All in a Day’s Work: Aaron Hautala
Making the impossible possible (within reason). Aaron Hautala, co-founder, CEO, and creative director of Strateligent, specializes in making it happen for our clients, our communities, and ourselves. With 25 years of experience, he’s a master of cultivating strategic growth through intelligent design across a multitude of industries, including healthcare, destination tourism, government, education, and manufacturing. [caption id="attachment_14536" align="alignright" width="371"] Aaron presents the keynote at QBP’s Frostbike, a national cycling conference for bicycle shops.[/caption] Leading by listening The Strateligent magic starts with Aaron. His initial consultation with a new client begins with a 30,000-foot view of the organization and its known communication goals. From there, he uses his decades of...
How Winter Outdoor Recreation Aids Economic Development
Aaron Hautala talks winter fat biking and economic growth on the Trail Eaffect podcast The January 5 episode of the Trail Eaffect, a podcast devoted to telling the stories of trails, trail communities, and the leaders who make it happen, featured Strateligent and Cuyuna Adventure Town USA CEO Aaron Hautala. In this bonus episode, Aaron talks about his role advocating for developing winter outdoor recreation as a way of boosting economic development in the Cuyuna region. Aaron knew that for businesses to invest in the region, economic opportunity couldn’t be seasonal, relying on a few months of summer mountain bicycling and mine lake paddling alone. For businesses...
All in a Day’s Work: Steph Swanson
Being a copywriter is much more than crafting a well-written paragraph or two and posting it to a website. In examining a “typical day” for Steph Swanson, Strateligent’s copywriter and digital specialist, it quickly becomes clear that there is no such thing as a typical day. For nearly four years, Steph has been plying her many skills for Strateligent clients. Her years of experience in writing and marketing are supported by double majors in mass communication and marketing communication, plus business education. Her projects vary widely—from writing copy for recreation, healthcare, or government, to researching and choosing SEO (search engine optimization) keywords, analyzing digital campaign stats,...
Strateligent CEO appears on Active Towns podcast
Aaron shares how he helped transform the Cuyuna region through outdoor recreation BRAINERD –Strateligent CEO Aaron Hautala recently appeared as a guest on John Simmerman’s Active Towns YouTube podcast. The December 2, 2022, episode, “How to create community and economic vibrancy through bikes,” features an in-depth conversation about Aaron’s role in creating economic development through outdoor recreation in the Cuyuna region. John Simmerman is a health promotion professional who specializes on how the build environment influences human behavior, active living, and active mobility. With more than 4,000 subscribers at the time of this writing, the Active Towns podcast documents established and emerging Active Towns “to inspire the...
All in a Day’s Work: Jodi Schwen
Crafting relatable content. Strateligent copywriter Jodi Schwen cocoons herself in her craft—her office an impressive home library filled with her collection of hundreds of classic and popular works (including one she authored). It’s a source of inspiration and motivation as she creates content for websites, newsletters, social media, email, blogs, news releases, video scripts, and print ads. From passion to profession “I’ve loved writing my whole life, ever since I picked up a pencil,” shared Jodi, who will also tell you she has a favorite font (Calibri), appreciates an appropriately placed em dash, and is team Oxford comma. She turned her passion for writing into a professional development opportunity,...
Aaron Hautala, Strateligent CEO, Presents Keynote at 2022 Iowa Trails Summit
BRAINERD – Aaron Hautala, CEO and Creative Director of Strateligent and destination development consultant, recently delivered the keynote address to a captive audience at the Iowa Trails Summit, an annual event that focuses on trail development topics including land acquisition, engineering, funding, maintenance, and marketing. “Aaron has a remarkable ability to connect with trail advocates through shared challenges and visions,” said Andrea Boulton, Trails and Greenways Director at INHF statewide trails coordinator. “In a matter of moments, he created a relationship with everyone in the audience and inspired them to not only consider what could be for their own communities, but also provided them with action...
All in a Day’s Work: Beth Hautala
Behind the Scenes (literally) with Beth Hautala When it comes to coworkers at Strateligent, Beth Hautala may often be out of sight, but she is never out of mind. As cofounder of the company, her roles are sometimes unseen, but in many ways, she always impacts our day-to-day operations. Many years ago, in her role as visionary, Beth had a discussion with Aaron. She suggested that the wise choice for the couple—who was beginning their advertising/marketing business in their red house—was to purchase a computer, instead of a woodstove, for the front room. And the rest, as they say, is history. In the beginning, the couple also...
All in a Day’s Work: Cory Johnson
Turning the “How” into “Wow” Chances are, if you’ve worked with us, you’ve worked with Cory Johnson—graphic designer, video production specialist, licensed drone pilot, Harley enthusiast, Disney+ aficionado, artist, and collaborator extraordinaire. ‘Graphic designer’ can mean anything. For Cory, it means everything. He does it all. He does digital—display ads, social media graphics, websites. He does traditional—newspaper ads, billboards, and sales collateral. His diverse design experience spans many industries—healthcare, manufacturing, destination tourism, government agencies—and many different media—web, TV, social, you name it. And he’s our resident video expert. A precise narrative that aligns with your brand and business goals. Strategic, intelligently designed video production starts with collaboration between our creative director, Aaron,...
Aaron Hautala, Strateligent CEO, becomes Certified Executive Coach
BRAINERD – Aaron Hautala, CEO and Creative Director of Strateligent, recently attended the Center for Executive Coaching in northern California, where he fulfilled the requirements of the program and is now a Certified Executive Coach. The certification seminar was led by Michael Neuendorff who has been coaching since 2008 and is a professional certified coach with the International Coach Federation, as well as a faculty member of the Center for Executive Coaching. Neuendorff specializes in communication, achieving success in a new role, and building high-performance teams. “I chose to become a certified executive coach to ‘learn another language,’” said Hautala. “At Strateligent, we continually consult and advise...
All in a Day’s Work: Heidi Lake
Making it all possible. Monday through Friday, project manager Heidi Lake makes it happen for us here at Strateligent. Every morning, cup of tea in hand, she is greeted by her overflowing inbox. Questions from clients Clarifications from the team New projects in the pipeline that need to be scheduled Digital campaign stats that need to be verified Vendor communications And that’s just beginning to scratch the surface of what she does for our clients and our team. In general, a project manager is responsible for planning and monitoring specific projects, ensuring that they get done on time, within budget, and as expected. How does that translate to...