By Chris Tietgens on November 4, 2025
In the world of digital marketing, buzzwords like “targeting” and “engagement” are thrown around constantly. But for Chris Latam, the founder of Fire for Effect Marketing, these aren’t just metrics—they’re principles forged in the field. A former military forward observer, Chris has taken the discipline, strategy, and focus of his artillery background and applied it to helping businesses hit their goals with undeniable impact.
Based in Columbia, Tennessee, but serving clients across the globe, Fire for Effect Marketing is a full-service digital agency with a difference: it combines technical expertise, American-based talent, and the unparalleled power of video to help companies—especially those in complex, technical fields—connect with their ideal customers.
The company’s unique name, Fire for Effect, is a direct nod to Chris’s military service. As a forward observer, his role was to identify targets and coordinate artillery fire.
“When we’d ‘bracket’ a target—finding the perfect range with initial shots—the command to unleash the full force of the battalion was ‘fire for effect,’” Chris explains. “It’s about coordinated, overwhelming force applied with precision. That’s exactly what we do for our clients’ marketing. We add fire and we add direction.”
This philosophy is embedded in everything they do. Their logo features an arrow pointing decisively to the right, a constant reminder that their purpose is to point clients squarely toward their objectives.
Fire for Effect Marketing offers a comprehensive suite of services designed for the modern business landscape:
It’s this last service—video—that often becomes a game-changer for their clients. Chris and his team frequently produce high-quality promotional videos at no extra cost for campaigns, believing so strongly in their power to boost engagement.
“The human eye is attuned to movement,” Chris says. “A video in a LinkedIn message or a social media feed doesn’t just get seen—it gets noticed.”
What truly sets Fire for Effect apart is its unwavering commitment to two core principles: quality and clarity.
First, the entire team is U.S.-based, with all team members speaking English as a first language. This ensures seamless communication, cultural understanding, and rapid turnaround times—a stark contrast to agencies that outsource overseas.
Second, the team possesses deep technical knowledge. They don’t just understand marketing; they understand complex industries. This allows them to speak the language of engineers, tech executives, and manufacturing leaders, crafting messages that resonate on a profound level.
“We can go into super technical markets like semiconductors and not just understand the product, but feel the customer’s pain points,” Chris notes. “That ability to connect authentically is everything.”
Chris’s path to entrepreneurship was anything but accidental. After a successful corporate career where he held senior-level marketing and sales roles, he found himself at a crossroads during the COVID-19 pandemic. A layoff became the push he needed to launch the business he’d been preparing for his entire career.
He started small, focusing initially on websites and SEO. As client needs grew, so did his service offerings. Each new capability was built out in response to real-world demand and proven with a case study, ensuring Fire for Effect only offered what it knew would deliver results.
One story stands out as a testament to their method. Early on, a client in the specialized field of laser repair for the semiconductor industry was struggling to break into new markets. Traditional outreach had stalled.
Chris’s team produced a series of professional videos demonstrating the client’s value proposition—repairs at half the cost of the OEM. They launched a targeted LinkedIn campaign aimed at decision-makers at major semiconductor fabs in Asia.
The result? The campaign generated $400,000 in revenue from a single client and helped catapult the company from $2 million to over $18 million in annual sales within two years.
“It was all about getting the right information to the right people in a format they couldn’t ignore,” Chris reflects. “That’s when we knew we had something special.”
A sense of service remains central to Chris’s ethos. The company offers its deepest discounts to veteran-owned businesses and even provides a complimentary one-minute video to any veteran entrepreneur—no strings attached.
“It’s just part of who I am,” he says. “I like to help people. If I can do that and still run a successful business, that’s the goal.”
Beyond business, Chris volunteers his skills to organizations like the Convention of States and a local group supporting homeless children with essential supplies.
Now in its sixth year, Fire for Effect Marketing continues to grow steadily, consistently hitting 15-20% annual growth. For Chris, the goal isn’t just expansion—it’s continued excellence. He remains dedicated to reinvesting in new technology, particularly in video, which now constitutes about half of their business.
When he’s not orchestrating marketing campaigns, Chris is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying scuba diving, downhill skiing, and motorcycle riding—pursuits that reflect the same passion for adventure and precision he brings to his work.
For businesses tired of marketing that misses the mark, Fire for Effect offers a strategy that’s on target: coordinated, powerful, and designed for maximum impact.
Fire For Effect Marketing
627C S James M Campbell Blvd, Columbia, TN 38401, Suite #124
Website: fireforeffectffe.com
Phone: +4085920129
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