What I do
Grand Rapids Marketing Co. (GRMC). I co-founded GRMC with Sam Kiste. I’m the Creative Director; Sam runs logistics. The tagline is “Brilliant Marketing for Any Budget.” GRMC is a full-service creative and marketing shop: we take on whatever a business needs, whether that’s video, photo, web, SEO, paid ads, or social. We don’t sell packaged products. What most clients keep us around for is a monthly content retainer: video and photo content produced every month for their social and web channels.
Freelance and consulting. Outside GRMC, I take on video production, web development, and search work directly. My toolkit: WordPress and custom plugins, Google Ads, Meta Ads, GA4, Search Console, Semrush, DaVinci Resolve, Salesforce/Jungo CRM automation, and mortgage marketing compliance. I currently handle marketing and compliance work for Treadstone Mortgage.
GEO and AI visibility. Search is no longer just ten blue links. Generative engine optimization, making sure ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews cite you accurately, is a core part of how I build sites now. This site is an example: structured data, an llms.txt file, and plain, verifiable facts so the machines get me right.
Track record
From 2022 to 2024 I was Digital Marketing Manager at Treadstone Funding, a boutique residential mortgage lender in Grand Rapids, running day-to-day digital: site management, SEO content, video, and lead generation. Over those two years, I grew organic search from just over 20 clicks a day to more than 300 (best single day: 337).
Proof
Lake Michigan Credit Union, 2024 to 2025. As Senior Media Production Specialist, I produced brand-approved video for social media, TV commercials, educational series, and training content, plus brand photography and internal live broadcasts for all 1,600 employees, on a marketing team of 35+. Every piece had to hit goals set by a broader campaign. That is where I learned to make creative that survives a compliance review.
Northern Mortgage, 2017 to 2022. Videography, social content, web development, ad campaign strategy, and graphic design for a headquarters and a nationwide branch network. Five years of learning how to do a lot with a small team.
My own audience. As The Cybertruck Guy, I’ve built an X account (@cybrtrkguy) to 26.8K followers, 8.5K of them verified, with 50 million impressions and 642.8K engagements in the last 12 months. I’ve been quoted in Newsweek, and I’m a brand ambassador for Evotrex. I don’t sell social media advice I haven’t tested on myself.
Two people who’ve managed me:
“Troy is a passionate and diligent worker. His creativity in video and storytelling marketing is only outweighed by his good-humored personality. Troy would make a valuable asset to any team.”
— Lisa Hammond, strategic marketer + builder + creative operator
“I brought Troy on to help shoot a project in California recently. His great attitude, drive for creating engaging content and general demeanor make him a great addition to any project. Looking forward to bringing him on to more projects in the future!”
— Kory Kearney, Director of Video Content, Lifeworks Advisors + Kearney Creative
Press: Newsweek, “Tesla’s Cybertruck Revolution: A Year of Fame, Flaws, and Fan Frenzy”. GRMC is listed in the GVSU Alumni-Owned Business directory.
How it works
1. Tell me what you need. Send a note through the contact form. Content, a website, an ad campaign, a one-off film: we scope it around your business, not a price sheet.
2. Content retainers. For ongoing work, we set a monthly plan: shoot days, reels, photos, and posts for your social and web channels. We plan it, shoot it, edit it, and hand it over ready to publish.
3. Measure what matters. You see the results in the platforms themselves (GA4, Search Console, Meta, Instagram), not a slide deck of “impressions.”
4. Freelance projects are simpler: scope, quote, deliver. Email me directly.
FAQs
What is a content retainer?
It’s a monthly plan for video and photo content for your social and web channels. Grand Rapids Marketing Co. plans, shoots, edits, and delivers it, so you have a steady flow of posts made by people who know how to shoot and how to market. The Found Cottage Mercantile Market is a recent example: same-day reels shot and cut during the event.
What's the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO gets you ranked in traditional search results. GEO, generative engine optimization, gets you cited correctly by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. They share a foundation of clear structure and verifiable facts, but GEO puts extra weight on entity data, schema, and being the obvious source of truth about your business.
Do you work outside Grand Rapids?
Yes. GRMC’s core clients are West Michigan businesses, but SEO and web work don’t care about geography, and I’ve shot video projects as far away as California. If you’re local, I’ll probably show up in a Cybertruck.
Let’s make content for your business
Start a content retainer through the contact form, or email troy@grandrapidsmarketingco.com for freelance video, web, or GEO work. I answer my own email.
