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Valerie Jennings has been an advocate for women and a leader in growth since she founded her agency in 2003 at the age of 24. Her leadership and tenacity as a digital marketer and early adopter of social media since 2005, has created jobs, mentorship opportunities for women and girls, and provided innovative marketing strategies for agencies. She has demonstrated compassion and the foresight to stay the course during challenging times — not laying off any employees during the pandemic and instead incorporating innovation for future growth.
Jennings has consistently renewed contracts with decade-long clients and garnered new business in additional verticals, with significant growth in automotive. In 2022, she and her team increased revenue by 26%, following a 14% increase in 2021.
Not only did the agency maintain a profit during economic uncertainties following the pandemic, but it also added many clients. Furthermore, the agency supported essential clients, keeping their businesses successful — some of which had better years than the previous year. The team even beat record sales goals, driving new innovative digital advertising programs, which led to significant financial success for clients.
Throughout the pandemic, the agency also provided numerous resources to brands and businesses. Valerie donated her time to local chambers of commerce and other online content platforms, providing strategic insight and advice as an entrepreneur and digital marketer. Most of those resources have been made available on the agency’s resource page: https://jsmmtech.com/gallery-resources.
She has also created a company culture that spans multiple time zones, languages, customs and beliefs. She has transitioned her agency from being predominantly centered in the Midwest to the coasts and then to the Philippines. Additionally, the agency has created Hispanic outreach for clients by promoting diversity and inclusion in content and images. Because of these changes, new and diverse clients have flocked to the agency, representing global, publicly traded companies to black-owned startups. Jennings’s leadership and vision is global. It’s about changing the mindset of others through positive examples and driving valuable, thought-provoking discussions among the C-suite.
Valerie has addressed the “Great Resignation” with grace, recruiting digital marketers from across the country with specialized skills to compliment trends in social media such as TikTok advertising, video content for reels, niche influencers and more. She has embraced remote work and encouraged work-life balance for her team. The agency continues to thrive in industries such as automotive, transportation logistics, healthcare, beauty, financial services, travel/tourism, tech, home services and more.
Valerie has received numerous awards and honors from the Stevie Awards, FOLIO:, AMBIT and more for entrepreneurship, digital marketing, women in business leadership, and innovations in running a digital marketing agency. By introducing a new leadership vision, and implementing performance-based AI and MarTech-focused strategies to innovate content marketing, SEO and digital advertising, Jennings continues to keep the agency competitive with the evolution of new technologies and industry demands.
Nomination Title: Valerie Jennings, Marketing CEO
