Effort to Market Region

Thursday, April 12, 2018 - 8:00am

Media Contact:
Christine Rambo, NLEP SVP of Communications
(cell) 318.537.0703 or (Email) crambo@nlep.org

Northeast Louisiana Opportunity Launches Effort to Market Region

MONROE-WEST MONROE, La. ̶ Northeast Louisiana Opportunity, a branding project to promote our region, unveiled a new marketing initiative today that will showcase our region to potential transplants and companies. Four videos were debuted at a Premiere Party April 12, featuring the amazing quality of life in Monroe, West Monroe, Ruston and Farmerville. The videos tell the stories of newer residents and “boomerangs” ̶ Northeast Louisiana natives who have left the area and have now returned home. Their personal stories highlight why Northeast Louisiana is a great place to live, learn, work and play. In their own words, these seven families portray a point of view that’s genuine and authentic, offering their personal reasons why they moved to our area or chose to stay or to return home to Northeast Louisiana. The videos were also distilled into :30 and :15 second public service announcements (PSA).

The four videos and accompanying PSAs will be disseminated through a social media campaign called #FindYourOpportunity on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn in Northeast Louisiana, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, starting April 13. The goal of the campaign is to recruit families to move to Northeast Louisiana to expand our workforce, to support our existing employers, to grow our tax base, and to improve our pride in place. After the in-state launch, the next phase of the #FindYourOpportunity social media campaign will be to launch in other markets, including Denver, Atlanta, Austin and Dallas.

The Premiere Party not only serves to introduce the videos and the #FindYourOpportunity campaign to the people of Northeast Louisiana but to engage them to become community champions and to share the positive stories about our region through their social media profiles. Northeast Louisiana Opportunity also created other tools to empower our own citizens to become community cheerleaders, including a new brand, a website called nelaopportunity.com, and social media sites for Northeast Louisiana, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

A Northeast Louisiana Digital Neighbors program was also set up to recruit digital ambassadors to help tell positive stories of the region to their social media networks. From the microsite: https://neladigitalneighbors.socialtoaster.com, people can register their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. They’ll receive regular emails with content that they can choose to share through their social media channels with a single click of a button. We currently have 124 Northeast Louisiana Digital Neighbors who actively share posts.

Northeast Louisiana Opportunity is a coalition of community partners from Ouachita, Lincoln, Union and Morehouse Parishes that came together in 2013 to develop solutions to recruit and retain a workforce, to support our employers, to combat the misperceptions of our region, to stem the outmigration of our best and brightest and to improve our pride in place.

“As a business owner, I’m encouraged by the partnerships such as the Northeast Louisiana Opportunity branding project and the Ouachita Business Alliance that help to promote a better quality of life in Northeast Louisiana and to market that quality of life to a potential workforce,” said Joe Holyfield, president, Holyfield Construction. “CenturyLink is committed to staying in Monroe, but as a region, we must demonstrate we can be the kind of place that will enable world-class, global companies to grow and prosper here. That’s why it’s so important for the business community to support these efforts.”

Here’s how you can help. Register as a Northeast Louisiana Digital Neighbor through https://neladigitalneighbors.socialtoaster.com. Help disseminate the videos and PSAs by searching #FindYourOpportunity and sharing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

NORTHEAST LOUISIANA OPPORTUNITY COMMUNITY PARTNERS:

MUNICIPALITIES
City of Monroe
City of Ruston
City of West Monroe
Town of Farmerville

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS, CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND CONVENTION & VISTORS BUREAUS
Monroe Chamber of Commerce
Monroe-West Monroe Convention & Visitors Bureau
Morehouse Economic Development Corporation
North Louisiana Economic Partnership
Ruston-Lincoln Convention & Visitors Bureau
Union Parish Chamber of Commerce
West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce

PRIVATE SECTOR/NONPROFITS
CenturyLink
Keep Morehouse Beautiful
Ouachita Business Alliance

HIGHER EDUCATION
Grambling State University
Louisiana Delta Community College
Louisiana Tech University
University of Louisiana at Monroe

PREMIERE PARTY EVENT SPONSORS
Centric Federal Credit Union
Copeland’s of New Orleans
RoeLA Roaster
Texas Roadhouse
Vantage Health Plan