Can a low-budget, cleverly-orchestrated, brutally self-aware social campaign convince you to move to Iowa (yes, Iowa)?
Hell yeah it can.
Here was ours.
ICR IOWA was an economic development joint venture between two cities with a bold vision. Its purpose was to ensure the region prospers through business attraction and workforce development. In other words, ICR started to get more people doing business there. We liked the sound of that.
There’s a gazillion great reasons to move your career or company to the ICR region (we can say that, because we started our company there.) So ICR Iowa launched the ‘Talent Hub’, an innovative program built on HubSpot to pair candidates with local employers.
At the beginning of the campaign, we joked that our goal was to attract so many leads that (our client) Tim wouldn’t be able to keep up with emails. Be careful what you wish for. After the initial surge of leads, we redesigned multiple HubSpot email workflows to route essential updates to candidates (while poking fun at the robotic responses).]
In our kickoff, we reviewed the defined the candidate decision journey, mapped their key concerns, motivations, and a messaging strategy for overcoming their objections. We cemented the brand personality as genuine, witty, positive, ambitious, and a little bit self-deprecating.
Brand new brands can’t pull data from past performance or copy tactics from competitors. Since the Talent Hub was a brand new initiative, that meant starting from scratch, with an emphasis on A/B testing and optimizing for success.
We quickly launched a test & learn campaign to jumpstart lead generation, develop a Cost per Lead benchmark, and hone in on audience segments and messaging themes that worked.
For the launch we built geo-targeted ads for major markets and personalized the creatives to shine a light on lifestyle factors with a direct comparison our audience would get. It went ‘OK’, but we knew we could do better. In came: well, Tim.
Our team got to work drafting a script for a spokesperson-style video. Since candidates meet Tim Carty, the Director of Talent Attraction, after applying to the Talent Hub, we recruited him to be the face of the video.
We produced 4 videos to maximize the time investment of the production. In addition to the 2-minute hero video, we scripted 3 short-form versions that carried the same theme. These could be used as standalone ad variants or retargeting videos.
Set it and forget it? Not a chance. Once the campaign goes live, the real work begins.
First, we found a healthy lift in conversions by breaking out the long intake form into a two-stage sequential form. Then came native forms, retargeting, and marketing automation sequence tweaks. Each one delivered incremental growth.
After a successful launch, Sculpt continued to feed the talent attraction machine. Each year brought new creative angles, workflow updates, and hundreds of qualified candidates.
Beyond filling the candidate funnel, we delivered deeper insight into the candidates for who the region could attract back. Before launch, the team believed the majority of their leads would be statewide residents who lived outside the region. They were surprised to learn we were also attracting 53% of their leads from other states.
Ultimately, the pilot project turned into a multi-year relationship that kept people moving (literally). While a changing workforce required a program pivot, the model for our work became the inspiration for an entirely new company.
For professional services, reputation is key.
Our social strategies aim to showcase your expertise, build your thought leader profile, and put your brand front and center in competitive markets.
After a successful launch, Sculpt continued to feed the talent attraction machine. Each year brought new creative angles, workflow updates, and hundreds of qualified candidates.
Fair warning: we're big fans of smashing goals. Can we take a swing at yours?
201 E Washington St #1002
Iowa City, IA 52240