Creating Ad Campaigns to Support Your EDO’s Marketing Strategy

When executed effectively, digital ad campaigns help drive traffic and generate leads for economic development organizations. But how do you develop resonating ads able to reach your audience? For EDOs, consistent referencing of the tailored marketing strategy, or blueprint, informs strategic ad choices and the creation of ads designed to further the organization’s goals.

Marketing blueprint basics

For ads to serve an organization’s strategic goals, the marketing blueprint needs to align with strategic goals for the year. After a strategic plan is locked in, incorporate key objectives into the marketing blueprint as focal points for the year. As the months roll by, these central goals can inform targeting, design, and platform use as ad campaigns are designed. Ensure the blueprint is solutions-focused and aligns with the mission of the EDO, and refer to it often. A well-defined blueprint makes it easy to assess marketing plans as they develop and reflect back when reviewing performance.

EDOs work toward many different objectives. If your marketing blueprint includes multiple focus areas, various aspects may be different for each focus. For example, a strategic goal for the year could be increasing shop local awareness and boosting retail sales in the community. An EDO may run a local initiative to generate regional support for small businesses to serve one strategic goal. Simultaneously, it seeks manufacturers to build or relocate in the region to meet a second objective. As ad campaigns are crafted, they should always serve strategic goals, whether there are one or many. 

Targeting audiences

Targeting the audience is a critical component of ad creation and helps EDOs maximize the return on ad campaigns by reaching specific prospects. Targeting also helps eliminate unnecessary spending for non-converting leads. For example, certain programs EDOs want to promote may be limited to in-state businesses. Establishing and advertising to an in-state audience only minimizes the chances of reaching an out-of-state prospect with those ads.

With digital ads, a wide range of targeting options, such as location, age, career, income, and interests, exist based on the platform used. While many options are out there, a bit of targeting can go a long way. In 2024, Meta Director of Ads Tarcision Ribeiro emphasized the importance of starting small in an interview. “One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they try to do too much too early. They get lost, and they don’t get the results they expect,” Ribeiro said. “So it is very important that you start simple.” 

For example, a community with a skilled workforce and robust education system may “start simple” by targeting businesses in need of a highly educated workforce and finding a specific industry that is generating more leads. One refining approach would be to further target the industry in future campaigns. As initial results show up, the target audience can always be refined further based on who is converting more.

Choosing ad platforms

The unique objectives outlined in a marketing blueprint will help inform which ad channels are the best fit for ad campaigns. A shop local effort may benefit from the geographic and interest-targeting features on Instagram and Facebook while workforce programs and opportunities are a natural fit on LinkedIn. Meanwhile, Google Ads or niche publications may boost industry recruitment efforts as part of an overall ad strategy tailored to your region.

Creating an ad

Like audience targeting, ad creation and design is a testing and refining process. Creative choices and combinations resonate more than others, from keywords and images to fonts and calls to action. Start with content capturing your community in an authentic, on-brand way a prospect can appreciate. Ensure what makes your region, city, or downtown unique or the best fit is front and center. When relevant, let prospects know what they will receive or learn by clicking. Run A/B tests to measure the return on investment for specific ad types and use the results to inform future creative decisions and ad spending. Always refer back to the marketing blueprint to ensure the results are helping further the EDO’s goals.

Creating effective ads to support your strategic objectives is a process, and it needs consistent analysis and refinement. Golden Shovel Agency’s team of experts can remove this process from your to-do list while helping your EDO move forward on its strategic goals.