Recruiting talent and building a city’s brand
CLIENT
City of Carlsbad
SERVICES
Marketing campaign
The opportunity
The Carlsbad Life in Action brand was created to support the City of Carlsbad’s business ecosystem by strengthening the talent pipeline and connecting it with local businesses through innovative tools, practical resources, dynamic partnerships and engaging events. The goal was simple: promote collaboration between businesses and regional workforce for the betterment of the city’s economic development and, thus, greater community. With untapped potential to promote Carlsbad as a dynamic, innovative city with unmatched resources, support and talent, JPW Communications launched a new content engagement strategy to amplify the Carlsbad Life in Action brand in 2024.
The approach
JPW’s approach to Carlsbad Life in Action’s marketing program was to strike a balance and appropriate differentiation between messaging that would relate businesses and prospective talent, both with the intent to increase the reputation of Carlsbad, the opportunities that exist here, and the perks of owning a business here. A mix of digital materials was designed to ensure that both businesses and job seekers were supported and understood how dedicated the city is to everyone’s success. JPW’s work included the management of Carlsbad Life in Action’s outbound marketing including newsletters, blog and social media content.
Through these efforts, JPW aimed to overcome challenges identified during the planning process: (1) the voice of the campaign and the target audiences have changed over time and (2) a refined clarity of voice is needed to differentiate who we are talking to and when. The audiences for this effort were twofold: (1) current and prospective talent and (2) local and nonlocal businesses. Messaging was segmented accordingly to focus on the target audience through different mediums.
The reward
JPW developed a creative brief and strategic plan that included a quarterly content strategy focusing on key industries: technology and life sciences; clean technology; sports and active lifestyle; and small businesses. Each quarter the following activities were performed to bring these themes to life:
Social media content was curated around these themes to focus messaging and engage the local business community and workforce. Posts ranged from stats, facts, business features and blog promotions.
Eight newsletters were distributed to more than 3,000 subscribers each using a content strategy focused on aggregating news stories about Carlsbad businesses and promoting the city as a great place to work and do business.
Customized branded collateral was created to increase engagement, including a complete overhaul of the newsletter design and specialized graphics for social media and beyond.
The creative brief and strategic plan also included a monthly content calendar, weekly content strategy and guidance for various types of content. Key messages were formed from and based on critical data points that are catered to target audiences based on their motivators. JPW used a data driven approach to amplify business spotlight opportunities, highlight small business successes and cultivate a deeper connection with Carlsbad Life in Action’s audiences.
Through this effort, JPW successfully broadened Carlsbad Life in Action’s reach by improving the quality of social media and blog posts as well as increasing views and engagement across the initiative’s existing platforms. Collective efforts to redesign the newsletter also achieved an increase in engagement, specifically open rates as well as growing the list of subscribers.