), a coalition of 50+ agencies across 30 countries, while leadership and ownership remain concentrated among long-tenured employees — Tim Leesman serves as President and majority owner, Misty Klobucher as co-owner and President of AMIN Americas.

Name

Simantel

Legal name

Simantel Group, Inc.

Website

https://simantel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Simantel is a privately held, Peoria-based strategic marketing agency founded in 1984 with 160+ employees serving enterprise B2B industrial, manufacturing, healthcare, and nonprofit clients through creative, activation, strategy, and organizational health services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marketing & Advertising Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B/ABM Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marketing Technology, AdTech & MarTech Services (BPAFAAAN), Marketing Technology (MarTech) Strategy & Stack Advisory (MPAAAFAJ)

Keywords

• Strategic marketing services
• Brand strategy consulting
• Creative campaign development
• Marketing automation services
• Organizational development consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Peoria

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Marketing Strategy & Consulting Services: Strategic consulting, brand strategy, marketing strategy, content strategy, customer experience strategy, and communication strategy engagements
2. Creative Production Services: Creative campaigns, content creation, video & motion media, branding, trade shows & events, and brand execution services
3. Marketing Automation & Analytics Services: Marketing automation setup & management, analytics & performance tracking, lead nurturing & conversion optimization, customer journey mapping
4. Organizational Health Services: Customized workshops, process optimization, culture building & change management, leadership development & coaching

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Simantel is a strategic marketing agency that delivers four core service pillars: Creative Campaigns, Customer Activation, Organizational Health, and Strategy. The agency serves enterprise B2B clients with brand strategy, content production, marketing automation setup, analytics, and organizational development engagements, working with clients across industrial, manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, financial services, and community sectors.

Product overview

Simantel is a strategic marketing agency operating as a service-based business rather than a software product company. The agency offers four core service pillars: Creative Campaigns, Customer Activation, Organizational Health, and Strategy. These core services are supported by various capabilities including research and personas, content creation, video and motion media, branding, tradeshows and events, PR and organic social media, marketing automation, analytics and reporting, paid media solutions, development, customized workshops, and leadership development. The agency works across diverse industries including industrial, agriculture, finance, healthcare, and community sectors. Notable clients include Caterpillar, Knapheide Manufacturing, Gilmore Foundation, OSF HealthCare, and River Valley Pipe. The agency also produces the Marketing Sweats Podcast as a content offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creative Campaigns

Quantifiable outcome

• 177% increase in advanced AI feature usage within two months of gamification program launch
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Advertising and Marketing Independent Network (AMIN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSimantel is a proud member of AMIN, a network of 50+ member agencies from 30 different countries around the world. This membership enables Simantel to bring more value to clients by gaining quick and actionable intelligence across industries, geographies and service lines. The network provides access to global insights while maintaining the agility of an independent agency.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Godfrey: Pittsburgh-based independent B2B marketing agency with deep industrial and technology expertise, comparable to Simantel in vertical focus on complex B2B buyers and full-service integrated offerings.
• Bader Rutter & Associates: Wisconsin-based independent B2B marketing agency with a strong industrial/manufacturing roster and full-service capabilities (brand, creative, digital, PR), comparable to Simantel in vertical focus and mid-size independent positioning.
• Schafer Condon Carter (SCC): Mid-size independent Chicago-based agency providing strategy, creative, media, digital and PR services to B2B and consumer brands — comparable to Simantel in employee scale and full-service independent positioning.
• Eric Mower + Associates (EMA): Mid-size independent agency with B2B and B2C practices and strong industrial/financial services clients, comparable in size, ownership structure (privately held by employees), and full-service model.
• Lewis Communications: Mid-size independent agency headquartered in Birmingham, AL with B2B/B2C capabilities and a multi-vertical client roster including industrial and manufacturing — comparable in size, regional base, and full-service independent model.
• Marcus Thomas LLC: Cleveland-based independent agency of similar size (~200 employees) with deep B2B and industrial expertise serving manufacturers and regional enterprises, directly comparable in business model, scale, and client mix to Simantel.
• Brunner: Pittsburgh-based independent agency of similar size with B2B and B2C capabilities across strategy, creative, digital and media — comparable in independent ownership and mid-market enterprise client focus.
• VSA Partners: Chicago-based independent agency with B2B brand strategy and design expertise serving enterprise clients, comparable in scale and strategic/creative services mix to Simantel.

Broad incumbents

• R/GA: Global digital and brand experience agency (IPG-owned) overlapping with Simantel's customer activation, martech and digital strategy services, but operating at vastly greater scale with a different ownership structure.
• RPA (Rubin Postaer and Associates): Larger independent agency (Publicis-aligned for some clients) with broad B2B and consumer capabilities — overlaps with Simantel in advertising services but operates at meaningfully greater scale and breadth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@simantel/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/simantelgroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/simantel
• Instagraminstagram.com/simantelgroup
• Xx.com/simantel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Simantel