COACT Strengthens Economic Development Organizations

At COACT, we believe that growth is essential to the long-term survival of any business. Without growth, your business is likely to stagnate, resulting in lowered standards of quality for your services, as well as decreased awareness of your organization in general. Many of our clients over the past twenty years have been economic development organizations – regions and counties looking to expand awareness for their services, retain employees and youth in the area, and provide site selectors the information they need to make informed expansion decisions.

We have many success stories of building awareness and retention in local communities and are proud of the impact we have had in many regions, including an economic development organization in the coastal Ohio area.

The Challenge

Our client, an organization dedicated to connecting youth with local opportunities, was looking for a strategy to better engage with high school students. Their mission is to make teens and young adults aware of jobs available in the community and what the county has to offer, with the goal of retaining them once they graduate. While our client was recognized by some, they were unknown to their target audience at large.

The organization looked to COACT, with our roots largely in economic development, for an integrated strategy to catapult their brand to the next level. Spoiler alert: it worked.

“We’ve worked really closely with COACT to retain our youth. Their team created focus groups in our school districts and led discussions with local youth to have conversations about retention. It helped show students that they don’t have to move to NYC to have a great life right here in their hometown.” – Business & Workforce Development Manager

Turning the Challenge into an Opportunity

Our client faced the challenge of getting their name out there as a trusted resource. The organization wanted to educate and help young adults overcome the skepticism surrounding the decision to stay in the county post-graduation. The message they wanted to get across was that their county is a great place to live, work, and play.

What COACT needed to do was turn our client’s existing expertise and useful resources into compelling content and position it in front of the right people, at the right time. We prioritized communications that best aligned with our audience’s preferences and created a campaign to highlight available jobs, local businesses, and entertainment throughout the county.

Building a Future

COACT’s multi-faceted plan aimed to strengthen the organization’s voice in the county. Our goal was to personalize the brand and make it more engaging. We did so in a variety of ways including website development, email outreach, social media engagement, photography and video, content creation, program initiatives, and more.

We developed a new website for our client which is well-organized and professional, as well as aesthetically pleasing in design. COACT also launched a blog to the website which highlights the different regions within the county. We spearheaded our client’s social media profiles and gained a loyal follower base across multiple platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

COACT also played a significant role in the development of a high school internship program for the organization. We worked with our client to implement a student-focused marketing initiative aimed toward getting students involved in the region while teaching skills in key career areas.

From Little-Known to Well-Known

Taking our client from little-known to well-known didn’t happen overnight. Our team’s consistency in growing the brand and getting in front of the people who matter most to them was integral to our success. We implemented multiple integrated sales and marketing initiatives, all of which contributed to our client’s recent success in the economic development space.

“I would highly recommend COACT to any business looking to grow their awareness and business opportunities – they have been amazing as an extension of our team both on the business development and marketing side, and our results have been off the charts.” – Economic Development President

Why COACT?

At COACT, our team of inside sales and marketing professionals is dedicated to implementing strategic business growth plans for our clients. Our portfolio expands across a variety of industries and we have had quite the success in the metal fabrication industry, bringing new business to our clients and strengthening their brand image.