Tampa marketing firm doubles revenue

GenTech Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in helping St. Pete and Tampa businesses, is rapidly increasing its online presence, nearly doubling both its revenue and headcount. 

The firm, based in Tampa at 420 S. Cedar Ave., was founded by Amel Kilic, an immigrant from Bosnia who moved to Florida 23 years ago to study medicine. 

“My mom persuaded me to go down the medical school path, but I discovered a different passion for the online e-commerce space. When I started to enter the market, I failed at creating business ventures online because I didn’t know to properly market them at the time,” Kilic said, explaining he was seeing many marketers overpromise on their commitments, and he wanted to create a more transparent marketing process. 

Working as a registered nurse, he continued embracing his true passion of entering the digital marketing world. He eventually took the big leap in 2020, pivoting from the health care field to turn his “side hustle” into a full-time career.

“When the Covid pandemic hit, businesses started cutting costs and marketing was the first line of business to go. I knew if I wanted to make GenTech a true company that could survive the pandemic and emerge as the top go-to agency, I needed to put all of my undivided attention into it,” Kilic said. 

He teamed up with his current business partner and CEO, Christian Jamal, who was also studying pre-medicine with the aspiration of becoming a doctor. 

Together, the duo created GenTech Marketing, which utilizes a software program that manages all the paid advertisements on social media for companies through an algorithm, and also manages the sales. 

“We essentially replace the role of a Chief Marketing Officer at a company,” Kilic said. “My goal is to change the spectrum of marketing overall.” 

While GenTech Marketing suffered during the span of the pandemic, the startup earned $500,000 in 2021. In 2022, the revenue increased to $1.5 million. The company is now projecting to reach $2.5 million in revenue this year. 

The GenTech Marketing team typically works with companies earning at least $500,000 in revenue. 

Kilic credits much of the success to GenTech Marketing’s software and securing clients through referrals, as well as becoming more rooted in the community by being a member of the Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce. 

GenTech Marketing has a team of eight employees, but Kilic plans to double its headcount this year. He said the future growth may require the firm to seek a larger HQ in Tampa. 

“We are heavily reinvesting in ourselves. We aren’t focused on raising capital today, but we may seek funding infusions down the road or a possible exit – depending on the opportunity and timing,” Kilic said. 

In 2021, a digital marketing company in New York offered Kilic $1.5 million to acquire the startup, which Kilic and Jamal turned down the offer as they wanted to continue building the company.