A regional nonprofit sets the bar for economic development digital marketing
When most people hear Ohio, they think of cornfields, big Midwestern cities, and endless road construction. However, a large portion of the state is actually covered by the rolling Appalachian foothills and dotted with charming small towns. Ohio Southeast Economic Development (or OhioSE for short) exists to help fill these 25 counties with jobs, opportunities, and people.
Doing this comes with some unique challenges. The geographic region OhioSE represents is significantly larger than that of its sister organizations around the state. Southeast Ohio is also the only region without a notable metro area. On top of it all, OhioSE set out to solve the difficult task of "economic development marketing.” That’s how they met USDP.
Starting OhioSE's Journey
When we first met the team at OhioSE, they were struggling to make the most of a mediocre marketing setup. Their existing WordPress site was showing its age, and years of code tweaks and new plugins made it a challenging experience for both frontend users and backend editors. OhioSE’s marketing department, which at the time was a team of one, had big aspirations but lacked the time and expertise to make them happen.
OhioSE's Roadmap
During our first few conversations, we helped OhioSE map out their goals as a long-term plan that was feasible in both scope and budget. We identified and prioritized the “on fire” issues that needed immediate attention, and we began discussing momentum-driving activities to pursue in the future.
Quick wins: Hitting the ground running
Immediate changes to the current website: Once we were familiar with the backend of the OhioSE website, we got right to work on their “wishlist” of technical fixes. We cleaned up plugins and image and video handling to improve the website’s speed. We also reimagined their home page and industry pages, and we created a new page specifically for their target demographic: site selectors.
Setting up digital advertising: Even though OhioSE wasn't ready to begin with a full website redesign right away, we began running display ad campaigns to the improved landing pages to get a head start on their goal of gaining brand awareness.
Messaging: developing the voice of the region
Crafting the core message: OhioSE promotes both their region’s industrial advantages and its quality of life, and they do so to a broad audience of external businesses, local businesses, and residents. Creating a single message to address all of this was not an easy task. We met with multiple members of the OhioSE team to develop a central messaging framework that could be adapted to fit the user journeys of each of these diverse audiences.
Identifying success: As an economic development nonprofit, people don’t visit OhioSE’s website to purchase a product, request service, or even donate. Instead, an ideal interaction usually involves a site selector connecting with the local economic development office of one of OhioSE’s counties. Knowing that site selectors are busy people, we needed an intentional sitemap optimized for quick redirection to the right resource. We created a site architecture that prioritized county information pages and linked to OhioSE’s commercial real estate partner.
Design and development: creating an information hub
Boosting the brand: OhioSE requested a light brand refresh to modernize their look and help their website stand out. We presented some examples for inspiration, as well as multiple options for new fonts and colors in the form of homepage mock-ups. After a few interactions, their team selected a direction they were excited about, and we got to work designing the high-level pages of the website.
Building the component library: Content creation plays a big role in OhioSE’s long-term marketing strategy. Because of this, they chose to have their website built on the Sanity CMS. Sanity is our preferred CMS, as it is ideal for companies with large publishing goals who need to run on fast websites. We designed and developed custom componentry to give their content manager the tools needed to build pages with confidence.
Creating the content: While some of the old website content was getting transferred to the new site, the improved sitemap required many new pages to be written. OhioSE’s team handled the majority of the writing, but our content strategists wrote several new pages to lighten the workload of their busy team.
Video: Driving brand awareness
Creating CTV advertisements: In addition to their programmatic display campaigns, OhioSE wanted to use the same powerful targeting techniques to reach their audience with streaming TV advertisements. We took footage and audio from some of their existing video assets to start. When their busy schedules opened up, we recorded new voice-overs and scripts.
Showing impact: To help OhioSE show their partners the impact of their work, we wrote, filmed, and edited video using footage filmed in our studio and B-roll they provided.
Content creation: Showing the full picture
Blog writing: OhioSE rightly understands that content is king, so our writers help them create 2 blog posts a month to supplement their already-impressive posting cadence. We have written on many topics, from highlighting Southeastern Ohio’s quality of life and vibrant communities to writing about the benefits of their natural resources on the worldwide scale.
Business asset creation: Marketing is a series of big and small steps, and this is certainly true in economic development. To bolster their business assets, we helped OhioSE design spec sheets that showcased their regional offerings to smaller, niche audiences. These could be printed off for events and downloaded by website visitors for future reference.
Going beyond the results: Rolling execution
After years of partnership, we have seen OhioSE propel their marketing to new heights. They are no longer struggling to keep up with other regions. In fact, they are setting the bar. In 2025, the Ohio Association of Economic Development (OEDA) recognized OhioSEO with the Excellence in Economic Development Marketing award. Now, their growing marketing team continues to use their website as the digital hub for making Southeastern Ohio stand out on the world stage.
We’re proud to continue working alongside them by writing new content, creating videos, and adding even more improvements to their website.
