After graduating from Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green, Louisville-born Todd Strauss began his career in the marketing solutions industry, a career he loves.
“I was excited about this business. I started with what I did in college,” said the President and CEO of Strategic Marketing.
Strategic Marketing is a data-driven automotive marketing company that creates innovative business and marketing strategies. After 28 years in business, Strauss still feels the way he started the company in 1995.
“I love this business, I love helping other people. Not only do I love helping our clients succeed, I love seeing our teams succeed and watching them grow,” said Strauss.
Strauss was featured in this year's Best Workplaces survey and won the Leadership Award for Small Companies - the best workplace for employers with fewer than 150 employees in partnership with Energage, which has been researching companies with a highly active workforce for 15 years.
The Courier Journal sat down with Strauss to talk about strategic marketing and his leadership style.
These questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
Courier Journal: What makes strategic marketing different from companies in the same industry or industry?
Strauss: The biggest difference, or the biggest difference, is that we start managing the data. In this way, the information we analyze for our customers allows us to make more informed decisions and target specific products and services. Therefore, the ability to understand and interpret this information is of great importance and that makes it special.
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Courier Journal: What keeps you in Louisville?
Strauss : (Louisville) is a great place to start a family. I think it's a good Midwest city, right in the middle of the city. We operate across the country and can target different markets based on location.
Courier Journal: How would you define the culture of strategic marketing?
Strauss: I didn't explain it ; We just have a good culture. We're going fast. It is fun. People understand what their roles and responsibilities are. One of the things I love about this business is that we have a team environment where everyone supports each other. And one of the most important things for us is that when we hire people, we have to make sure that they fit and align with our core values. And that's the best thing you can do with any company, in my opinion, to hire like-minded people.
Kurierjournal: What are the core values?
Strause: Level 10 is one of the best we have. We have a core value of “We are ahead of me”. We are service oriented. We always want to win and that's what I love about our company. So those are some of them, but it all starts with sincerity.
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Courier Journal: In today's competitive job market, how do you retain and attract new employees?
Strauss: I think you have to show that you can grow professionally and financially in your company. And I think if you define the company's mission and goals for the next three to five years and get the employees to understand them, I think you keep people that way. This is how you hire people because they want to be part of something bigger and want to be part of a successful company.
Courier Journal: How has your leadership style changed and evolved over the 28 years that you have owned and directed this company?
Strauss: It all starts with hiring like-minded people so when you meet you're on the same page and understand what the end goal is. And we're in business to help companies become more successful. And when we interview someone who cares more about themselves than helping others, that's an indication they might not be a good fit for our company. We have long understood that the more success we can bring to others, the more success we will have.
Courier Journal: Why is leadership important to you?
Strauss : To be a good leader, you have to have a clear vision for your company. And I think you have to be very communicative with management and make other people understand what the purpose of the company is. And I think the leaders are able to talk about that.
Courier Journal: What was the biggest challenge you faced as a leader over the past year?
Strauss : We're in the automotive industry, so there aren't enough autochips. Our store helps car dealers sell cars. And the automotive world is in short supply. We had to change our strategy and now we help customers to buy goods in different ways. So we can help them resell what they have, not just simple stock, but we can help them grow their used car inventory by driving them so they have something to sell when they get to the door.
Contact business correspondent Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com.
Strategic Marketing
Regional location : 1
Established : 1995
Form of Ownership: Personal
Civil Servants : 53
Senior Manager: CEO and President Todd Strauss
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Todd Strauss is passionate about helping others with strategic marketing.
