DCEDC begins national marketing campaign, prepares for broad outreach to reach key decision makers

WASHINGTON (Indiana) – Starting with a three-page opening gatefold in a special Indiana section appearing with the July 2017 Site Selection magazine, the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC) has started the execution of a strategic integrated outreach to decision makers. The integrated campaign will appear in both print and online.

“Since the late 1990s Daviess County has experienced some major growth in key sectors,” said Ron Arnold, DCEDC executive director. “When we learned that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation was planning a cooperative special section with Site Selection magazine, we felt it was time to tell our success story as a county.”

The special IEDC publication Indiana – A State that Works is available for viewing online at siteselection.com/cc/indiana/2017/digital.html.

With interest rising about development opportunities along I-69, Daviess County must elevate its awareness among decision-makers to be appropriately considered. “Securing expansion opportunities is a highly competitive business,” Arnold explained. “It’s up to us to tell our story in an appropriate way.”

The Site Selection Indiana ad profiles how Daviess County has grown to be either the Indiana leader or a major leader in a number of critical categories. “Daviess County is one of the few rural counties in Indiana that is actually growing by double digits in population,” Arnold said. “While we don’t have the highest per capita income in the state, Daviess County does lead the state in percentage of per capita growth – in fact, the current stat is that our median per capita growth has increased 114 percent since 1994.” Daviess County also led Indiana in total employment rates from the 2008 Great Recession to recently.

“The median per capita and population increase means that something is working in Daviess County, particularly among our workforce – that’s a critical differentiator,” he said.

DCEDC secured the introductory three-page fold-out gatefold section that begins the special Indiana Site Selection publication. It cooperatively partnered with Radius Indiana and the Southwest Indiana Development Council (SWIDC).

“In addition to being sent out to 42,000 corporate expansion professionals, this specialty publication will be used as a major marketing piece by IEDC in its national and international outreach,” Arnold said. “With the gatefold positioning, there’s no way any one reading the IEDC publication can easily miss Daviess County.”

The Site Selection magazine also has an online component to the marketing outreach. The print publication points to the DCEDC.NET web site, which was strategically updated and revamped in preparation for publication and distribution of the marketing effort. The revamped web site now has online available properties listings, videos that profile the county and updated information that site selectors typically look for when considering a county or place for expansion. Site Selection also includes an online digital display linking directly to the DCEDC.NET web presence.

“When an expansion professional starts developing a short list for possible sites, the internet serves as a primary resource,” Arnold said.

Site Selection magazine is considered by industry professionals to be the leading publication that reaches corporate expansion professionals and site selectors of major corporations.

DCEDC was also able to redesign the gatefold ad into an all-new brochure, which Arnold and other DCEDC officials plan to use extensively. “That nicely increased the value of our marketing investment in a cost-effective way,” Arnold noted.

The Site Selection ads, web development and brochure design were produced by The MEK Group, an Indianapolis area marketing and PR firm.