How ETMG Built a Smarter, Simpler Way to Get Marketing Done

Behind every lasting company is an idea that solves a real problem. For ETMG, that idea was simple but powerful: marketing should be streamlined, centralized, and built around a single point of contact that makes getting work done faster and easier. Twenty-eight years later, that idea still drives ETMG’s business approach. 

In a recent conversation, Founder and CEO Michael Grodin reflected on the early challenges that shaped the business, the bold bets and big clients that accelerated its growth, and the lessons that continue to guide the company today. 

Q: What idea sparked ETMG’s founding? What problem were you trying to solve?

Michael: The original spark came out of frustration. I was working in a corporate marketing role, and the whole process of getting anything done was incredibly disjointed. 

For example, if our team needed to leverage contractors to produce a whitepaper, I would have to vet, approve, and manage an entire team of people – the writer, the editor, the designer, and potentially other specialists. The process was extremely inefficient, and eventually I realized I was spending more time managing it than actually doing the work I was hired to do.

That was the beginning of our business idea – to provide clients with a “marketing-department-in-a-box.” Instead of juggling four or five different resources, they could come to one place, issue one purchase order, and have everything handled for them. We would vet the talent, manage the timelines, coordinate the deliverables, and keep the whole thing moving, so the client could remain focused on their work instead of being a full-time traffic manager.

Q: Did that original model work right away, or did you have to adjust it?

Michael: We definitely had to adjust it. At first, we had separate divisions for writing, design, and project management. On paper it made sense, but in practice it created confusion. A project might start with a writer, get handed off to a designer, then back to the project manager. We had solved the “multiple vendors” problem, but we had unintentionally created a new bottleneck around communication and ownership.

Clients wanted a single point of contact – someone who was responsible for the project as a whole. So, we shifted to a single-point-of-contact model, with a project manager overseeing the entire engagement. That made the experience smoother for clients, easier for our team, and far more scalable for the business. 

Q: Was there an early client relationship that helped prove the model?

Michael: One of our first major wins came from a large technology client that immediately saw the value in what we were doing. We built a strong relationship with a key contact there, which opened the door to a huge amount of work. At one point, we were producing thousands of deliverables a year for this client! 

With ETMG managing all of those deliverables, the client’s internal project and product managers didn’t have to be writers or content coordinators – they could simply hand off work to us, trusting that we understood the audience and products. We quickly became the client’s default vendor for producing those types of marketing deliverables.

Q. Was there an early challenge with this client that helped shape your philosophy?

Michael: At one point, they decided they were spending too much of their budget on us and shifted some content development overseas to save on per-project costs. However, they found that there were significant tradeoffs – content didn’t always match expectations for tone, style, or messaging. Eventually, work started coming back to us for editing and refinement.

That experience reinforced something important: efficiency matters, but having a deep understanding of context, the audience, and the client’s voice is even more essential. That’s where ETMG has always been strongest.

Q: Early in ETMG's journey, you pitched a skeptical tech giant and were rejected. How did that underdog moment redefine your playbook for enterprise wins?

Michael: The company was a large and traditional organization outside of high tech that needed marketing support. The first meeting went well. They liked the work and enjoyed our conversation, and they wanted to take the next step – visiting our office and meeting the team. That’s when I told them that our “office” was essentially my living room. We’ve always been a fully virtual team.

Our virtual model was a deal breaker – they simply could not wrap their heads around the idea that a distributed team working remotely could be a serious business model. This was long before Zoom, long before remote work became normal, and long before most companies understood how effective a virtual organization can be.

We didn’t get that client, but we got something more valuable: our market niche. We knew we needed to work with companies that already understood remote collaboration and moved at our speed, so we turned our focus to the technology sector. The rejection helped us hone our message and understand where we can have the greatest impact.

Q: Over the years, what's the wildest client campaign that tested your team's creativity, and what impossible win came from it?

Michael: One that stands out in my mind is an early internet-era company that provides services and equipment to dental practices. Their business model was to simplify purchasing by helping dentists buy supplies online through a centralized platform.

It was a good idea, but they were struggling to get attention. We asked ourselves: what’s the most unexpected thing we could send to a dentist whose job revolves around helping patients avoid dental issues? The answer: chocolate! 

We partnered with Godiva and sent thousands of small chocolate boxes to dentists as part of a campaign. It was clever, funny, and memorable – and it worked. In fact, it worked so well that the business wasn’t able to scale effectively to meet demand. Still, from a marketing perspective, the campaign was one of our most unforgettable successes.

Q: What is something unique about ETMG’s culture that people may not see from the outside?

Michael: One of our core values is that people shouldn’t have to sacrifice their lives for work. Unlike a lot of businesses that talk about giving 110%, we’ve built a culture around the idea that if someone is giving 80% in a healthy, sustainable way, they can be a stellar employee. We never wanted people burning themselves out or trading away their family life, health, or personal priorities just to prove commitment.

That mindset has been part of ETMG since the beginning. When you run a remote company, you have to be intentional about culture. You cannot rely on office perks or proximity to create loyalty. You have to create an environment where people feel trusted, supported, and respected as human beings.

For that reason, we have very low turnover. As a result, our staff and consultants know the clients well, and they can solve problems faster because they bring history and perspective to their work.

Q: What's the unsung superpower of Envision that clients rave about behind closed doors?

Michael: We don’t let our clients fail. Our team is incredibly loyal, not just to ETMG, but to the people we serve. We learned a long time ago that our real relationship is with the employee we’re helping on a daily basis. If we make that person successful, they trust us and bring us into more projects, and we become their long-term partners. 

Another superpower is flexibility. We never say, “That’s not our issue.” If a client is stuck, overwhelmed, or headed toward a mistake, our instinct is to help.

From the project management side, we excel at responsiveness. Because we’re a boutique agency, we can move quickly – clients are not getting lost in layers of bureaucracy or waiting days for someone to get back to them. That alone makes a huge difference, especially when deadlines are tight. 

ETMG may be a small team compared to large agencies, but that’s exactly what allows us to be more agile and attentive.

Q: Looking back, what is one lesson you wish you had learned earlier?

Michael: Our biggest lesson learned is to focus on the client, not just the client company. There were moments early on when we invested heavily in services such as photography and SEO because we thought the company should want them. In actuality, the people hiring us didn’t care about abstract capabilities; they cared about what helped them do their job, hit their goals, and succeed in their role.

It’s easy to build offerings around what seems strategically important to an organization, but if the person on the ground isn’t measured by or rewarded for it, then it’s not going to resonate the way you think it will. That lesson still guides our work to this day. 

Q: What's one bold prediction for marketing in 2027, and how is Envision already prepping clients for it?

Michael: AI is going to keep disrupting teams in a very real way. We’re already seeing layoffs and restructuring, and I think that will continue. My concern is that companies are too willing to give away their corporate memory. 

When you remove the people who know the history, the context, the prior decisions, and the lessons learned, you lose something incredibly valuable. You can replace speed and automate first drafts with AI, but you can’t replace human judgment rooted in experience.

I predict companies will push hard to adopt AI, then discover they have stripped away too much institutional knowledge and eventually start rebuilding. That’s why ETMG is approaching AI as a tool, not a substitute for people. We know clients are going to use it – that’s not the question. Rather, it's how to make the output usable, credible, and aligned with the brand.

ETMG can help clients turn AI-generated drafts, slides, messages, and ideas into polished, on-brand deliverables that are informed by the corporate voice and a deep understanding of their audience. While AI can quickly generate generic content, it takes human expertise to refine content into communications that make an impact. 

Q: After all these years, what message still defines ETMG best?

Michael: We’ve learned to be more disciplined in how we talk about ourselves. At one point, we emphasized the breadth of our offerings, but nobody expects one vendor to be great at everything.

So our messaging evolved to emphasize our strengths and a broader promise that hasn’t changed: If a client needs help, we help. We never tell a client, “That’s not our area.” If they come to us with a need, we’ll find a way to support them.

That mindset underscores our initial “marketing-department-in-a-box” concept. It encompasses our accountability and responsiveness, and our focus on building long-term client relationships based on trust. 

Built on Service, Shaped by Experience

Today, ETMG is guided by the same principles that sparked our inception – and the quest to make our clients’ lives easier by being responsive, flexible, agile, and client-focused. After 28 years, that is certainly a foundation worth celebrating!

If you’re looking for a marketing partner that is agile, experienced, and acts as an extension of your team, ETMG is ready to help. Contact us today to learn how we can help you succeed.