Marketing for economic development organizations is the set of strategies, campaigns, and communication programs used to attract outside investment, retain local businesses, engage community stakeholders, and build the regional brand that makes a community a competitive destination. At Whissel Strategies, this means building a complete program covering community positioning, investment attraction campaigns, digital presence, business retention communications, and stakeholder engagement, all designed to produce measurable results against your economic development mandate.

We measure results against the outcomes your organization is mandated to produce: investor inquiries, business attraction conversations initiated, business retention indicators, and community stakeholder engagement. We do not present impressions and event attendance as the primary measure of marketing success. The question is always whether the marketing activity is producing the kind of interest and engagement that advances economic development goals, and we build the reporting infrastructure to answer that question clearly.

Investment attraction campaigns and digital presence improvements typically produce initial measurable results within four to eight weeks. Community brand and stakeholder engagement programs build over a three to six month period. Our 90-day performance guarantee sets the standard. If your marketing program is not producing measurable results within 90 days, you pay nothing.

Smaller communities win investment attraction competitions by being specific about what they offer rather than trying to match what larger cities offer. A business owner choosing between Toronto and a mid-size Ontario city for a manufacturing facility is not making the same decision as one comparing two downtown commercial office spaces. We build investment attraction marketing that speaks directly to the advantages smaller communities have: lower costs, available talent, accessible government, and quality of life, framed for the specific decision-maker who would find those advantages compelling.

We work with economic development organizations and BIAs on a direct engagement basis and are happy to discuss procurement requirements at the strategy call stage. Our application-based model and performance guarantee structure are designed for direct relationships with organizations that are serious about results. We follow up within one business day of any application to assess fit and discuss how our engagement model can work within your organization's procurement requirements.

You need a defined economic development mandate, a clear picture of the audiences you are trying to reach, a marketing or communications budget, and a genuine interest in a performance-focused marketing program. The application takes about five minutes. If there is a fit, we follow up within one business day to schedule a strategy call.