Dooly County Economic Development Council Marketing Plan Donna Wall PADM 7040

Mission “Dooly County Economic Development Council’s mission is to improve the quality of life for all citizens of Dooly County. The Authority serves to promote and assist in the retention of existing jobs and improvement of new job opportunities for the citizens of Dooly County. Recruiting new business investment in Dooly County will mean jobs and strengthen the tax base”.

Goals Dooly County EDC facilitates grant applications for the cities and towns, along with the county. These grants are improving infrastructure and thus making better opportunities for Dooly citizens and prospective businesses. The Economic Development Training Center serves to improve the education and technical skills of Dooly citizens. The Training Center offers adult literacy (GED) classes, industrial training, job training, computer classes, nursing and weekend college.

Culture of Organization The culture of the EDC is certainly of the corporate nature. The current director comes from 20 years in a highly competitive corporate job, and brought that into the EDC. He certainly does not view competitors as benign and cooperative. He is very cautious with his prospect information. The director emphasis economic development and lots of times the education end gets lost in the shuffle. The training center end of the EDC spectrum needs the most promotion.

Public Served Population Profile: Dooly County 11,525 Total City 6,485 Total County 4,680 County Race Data : Total 11,525 White 5,398 Black/African American 5,709 American Indian & Alaskan Native19 Asian 49 Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander 13 Other 332 Hispanic or Latino (any race)537

Publics served Dooly County is comprised of the following cities: Byromville Population 415 Dooling 163 Lilly 221 Pinehurst 301 Unadilla 2,772 Vienna 2,793 Dooly is a tier one county and is part of the Empowerment Zone which offers an even more attractive incentive package to locating industry.

Competition and Environment The main competition for the EDC is with other counties. Dooly is a small rural county with undereducated citizens. They are in competition with surrounding counties with many more resources. Dooly County is constantly struggling to provide bigger and better incentives to locating industry.

Strengths One of the main strengths is that Dooly is a part of the Empowerment Zone. This enables them to provide more funding sources and to level the playing field with larger counties competing for the same industries. I feel that having the EDC is a strength. Without the EDC the county would not have a designated workforce to promote the county. The local Chamber of Commerce does mainly special events.

Weaknesses Again, the county is small and poor. It is hard for them to compete with larger counties. The citizens are undereducated. Most do not graduate from high school. This area is one that needs focus. It can be of two fold benefit. If the citizens become more educated, then industries may be more likely to locate in Dooly County and the citizens will benefit from being better educated. It is a win/win situation!

Threats Dooly County is in a service delivery area serviced by one tech school, and their neighboring county is under another tech school. The tech school there has a thriving satellite campus that takes possible students from the training center. Most potential students need to complete their GED requirements before they can enter a “trade” program that would benefit some of the manufacturing firms that have been interested in the area.

Core Marketing Strategy The main emphasis will be on promoting the training center and the educational opportunities. An Open House- Give tours of facility, have information on classes offered and which schools that participate. Invite representatives from each school to be on hand with their information. Promote an “instant acceptance” to school. Schools would be able to “admit” students on the spot and work registration. The Open House would be advertised in the local newspaper, on local television, handouts at the local high schools and church bulletins. Mail marketing Use mailing list and distribute class information and schedules through local churches, Chamber of Commerce newsletters, local businesses and local civic organizations.

Core Marketing Strategy cont’d Visit existing businesses EDC representatives will go out in the community and meet with existing businesses and find out their training needs. This information will then be used to develop a plan for long term training. Local newspaper and television ads Run promotional and informational ads about the training center and classes offered. Promotion within the high schools Work with local high schools to promote form within the schools. Set up informational booths at lunch and break times to recruit the local high school students. Promote the Dual Enrollment program offered through the local technical college that allows students to earn technical college credit while still enrolled in high school.

Use of Marketing The EDC can use marketing to promote all aspects of their mission and goals. They maintain they are not looking to add a membership aspect to their organization and because the training center is currently under used they aren’t sure what they would do with volunteers. Part of this marketing strategy would provide plenty of activities for volunteers. Volunteers could help plan and organize the open house, develop the flyers, distribute the information, visit businesses and high schools. It may be possible to incorporate a built in aspect to recruit volunteers within the strategy provided. Once more people know about the goals and missions and come out to the open house, etc. they will be more inclined to volunteer their time and energy to the project.

Use of Marketing cont’d. The deputy director would take on the task of carrying out the marketing strategy. It would be her responsibility to organize and arrange the marketing. No official marketing has ever been done for the training center end of the EDC, and it is time to market that end of their mission and goals. The deputy director is excited to try new avenues to recruit and promote more educational activities in the center.