Business Alabama Highlights Successful Red Sage “Chambers Charm” Workforce Recruitment and Livability Campaign, Influencer Marketing Strategy

A Red Sage Communications-led economic development and community marketing campaign, utilizing a successful influencer marketing strategy, was highlighted this month in Business Alabama.

The “Chambers Charm” campaign is a long-running workforce recruitment and livability effort that showcases Chambers County, Alabama.  Chambers County Development Authority, frequently recognized as a leading organization in the economic development world, has been forward-thinking for many years.

“To make Chambers County successful, we must look at untraditional ways to market ourselves,” Valerie Gray, Executive Director of Chambers County Development Authority told Business Alabama.

How influencer marketing helped showcase an Alabama community’s strengths

In the latest phase of the “Chambers Charm” campaign, Red Sage worked with CCDA to partner with social media influencers.  As the Business Alabama feature noted, “Two micro-influencers with tens of thousands of social media followers traveled to Chambers County.  The visitors experienced local eateries, small-town shopping, and toured the available natural landscape of the area. Throughout their weekend visit, both influencers documented their experiences on Instagram and Facebook, reaching nearly 20,000 people with their posts.”

Chambers County is located in the east central portion of the state, with a population of roughly 34,000 people, according to the 2010 census.  It is home to metal and automotive suppliers, as well as manufacturers in the food and beverage industry.  CCDA has partnered with Red Sage for several years to advance strategic communications priorities.

Successful economic development and community marketing campaigns are built on great branding and strategy

A 2015 community branding involved research and utilization of focus groups, logo development, and tagline development.  Red Sage also developed standards for adaptation and customization of the new branding campaign across multiple entities.  The Strength Woven In brand and associated marketing materials have, to date, now been integrated across 16 different county entities.

The community branding campaign was recognized with a “Best in Class Award” in the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) Communication Awards Competition in 2015.  It also won a Bronze Award in the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Awards Competition.

The community-wide branding effort also laid a foundation for two highly successful campaigns in 2018 – 2020. The first was a “Success Woven In” effort showcasing five key economic development, business growth and community enhancements driven by the Chambers County Development Authority. CCDA wanted stakeholders to better visualize the organizaton’s role in driving the community forward. The campaign included a website update, a series of YouTube and social media-ready videos, social media content, earned media and more.

The “lifestyle” and workforce recruitment-focused “Chambers Charm” campaign referenced in Business Alabama’s article has been equally well-received.  So far, the campaign has incorporated a new microsite, video and social media elements, influencer marketing, regional collaboration with educational and real estate stakeholders, earned media and more.

Red Sage continues to bring business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing strategies into the economic development and community marketing arena

As a regional leader in economic development and community marketing, Red Sage partners with economic developers, chambers of commerce, municipalities, convention and visitors bureaus, travel organizations and more.  The agency’s clientele are located primarily in the Southeastern United States.  Award-winning public affairs and marketing projects have included website development, workforce recruitment, industrial recruitment, downtown redevelopment,  eco-tourism, destination marketing, placemaking and livability, annual report design, and more.