Heartland Marketing Group

What Heartland Marketing Group does

Heartland Marketing Group, Inc. (also operating as "Team HMG") is a private, founder-owned marketing communications agency established in 1983 by Barb Determan and headquartered in Early, Iowa. The firm provides full-service marketing communications to agricultural and food industry clients, with a focus on pork producers, livestock organizations, commodity groups, food manufacturers, and rural businesses across the Midwest. Core services include strategic marketing planning, visual identity development, website design, media relations, meetings and events management, copywriting and content development, graphic design, e-newsletter production, podcast production, and tradeshow display design. The firm operates with a team of approximately five professionals — including President Barbara Campbell Determan, Vice President Ann Trimble-Ray, and three graphic designers — with combined industry experience approaching 100 years.

The agency's revenue model is professional services delivered through project-based and retainer engagements priced via custom consultation rather than published rates. Its go-to-market is direct, relationship-driven sales targeting enterprise agricultural organizations and local businesses, with no external sales infrastructure, no disclosed channel partners, and no software platform. The firm maintains an active online presence through its website (teamhmg.com), a monthly "Heartbeat" newsletter, and social media on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and distributes client content through a partnership with WHO Radio.

Underlying technology is conventional creative and web tooling rather than proprietary platforms; the firm partners with external developers for website builds and does not offer a public API or software product. No AI/ML capabilities, patents, certifications, regulatory actions, funding rounds, M&A activity, or parent-subsidiary relationships are disclosed. The company is profitable in operating posture, founder-controlled, and regionally focused on the Midwest, with notable client anchors including the Swine Health Information Center, National Pork Board, Ohio Pork Council, and Iowa Craft Meats.

Name

Heartland Marketing Group

Legal name

Heartland Marketing Group Inc.

Website

https://teamhmg.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Heartland Marketing Group is a private, Iowa-based marketing communications agency founded in 1983 that provides strategic marketing, branding, website development, media relations, and event services primarily to agricultural commodity groups, food producers, and rural businesses in the Midwest.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Iowa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Marketing Communications Services: Professional services revenue from strategic marketing planning, brand development, website design, graphic design, media relations, and event management for agricultural and food industry clients. Project-based and retainer engagements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Heartland Marketing Group is a small, Iowa-based marketing communications agency that develops strategic marketing plans, visual identities, websites, media relations programs, meetings and events, and ongoing communications collateral for agricultural organizations, food producers, government entities, and small businesses. The firm also produces e-newsletters, podcasts, tradeshow displays, and branded marketing tools under multi-year and project-based engagements.

Product overview

Heartland Marketing Group operates as a marketing communications agency offering a unified set of professional services rather than a software platform. The core offering consists of strategic marketing planning, visual identity development (logos, signage, brand guidelines), media relations, website development, and communication collateral creation. Supporting services include meetings and events management, graphic design, copywriting and content development, e-newsletter production, podcast development and editing, tradeshow display design, and brand guidelines development. All services are delivered as consulting and creative services to help clients tell their unique stories to target audiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Marketing Planning

Named customers26 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

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• WHO RadiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHMG produces a weekly animal health update for the Swine Health Information Center that airs on WHO Radio's Saturday morning farm programming. This represents a content distribution partnership for client deliverables.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bader Rutter: Bader Rutter is a Milwaukee-based, much larger B2B marketing agency with a strong agricultural, animal health, and rural client roster. It competes for the same ag-association and agribusiness work but at a broader scale.
• HLK: HLK is a St. Louis-based full-service marketing communications agency with food, agriculture, and ingredient clients. It overlaps with HMG in food and ag categories but operates at significantly broader scale.

Direct peers

• Rhea + Kaiser: Rhea + Kaiser is a Naperville, Illinois-based marketing agency with a longstanding agricultural and rural client base. It competes with HMG for ag-association and agribusiness marketing engagements.
• Lessing-Flynn: Lessing-Flynn is an Omaha-based full-service advertising and marketing agency with significant agricultural and rural client experience, competing in the same regional ag-vertical niche as HMG.
• MorganMyers: MorganMyers is a Waukesha, Wisconsin-based public relations and marketing communications firm with deep agricultural, food, and rural client expertise, directly competing for association and food-producer marketing work alongside HMG.
• AdFarm: AdFarm is a North America-wide agricultural and rural-focused marketing communications agency serving many of the same crop and livestock client categories as HMG. It is the most direct competitor in agricultural vertical-specialized marketing services.

Emerging players

• Curious Plot: Curious Plot is a Minneapolis-based marketing and communications agency focused on food, agriculture, and lifestyle brands. It overlaps with HMG in food-producer and ag-marketing work, with a stronger consumer-brand orientation.
• Truffle Media Networks: Truffle Media Networks is an agricultural-focused media and podcast production company. It overlaps with HMG's podcast and content production work for ag clients like SHIC.

Regional players

• Swanson Russell: Swanson Russell is a Lincoln, Nebraska-based full-service marketing agency with a sizable agribusiness and rural client base. It is a regional peer operating in adjacent Midwest geographies with overlapping client categories.
• Broadhead: Broadhead is a Minneapolis-based full-service marketing agency with strong agricultural and rural lifestyle client work. It is a regional peer serving similar ag and food industry clients across the Midwest.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/YourTeamHMG
• Facebookfacebook.com/YourTeamHMG
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/heartland-marketing-group-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Heartland Marketing Group