Torch Talk
Torch Talk is the podcast for bold local leaders.
Each week, we sit down with entrepreneurs, experts, and change makers to talk strategy, leadership, marketing, and what it really takes to grow a business today. Honest insights. No fluff. Real stories.
Torch Talk
Reach your customers where they are
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In this episode of Torch Talk, Lindsey Chupp sits down with Leah Hudson, a strategic marketing leader, for a deep dive into what it actually takes to build, scale, and adapt marketing in a growing organization.
Drawing from her time at Culligan, Leah shares how she helped lead regional expansion, digital transformation, and post-acquisition integration across multiple markets. Her experience highlights the reality that marketing is rarely a straight path. It’s a constant process of testing, learning, and adjusting based on real data.
The conversation explores how effective marketing strategies are built through layering digital and traditional efforts, understanding local markets, and staying flexible as trends and technology evolve. Leah also offers insight into managing complexity, from overseeing multiple locations to balancing internal priorities with external partnerships.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- What Leah’s time at Culligan taught her about scaling marketing across regions
- Why the best marketing strategies are layered and adaptable
- How to use data to guide decisions and improve performance
- The importance of local relevance within a larger brand
- When and why to bring in outside experts to support growth
This episode offers a practical look at modern marketing leadership, especially for those managing growth, navigating change, and trying to build strategies that actually work in the real world.
And I think that's where layering comes in and is super important. If you put all of your eggs in one basket, if it fails or doesn't meet your expectations, then you're gonna see a dip and and that affects everything.
SPEAKER_04Welcome back to Torch Talk, the show where we spotlight bold leaders growing their businesses and communities with grit and purpose. Today's guest is Leah Hudson, a strategic marketing leader with a proven track record of driving growth and building data-driven programs. For 17 years, she has helped lead regional expansion, digital transformation, and post-acquisition integration. Today, we'll talk about how clear strategy, measurable outcomes, and aligned teams fuel long-term success. So, welcome, Leah.
SPEAKER_03Hello.
SPEAKER_04So nice to have you here today. I'm super excited to have another marketing professional on the team who's not or on the show who's not from my team. So we get to talk about some marketing things. I like to talk about my world, but rarely do I meet with somebody who has a lot of experience and we can really like be like, well, what about this? What about that? Yeah, I'm excited.
SPEAKER_01And I'm on the client side, so it's even a little bit different perspective there from agency versus client. So yeah, I'm excited to talk to you.
SPEAKER_04So when we were um prepping for this coming in, you had a number of areas where you felt like you could bring some insight. Um, kind of, I guess, give people a little bit of a background of what your career experience is, what are some of the things you feel like you've built um experience in over the years in your career?
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, um, when I started um with Culligan Water, it was 17 years ago and um it was a lot smaller than it is today. And I work for a gentleman, C.R. Hall, who is just uh a business genius and has grown the business over the last 17 years, just in my region alone. There is uh 14 dealerships that and when I started there was two and he's expanded over you know across the United States, and um he's one of the largest franchise owners for Culligan. So starting there, um kind of building it from scratch, and um you know it was a sm it was a small, you know, smaller budgets, um, you know, kind of where what direction are we gonna go? And so just starting with that grassroots, figuring out who our customer base is and what's our what's our current current marketing layout. Um if you think about 17 years ago, we weren't buying keywords and we didn't have websites. It was a lot different. It was a lot different. It was a lot of mailers and billboards and you know, you know, things like that. And so transitioning from some of that grassroots type of marketing and um, you know, just the the real um tangible, you know, touchable type marketing compared to, you know, as as you grow and expand into the digital realm, and what's that mean, and what kind of websites, and and should they involve all of our stores or should they have individual websites? Um, and then growing that and and what's proper SEO? And um then, you know, maybe five, six, seven years ago, we started hearing about social media and oh, you can't sell water treatment on social media. How does that play together? And learning from experience of what works and what doesn't, and lo and behold, people that uh are on social media have water issues in their home. And so it works, and that took a lot of trial and error error as well, and um, so yeah, I think my experience has been up until this point, um, just a lot of of trial and error and data tracking and what's working, and um, you know, how can we improve and all the way from what does the people above me need as well as you know, the boots on the ground sales reps? What are they seeing and what do they need and and how are communities changing over the time over time?
SPEAKER_04I am curious. So, share a little bit uh what is the marketing strategy look like in your eyes? Like what is what are the good elements of a marketing strategy in today's world? You have a lot of experience, so obviously we discussed a little, or you said there's been a lot of changes from traditional marketing to digital social media. The I mean right now it's shifting pretty quickly too with some with the AI introduction, but um, from your perspective, what is a good marketing strategy mix?
SPEAKER_01So I think in today's day and age, the best plans are layered plans. We cannot get away from digital. There's no way to really get around the fact that you really need a healthy, robust digital plan from not only a well-ranking site, but know your keywords, branded keywords, um, category keywords, making sure that you know that's all in alignment, um, social media, um, retargeting, that's all, you know, that's all a given. You can't get away without it for the most part if you're looking to grow. But I think one of the things that I learned, um, you know, those are all great layers, but the additional layers to that, um, especially with a company like Culligan, where um I think sometimes the perception is that it's this big national company and we're not this local, this local company. And so there's something to be said about a company that shows up to events, that is at your charity events and um is showing up to networking events and is at the community stuff and is giving back and is part of it. And so a big push is to find ways to kind of incorporate some of that traditional back in to make sure that you're not coming across as kind of this out-of-touch, you know, I want to go with the local guy, not with the with the corporate guy, when when really you need both. You need the the bandwidth to be able to reach a lot of people and and be present because we know as soon as you need something, you're going online to find it. So you need to have that presence there. But actually connecting with people so they feel like, hey, I've got a friend in the business, hey, I know a guy, hey, I was at this event and I met so-and-so, or I was doing this and and they were there and they seem like a great company, and you have a relational connection so that you know you're relevant not just online, but actually within your community.
SPEAKER_04So, with the way the company is set up, that would be the responsibility of the individual store managers that you guys have? Like, how do you when you you have a large company across a large area? So, how do you actually handle that from a manpower perspective?
SPEAKER_01So I do rely a lot on the local teams. Um, so my philosophy is rather than I we can always go out and and call a local sporting um arena and say, hey, we can sponsor you, and that's local and that's specific. But if you have an employee that's um into bass fishing and they do bass fishing tournaments, I'm not into bass fishing, but they are, and they have a huge community there. Why don't we sponsor that bass fishing tournament? They know the people, um, they're they know the opportunities. This one's a golfer, and so they're constantly doing tournaments there. Um maybe somebody's really involved in charities or they like to run 5K's or whatever it is. Um, I'm a I'm a coach at a gym, and so there's an opportunity. I know the members, they're my people. You know, I can advertise there, put signage up, sponsor, and in turn, when it comes time that, hey, something's wrong with my water, hey, I know somebody. They go to my gym and and they do water treatment. I'm gonna give you their information. So the easiest way to start, I think, within a company is to figure out who your employees know and and make a culture of it and um getting into the community kind of that grassroots of here's what I do every day, let me also sponsor you for my company or be part of it in that way.
SPEAKER_04In today's world, um well, uh first I'm curious. So you count that as a part of your marketing budget, not like a separate PR budget or a part of sales activities. And if so, then what percentage of your marketing budget is actually going towards those PR activities?
SPEAKER_01So that's it that's a very good question because that is that is constantly a struggle of where to put that.
SPEAKER_04We're gonna wrestle with that all the time with our clients.
SPEAKER_01Depending on the business, this could work or it works in our favor because we have a donatable item. So when we um sponsor, we always say, Hey, is there a way that we could provide water for you or water bottles or water coolers? And so sometimes we can do a trade or an offset, which kind of protects that marketing budget a little bit. Um, you know, can we show up and help and volunteer? It kind of helps with that. We do have each year there is a portion of the bar budget that would be, hey, we're gonna be putting signs up at all of these things, so we have a sign budget so that we can print banners or flyers or have the table set up with the little mini water testing and and things like that. So we have the tangible budget of actually pulling it off, but a lot of times um we use uh, I mean, lack of a better word, a trade in order to build those out. They feel like they're getting the benefit because they're actually trying the product. We're getting extra branding because our product's there, and um, that's worked out really well for us.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Right now, with the way the world is, digital, social, what other traditional marketing things are you doing as far as like TV, radio, billboards? Um, and then because you are in a lot of different places, how do you decide what to do in different markets?
SPEAKER_01This is so important, and I and I feel blessed that I have had the experience that I have. I have stores all the way as far north as north of Detroit, all the way down to Nashville, Tennessee. We go into West Virginia, Ohio is kind of the um, that's where I live, and and a bunch of our stores are there. And it is marketing is not a one-size fit all. Amen, sister. There are pieces like digital. Yes, you have to have certain pieces to the pie to make the pie. But for instance, in a lot of my my locations, we've gotten away from traditional TV because there's so much tree streaming TV. And so we have CTV, we have the OTT campaigns going. Um, I like them because they're targeted, I like them because they're you know trackable. Yeah, you said it, girl. I mean, that's how you know you gotta live and die on trackable stuff nowadays. But so we have a location in Dover, Ohio, and we have they've been part of a bigger co-op, and so they get a portion of of that budget. And what we realized is, you know, we were talking to some locals, actually, because of you, and she was saying, people don't even get CTV out here. We uh we're in the mountains, there it's not there's no streaming here, it is broadcast TV, so you have to know even down to the geography of who is in your area of influence that you're trying to reach. And so in that particular market, we have implemented a lot more of that traditional broadcast, broadcast radio in 2026. We're introducing broadcast TV with a local station because that's what those customers need, and that is again goes back to that trial and error. Um, it is difficult with that many locations, but finding those unique things in each of the areas. Up in my northwest Ohio locations, um, we've got one in Napoleon, Toledo, Tiffin. And so when you start out with digital budgets, this is typically what we do for keywords and website and social. Well, what we realized is the folks up there really like their social media. And so our social and web budgets were flipped upside down. And so over the course of the last few years, their social budget is higher than their keyword budget, and that's not like that in any of my other areas. So it's watching the numbers, what's working, who is your actual audience, and even down to not just the trackable trends, but kind of the obvious of hey, there's mountains, so they can't get streaming TV.
SPEAKER_04Give me an example of the numbers that you're looking at to kind of give you the indicators of what's working and what's not working. Like what what what did you look at in that Toledo market that made you clued you into that?
SPEAKER_01So we track all of and so we're talking about digital in this in this particular section. So when each month I get back the results, and so I get there back the results from you know, the actual keyword buys and and what's coming in, and then I pull from RCRM down to the landing page where people converted into a form that comes into us as a lead. From there, I can see are more people coming in through the website, are more people converting from meta, are more people calling in? Are you know there's a Culligan International site, you know, there's all kinds of different sites out there for different things. Where are they actually coming from? And when we see month over month, we've got this much keyword spend and we get X number of leads, and then we've got this number of social spend and we're getting twice the leads and it's half as much. Over time, you're like, well, maybe I should be, you know, put more in that bucket and finding that efficiency because it's not just a cut and dry, oh, we'll just add more money to it. Finding that efficiency because there's still people looking online, and that's you know, I always say, you know, I don't know if you agree with this. I I feel like there's no marketing expert. It's the person that's willing to go and look for the new strategy and test what they're doing and follow the data in order to become and do the right marketing steps.
SPEAKER_04I always equate marketing to being a science experiment. Like we're in a science industry, it is constantly changing and evolving, it's never going to stay the same. So then there's there always needs to be a theory. You have to test the theory, and then either it worked or it didn't work, right? So the problem is when, especially from an agency standpoint, that's scary. Or even something you're gonna do. Yeah, like I've been the marketing director for just one company. You're responsible for very large budget. Like if you're a good employee, then you feel the weight of, oh, I'm gonna make this call. Is this right or not? I think we should switch it. Right. So then what we've talked about is because um I lead a younger team, I don't want them to be uh to be afraid to fail. I want our clients to be okay with testing. So, how do we define like what's a clean test environment? So, in you know, in science, you have to set up all of the things, the parameters, what are the rules so that we can know okay, if A, then B, and kind of follow that and and be okay with the results being a little bit different. But I don't want to hold our employees accountable. I want to make sure that our our clients agree up front, like, okay, yes, for example, if we're gonna test a new TV station in a certain area, maybe we shorten the window, we only do it for three months at the beginning, we see what the web traffic is, and then based off of that and comparing to the previous, say, station, then compare and contrast. That sounds like not like a science experiment, but it actually, I think framing it that way helps people understand, okay, we're constantly have to be, we constantly have to be testing to see what's going to work and what's not going to work. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I'm a big fan of piloting. Um, and going back to the conversation about layering, and I think that's where layering comes in and is super important. If you put all of your eggs in one basket, if it fails or doesn't meet your expectations, then you're gonna see a dip and and that affects everything. As we layer in a bunch of different things, we can test certain things, and if it doesn't go as well, we can either cut it or fix it. And if something is going really well and exceeding expectations, okay, let's add to it and tweak it and see if we can make that even better. Do we need to shift funds to that? If you are, you know, if maybe you're a small local company and you're like, oh, I'm just gonna do a magazine. I'll have a website and a magazine, and hopefully, and maybe you get a bunch of leads right off the bat and you're like, This is the best. Well, the day that that magazine doesn't perform, your better your website better be there. And so having that layered approach so that it gives you the ability underneath that and and kind of in the mix of that to do your testing, to try new things, to take a little bit of a risk, knowing that if this doesn't work or it doesn't meet my expectations, I've I'm still backfilling with the other layers of the marketing.
SPEAKER_04We recommend having, and it's a little bit different depending on the specific industry, but a certain percentage of your budget allocated towards digital, a certain percentage allocated towards uh traditional, and either we uh as an agency, it's our theory to bring the best recommendation, even if it's not gonna make us money. Like we just want to make sure we're always doing what's best for the customer in the long run. What would you say? Sometimes I get pushback um from clients because they would love to not have to pay the Google ad um spend, the Facebook ad spend, because they feel like they have to rely on that then. They're like, Well, can't we build the SEO so organic will just do it on its own? I'm curious to see how you would handle that type of conversation. Like if you if a client or a company only wanted to rely on organic and not rely on any of the paid, what would you say?
SPEAKER_01So I would say even, I mean, if we touch on the organic side first, organic doesn't just come naturally. Um, it's not a vacuum that if you just put it out there, it's gonna show up. No matter what, you have to improve your website. And today, with AI and LL um large language models, you know, the answer engines and things like that, it is more important than ever that your website in that presence is set up in a way that it's discoverable, um, that you can attribute it properly when it comes in, um, and that both the Google Bing and the uh answer engines value that and have authority. So that is one piece. And yes, organic is super important, but it doesn't come free. That's a lot of work, too. So that's great. Now you're discoverable if someone's specifically looking for the things that you listed on your site and and you should rank pretty high. But what about the person that maybe doesn't know specifically that you're the right answer? They've never heard of you or they've heard of you, but they've heard of you. A lot of people say, Oh, hey Culligan man, you sell bottled water. Yes, we sell bottled water, but that is not the bread and butter of our business. So if we did not go out and search for um stinky water or there's yellow stuff in my toilet, you know, from rust or sulfur smell in my water, then the people that didn't know they needed Culligan wouldn't find us. Yes, it's all over our site, and if you know what to look for, it's there. Right. Um, but just saying, hey, there's a chlorine smell in my water, what's that from? If we can buy those keywords and things like that, then we're reaching those people. And so that I I don't know, that may be a long way around to say it's two different marketing things. And yes, you can't. I mean, I agree with you.
SPEAKER_04I was like, please, please tell the world that you agree with me. Yes, I agree with you. There needs to be a combination of both. I mean, I say all the time, like if you're looking at a search result, which is changing, but yeah, I would go to the ad first. I'm impatient. I'm gonna look at the top of the page. A lot of people will be like, well, I'll just like my husband skips all of the ads, the map, he goes straight to organic, but I never make it that far because I'm impatient. So to reach people at different who have different personalities and learning styles and intention spans, like you're missing huge amounts of the market. Plus, as soon as I tell them, well, if you're not in that spot your competitor's going to be, then they start getting a little bit like, oh, right. Right. So exactly. Do you want do you want somebody else to have their ad showing up before your organic search result? That's the risk you're also running. They're gonna have to pass 10 listings before they get to you, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Well, and then the third part of that is making sure that you have claimed and updated your Google business profile. I see this all the time where I want to go to a restaurant, it says they're closed, or it says that they're at the wrong address, or whatever. So that's kind of that third just ground level, like this is what you need to have. Basic. You have to have a good website that is built well and is constantly being updated for for that organic. Um, you have to have a good keyword buy that not only covers your brand for people who knows who you are, but also for people that don't know that you're the right answer. But then the people that um just see you on Google on the side and it's a quick snapshot, and you've got a bunch of good reviews and you've got all updated information and um it makes it easy on the customer to get a hold of you.
SPEAKER_04Okay, well, let's shift a little bit. So you have a lot of regions, a lot of different things. You've gone through a lot of acquisitions, and one of the things that you mentioned was um that you I know there's a there's some individual marketing people listening to this. I have many friends who are just marketing directors at companies, and it can be a lot to manage and juggle when you're coordinating all of that. So, talk to us a little bit about how you handle some of those responsibilities, the pressure inside that seat. What does that look like? Um, what types of systems have you put in place to manage all of the things?
SPEAKER_01So, thankfully, because I've been doing this. Particular thing for a long time, I've been able to build those.
SPEAKER_04It's kind of like parenting. You got to grow with the business. Like you didn't get an 18-year-old, you got to start in infant stage. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And I I'm getting my MBA now, but I didn't have I didn't have a formal education in marketing or doing this. So it's it's all trial and error, again, trial and error and and experience. Um and so you know, I think I don't know that, you know, everybody's experience is gonna be a little bit different, but I think about the seasonality and and knowing your business and knowing your seasonality and using the time there's there's gonna be times of just mad rush implementation, checking numbers, and then there's gonna be seasons of, hey, this is our this is our slowed-down time where we're going to check what we did and how well did it do. We're gonna brainstorm and think out of the box, and then we're gonna set up a plan that is repeatable and that we can track to make sure during our next crazy busy season we can keep up with it and see where we can adjust. So I have a lot of Excel spreadsheets. Um, thanks to uh ChatGPT, I have been able to make some really impressive looking Excel spreadsheets to help track all of this stuff.
SPEAKER_04I'm not a spreadsheet genius, but the way that ChatGPT can even just take my information and organize it for me.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, so we have so I have one of the bane of my existence is, and I and I hear this from a lot of people, and hopefully you agree, um, where a lot of people on my team would say, Hey, we need to know quicker and faster what's going on and what you're doing and what the ads are. And in my case, there's 14 dealerships with 14 different budgets. Some of them are in the same co-op in addition to their local budget. Some are in different co-ops with different money, and there's Culligan International, what they're doing, and there's all these things. So, what is a good way to let everybody know what's happening? And so, you know, in the last few years, I implemented this promotions recorder where I can go in, I have it, I ask, you know, it all of the columns. This is the store, this is the region, this is the co-op, this is the offer, these are the run dates, um, this is a link to the creative and a link to the landing page and any notes. And then the spreadsheet's way smarter than me, and it's and it filters it all by dealership. So what's showing up, it you can click on your dealership and you see exactly what it is. You can click on it and it's just constantly updating every time. So that has been that recorder has been a game changer for me because anybody can call and say, Hey, we somebody asked about this offer, and I can go in there because again, I've got all these different I don't have the time remember what's starting and stopping on a given day. And so I can reference that super easily. Um, I also um have created spreadsheets where um you know I've got all my marketing budgets, but it's a kind of a master spreadsheet that shows it's color coded, and you know, if there's an agency, different agencies doing different things, certain budgets come out of co-op, certain budgets come out of local. Um and so kind of how all that works together and what's CTV and what's SEO and what's keywords and what's you know, and it's it's all you know kind of in my language, so I can keep up with that. Um and keeping it, I think keeping a consistent calendar, um, because I I you know, we were talking about this a few minutes ago, I don't have the best memory. So if it is not scheduled in my calendar or in my inbox, I'm not gonna remember. And I tell people all the time, if you want me to do something, email it to me because uh unless I write it down right here in this one little notebook that I always use, I'm not gonna remember. And so I'll put in, you know, a certain two-hour time frame in my calendar and list those three things that I need to get done in that time frame, even though it's in my book and it's e you know, it's you know, on the top of my mind, but it sets aside that time. I'll set aside this is a two-hour brainstorm. And if somebody looks at my calendar, they you know, what's that mean? For me, it means I've got this big project coming up. I need to set everything aside, shut everything off, and look at the whole picture. And then it's going and talking with the local dealers, and how does this play into your geography and your customer base and other things that you're doing, and you know, busy times of the month and slow and just getting buy-in from all of those dealerships as well.
SPEAKER_04I'm curious with the evolution of growing up with the company as they've grown. Um, what were the conversations around outsourcing marketing and like again, lots of friends who are in one-man shows? Um, I it's a it's easy to wear a lot of hats, and it's easy as a business owner to expect somebody to just keep doing more. So I guess when and how have you chosen to outsource different parts of your marketing?
SPEAKER_01So, you know, we talked about this a few minutes ago. I I, you know, to say somebody is a marketing expert, I feel like that's not exactly true. It's knowing how to use your resources. If I didn't have the agencies that I partner with, I partner with Fierce on a few projects and hiring those experts that already know how to do it and can just turn it on and do it right, it protects your bandwidth, your mental bandwidth. Um, it makes sure that you're doing it right the first time. You don't have to figure it out. And a lot of times when you compare the cost of either doing it yourself or trying to figure it out and what somebody that is already an expert in that specific thing can do, it pays for itself over and over again.
SPEAKER_04And so do you ever have issues getting buy-in from upper leadership to outsource something, or was that an easy conversation at the beginning?
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say depending on the item, I you know, depending on the program, it could be. Um, if if we talk about, you know, what I work with you, 14 dealerships, all the reviews, all of the customer communications that are from social media, things like that, that's a full-time position. Um, if we were to do it in-house. So when I was able when I brought that in, I said, Hey, I'm managing that now, and it's it's taken a bunch of time or it's not getting done. We either bring someone in with a salary or we can outsource this. We can outsource this. Yeah. Who's with somebody who's more specialized? They're specialized, they've they've got a team, they're already in there, they're already doing it, they have the best practices, they're not, they don't have to train them. They're just gonna go in and do the right thing. It only makes sense.
SPEAKER_04Any word of advice to the marketing director or employee who would feel threatened by bringing in an outside partner? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I can see some people feeling a little bit like, oh, I don't, I don't want my boss to feel like I can't do my job, but they might not be. I mean, you can't, in my experience, you can't be it really is a specialized marketing world anymore. For sure. Because it's all changing so fast. So you can't be expected to do all of the social media platforms now because it's not just Facebook anymore, it's all of them, all of social media, all of SEO, which means you have to be a web developer too, and all of the paid ads, plus be a graphic designer while you're at it and know where to go media by. Like that's a lot to ask one employee to do. But it I I mean, I was a loan marketing director for a while, and it would have been scary. I we did outsource, um, but there was some, it just didn't always feel right because I just kind of had like a little bit of imposter syndrome. Like, what happens if they do it better than I do, right?
SPEAKER_01Like, what happens if in that so I and I think what's happening, and you talk about you know, we're talking about these layers and we're talking about the important importance of digital, it's not it, I think it's exactly what you said. It used to be, you know, you you buy one or two things, there wasn't all these options. And so if you didn't know how to do the one or two things you were supposed to do then and had to hire that out, I I could see that. But in today's day and age, in a position where um you have all this, all these different um programs that you could be using, you almost need that strategist person that is willing to hire the best. Um I would I would say the best strategists that are looking out for their company, however, however they get that position filled, having an expert doing something that you're not an expert at is how you grow. Because then you're learning to manage and then you're learning from them. Um, I don't have to know all the ins and outs of GA4. You know, I'm studying, I want to get I want to get GA4 certified, I'm in the process of doing that, but I don't know that they're paying me to be the GA4 expert. What they want to know is that uh we are doing all the things that we need to do in order to um be the best in that space. And yes, we could have a hired person that is an expert in that area, or you could have a team of people that has a bunch of those experts that has, you know, multiple um areas that they could help your business out, like an agency. And you you don't have to bring that in. I I think it's a it's a benefit in a tool that more people should do, um, more marketing people should feel comfortable with um looking for that outside. I I think it's a better representation. You can do more.
SPEAKER_04I do, I agree, and it allows you to be in more of a strategic role, stay in more in touch with what your company's goals actually are, and then it's your job to connect those dots and make sure that you have the tools in place to hit the goals.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_04And but I guess if you're sitting in that seat and you would rather just be the graphic designer, then maybe you shouldn't be a marketing director. Exactly. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01If that's what you're an expert at, great, you'd be an expert in that. Right. Um I think I am maybe too ADD and I need I want I want all the stuff going on and I enjoy, you know, running all these things and when one's kind of set and ready, I can pivot to this and work on this.
SPEAKER_04And I actually never I went to school for business administration. I was in banking for 12 years. I always loved being creative when I was a kid, but I didn't want to go into advertising because I thought you just had to be able to draw things or so now I'm like, oh, I'm very we're very similar. So I'm more strategic, but that's my way of being creative. Like looking at the data, coming up with ideas. Yeah. I want to stay high-level. Please don't put me in the weeds. Yeah. I just really hate being there. So letting somebody else take care of that.
SPEAKER_01There's people that that is what their passion is, and and making the ads and doing that. I mean, I feel like that's the that's the boots on the ground. Work that, you know, that's really hard and it's technical and that's necessary. But you also have to have a person that holds all the reins and says, okay, this is working, this is going too slow, this is going too, you know, hopefully not too fast, but um, that is able to harness all of that and set it in the right direction for good. No, I'm I'm glad you brought that up about, you know, being nervous to hire outside help. You know, if I think of a small business owner who wants to grow their business, what they're an expert at is their business. And that's where they need to be. And they need to be um taking care of the customer, making sure their product is right and ready to go.
SPEAKER_04That's a whole nother podcast, too. Like talking about the product not being right or the sales not being right. Because how much does it suck to market something and then you turn it over and then the sales are they're just like right, right. Well, I got it too, you know.
SPEAKER_01You have to take care of it. But hopefully you have, you know, these owners or these managers that really take ownership of that. And if they're doing that, they could they can split their bandwidth and try to do marketing, which and they might be great at it. But, you know, it's you know, I think of the mom example of I'm getting kids ready for school and I'm I've got a job and I've got a husband and I've got a house, and you're doing all these multiple things and you're you're okay at them, or you could do what you're the best at and hire somebody that you know and that you trust and that you've built rapport with that is an expert at that thing and take it off your plate and actually get the return that you, you know, maximize that return.
SPEAKER_04We are not here to sell fierce, but if you want to hire us, let us know. But um I think because I sat in an individual marketing director role for so long, it has really shaped who we are as a company because I think that loan business person sitting there saying, I know I have a marketing problem and I know I need to market. I know that they've usually maybe had a bad experience somewhere else. We've really tried to position ourselves like we have a client relationship manager who is kind of like the you. So we've set ourselves up so that each company can have their own like mini marketing director. They don't have to pay the full entire salary for a marketing director, but we get to help formulate the strategy and then be that go-between. And we'll do any like we'll help you find your billboards and your yard signs and all of those things too, and make sure everything is cohesive. Um, but it's sometimes just the being scared or how do I partner with somebody else that it's yeah, it's hard to sometimes know where to start.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, obviously, if you're if you're watching this, you're local fierce a call. Um, but yeah, and I mean you can do a simple Google search or you know, go on an answer engine and and look for, you know, when I'm when I'm hiring for any job or you know, any program or whatever, I will contact more than one agency. Some of them I've heard before, some of them I've worked with before, some of them I've never heard of before. And and just say, hey, here's kind of the scope of what I'm looking to do. Can you tell me how you would handle it? And let them tell you. And you might be blown away because you had never thought of it that way, because they got a whole team behind it. And maybe the right answer is the one that you've always been using, and maybe it's a new one, maybe it's a combination. Um, but I think being brave enough to admit that there is probably s an expert or an expert team out there that could expand this much faster and much more poignantly than myself. I mean, I think that's a it's a healthy mindset to be in.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. I love the the feedback and insight. Okay, so you're in the middle of a role transition now. So tell us like what are you stepping into? What's the next phase of life look like for you?
SPEAKER_01Um it's it's actually it's a um, I will be the director of marketing um for perfect power wash, and um it's a very similar um client base where you know it's a we have we need leads from residential um homeowners um to come out, power wash, um install permanent lighting. So um the the company that I will be working for is on the verge of huge expansion. Um, a number of acquisitions and growing, and I'm super excited about that because you have plenty of expansion. That is, I mean, yeah, all the acquisitions, absolutely. And so I'm excited to build that again with what I know now, and I just I see the potential and I see where we can go. And um, it's a it's a real local company, so you know, I know a lot of people and and I've known the company since it started um from the original owners back in the day. And so yeah, it is gonna be um kind of the same vein of building the main brand and having a team to help me build that main brand while also as the these acquisitions come up um solidifying those brands, building that out, creating plans, launching them so that they are um relevant within those communic communities where they are.
SPEAKER_04That's very exciting. We wish you well. We'll miss working with you, uh but maybe we'll I'm sure we'll see each other.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04So you're also finishing up your MBA, which is very exciting. Where are you going? Are you doing it online in person?
SPEAKER_01It is online. I'm a mom and a farm girl with with goats and a hundred chickens at home and work full time and all the things. So I am getting I it is 100% online. It's Nichols College, they're they're a business school. And um, yeah, I mean, in the thick of it, I'm writing papers and taking tests too. I wake up at five in the morning along.
SPEAKER_04Makes me cringe just a little bit, but I'm super excited for you. I'm I'm loving it.
SPEAKER_01I'm actually, I feel like it has unlocked something in me in that again, everything was experience-based, but this has just been something to kind of elevate everything and and help me kind of take everything to the next level.
SPEAKER_04And there's something to be said about going back. When I first graduated college, I was like, I'm never going back. I'll never get my MBA. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_04But put a little life experience on you. I love learning now more than I ever have. So I might take a class. Yeah. Like it would be different in this experience. I might just soak it up like a sponge, but I understand your life commitments very well.
SPEAKER_01So that's the part that I'm like there are certain weeks where I'm like, what did I do? Um, but yeah, it and I've kind of gotten into a rhythm now. Um, I'm about a a third of the way through, and so I've kind of gotten, I feel like, into a good rhythm, and and hopefully, you know, everything maintains across all the courses, but uh more than even just the tests and the papers, just the organization and the executive thinking that this has made me do. It's not a college paper, it is my opinion and my research on a topic and just elevating to that more executive type of thinking is where is where it's really beneficial.
SPEAKER_04When are you supposed to be finished?
SPEAKER_01Um, May of 27th.
SPEAKER_04Okay. We'll check back in with you afterwards. Okay. We can have a little mini party. Yeah. Well, thank you very much for having a super engaging conversation around marketing. Loved it. I'd love to hear your insights. Um, if anybody had any questions or wanted to discuss things with you or bounce something off of you, how would they get a hold of you?
SPEAKER_01Um, you can email me. It's Leah L-E-A-H.Hudson 1820. It's my kids, my kids' birth years at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Um and always, of course, reach out to Fierce if you have any questions about marketing as well. But thank you for being on the show. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in to Torch Talk. If today's story sparks something for you, share it with the a colleague, community leader, or future change maker. Until next time, stay inspired, stay intentional, and keep your fire burning.