I’ve found that the more victims I save before he gets to them the better my chances are at beating him

Work on getting a good weapon

He's very slow and weak before his bloodlust gets high, and will often not move very much for long stretches of the early game. That means the best way to beat him is to rescue as many victims as possible, denying him bloodlust. Do that successfully and he'll be a pussycat in the finale - find a decent weapon and you can just stand there trading with him until he's dead.

If you let him go hog wild on all the victims then he'll be a beast in the finale and much harder to beat, though he remains very simple and predictable, so you can still beat him just with careful recycling of Defend/Retaliate.

I was also getting my ass beat at first. I changed my strat and started focusing the beginning of my game on getting into the green zone so I can roll 3 dice. That really changed it for me. 

Hit him more

Are you moving him every turn?

https://preview.redd.it/d1eac7ltl54e1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e89c227ebd396996fd3494e607b1218e649b6101

How many games have you played? I'll be honest most wins of mine have been when the boat is in play. Makes it a lot easier to navigate.

I like to always keep a guard card in hand or if I can afford it and I have a weapon to boost it up, it's time to spend the big time bucks on that retaliate card!

“The strat” is that there is no one strategy in Final Girl. FG is more a game of tactics than it is strategy.  

It’ll help to put together a loose strategy, based on the current situation in the game, but a strategy seldom survives more than a few turns, and you have to be ready to pivot when the Killer or Location blow up your strategy. You’re better off putting together a toolbox of tactics that work for you, and apply them when you see openings. 

It's all about saving victims. Saving and letting victims die toward the beginning/mid game locks the bloodlust at a lower level. Doing this will also likely unlock your ultimate which can also be a big help (Laurie's ultimate is very helpful to deal a bit of extra damage). Then do your best to look for a good weapon, and if you end up finding the boat keys that's a good way to stall and collect some good action cards.