Cardinal gets marketing edge from community involvement

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 22, 2000 by Ray Dozier The Journal Record

Large projects contracted by Cardinal Engineering of Oklahoma City have helped the firm maintain a high profile in the market. Instead of making its name known through advertising, Cardinal's visibility comes from community involvement.

Cardinal recently was hired as the environmental consulting team for the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority. The 298- acre Native American Cultural Center will be constructed at the southeast intersection of Interstates 35 and 40. Cardinal will provide a number of services including coordination of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, City of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Energy Resources Board and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers activities on the construction site.

"They are one of the best companies that we could employ to be our environmental consultants," said NACEA Executive Director Tommy Thompson.

Cardinal also won a bid for the East Port development, a 160-acre project that will serve both the nearby Tinker Air Force Base and General Motors plants.

The company reports revenues growing about 20 percent annually. "We don't have Yellow Pages ads anymore," said Steve Mason, Cardinal's president. "The jobs we are talking about, you just don't get from the Yellow Pages."

Cardinal gets some of the best jobs by being an integral part of the community. The firm offers a multitude of engineering services, including environmental and civil engineering, surveying, construction management and global information. Cardinal has experts in many areas and they go out and participate in the community.

"We strongly promote community activity as a way of promoting ourselves," Mason explained. "We applaud the community accomplishments of our employees. We hope we have developed a corporate culture that inspires our people to go out into the community and get involved."

The company does not require its employees to get involved but does reimburse them for continuing education and association dues, both of which lead to greater community interaction.

In addition, the company engages in aggressive promotional activities, which include an innovative direct-mail campaign designed to pursue contracts for high visibility projects. Cardinal goes after the kind of jobs that other companies might shy away from.

Mason said these high-visibility projects boosts the company's image both externally and internally.

"Internally, it reinforces to our employees what we already know about the quality of work that we perform," he said. "We can do the big jobs. That does an amazing thing for the confidence of the employees.

"It helps externally as well. It is good for existing customers to see that we are working on important projects. It reinforces to them the quality of our efforts."

Mason noted that if customers with smaller jobs see the firm's work on high-profile projects, it instills a confidence that Cardinal can handle the job.

Getting those good jobs is not easy. The selection process for community jobs is rigorous and time consuming. Still, Mason contends that he jobs are well worth the work and time needed to secure them. The firm does not pursue these projects to the exclusion of the smaller job that most companies its size might consider their "bread and butter," but it is clear where Cardinal's focus lies.

"You have to pick your battles," Mason explained. He used his firm's civil engineering group as an example.

"Every road job is important, but there are so many of those that if you don't get one this week, you may get the one next week. But the big community jobs, they only come along very occasionally."

Gary Spencer, a real estate developer in Edmond, has hired Cardinal on many occasions and has done so knowing there are larger firms in the area. In fact, Cardinal's smaller size, with 30 employees including eight registered engineers and four engineering interns, is one of the reasons Spencer continues to do business with the firm.

"He can give you that personal touch," Spencer said of Mason. "If I have a question, he will give me an answer and not throw me off on someone else."

Spencer added that since Cardinal is diversified, it makes his selection process much easier. With only one engineering firm handling the civil and environmental issues, there is less for him to coordinate.

"I just let Steve do all of it," he said. "That way, I don't have to find someone else down the road."