Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista are flourishing, unique cities strategically located in the northern-most part of San Diego County, with a combined population of about 644,000; median age of 38 years; and a median household income of $82,958. The area boasts a range of housing from rental and starter homes to large lots and executive homes. The five cities are connected by Highway 78, which runs between Interstate 15 on the eastern end and Interstate 5 on the western end. The 78 Corridor is also a transportation hub for the Sprinter, an east-west light rail line with stops in Escondido, San Marcos, Vista, and Oceanside, in addition to connections to Carlsbad and San Diego to the south via the Coaster rail line. With breakthrough technology companies and research organizations, a large population of military personnel, and a strong tourism industry, the 78 Corridor has one of the most diverse, dynamic economies in the country.
In 2012, the cities of Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, and Vista initiated a formal collaboration effort to bring prosperity to the North County region. From that collaboration, the economic development initiative called “Innovate78” was born. Since 2014, the five cities have contracted with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation to provide professional services to support Innovate78, including the development and execution of regional marketing and economic development strategies to retain, expand and attract businesses along the 78 Corridor. The Innovate78 cities are now exploring a new model for this regional effort, which will include services provided through a customized membership with the San Diego North Economic Development Council (SDNEDC). This membership will support the development and execution of regional economic development strategies and tactics to further support business retention, expansion and attraction efforts. As part of this new model, the Innovate78 cities are seeking marketing and communications expertise to support these regional economic development efforts.
Scope of Work:
A. KEY ACTIVITIES AND DELIVERABLES TO BE PROVIDED
The following activities and deliverables are required:
• Kick-off meeting with project leadership: Review roles and responsibilities, establish
workflow for project management and key points of contact.
• Key performance indicators: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that
correspond to approved goals and can be regularly monitored to influence optimization
opportunities.
• Audit of existing assets: Assessment of images and video in the Innovate78 catalog
with recommendations for what images or videos should be added to fully represent the
78 Corridor’s innovation economy.
• Strategy: Using recent audience analysis and brand identification research, develop a
marketing and communications strategy for Innovate78 to develop a marketing and
communications strategy for Innovate78 to implement a comprehensive marketing plan to
achieve strategic goals
• Website and social media management: Manage website hosting and create branded,
dynamic content for existing Innovate78 website and social media channels.
• E-Newsletters: Continue Innovate78 e-newsletter and give consideration to how city-developed newsletters can cross-promote Innovate78 opt-ins, and vice versa.
• Marketing collateral: In partnership with Innovate78 data and research consultants,
produce branded research reports, infographics, fact sheets and other collateral.
The following optional activities and deliverables may be included as part of a proposed
action plan to enhance the required activities above, as resources allow:
• Content creation: Develop a robust content schedule for Innovate78’s blog with short,
frequent posts. Posts should be a mix of fun, specific, helpful and general posts that hit
our targets on a variety of points, as well as reinforce Innovate78’s personality. Posts
should be influenced by keyword volume trends, as well as emphasize Innovate78
services and data/reports to boost search engine rankings and establish Innovate78 as
an extensive business resource.
• Photo and video asset creation and acquisition: To support content creation and
marketing collateral, organize, manage and complete photo and video shoots to gather broll and stock photography that aligns with the brand, including original photos and videos
for ongoing website and social media use. These assets should be in a format and hosted
on a platform that is accessible by the city communications teams.
• Sharable social stories: Establish social media campaigns and assets that businesses
and employees can repost, including badges, stats, testimonials and spotlights.
• Engagement mapping: Outline all of the ways and places that target audiences could
and should interact with the Innovate78 brand. A special focus should be placed on current
businesses.
• Communications audit: Since the five cities execute their own communications, it is
important to note the many ways a target audience member could be exposed to the
Innovate78 brand. This audit will document things like social media posts and followers;
e-newsletter distribution lists and schedule; collateral review; council presentations;
website content, etc. With this complete picture, the ecosystem of communication
touchpoints and potential synergies will be clear.
• Brand style guides: Revisit existing style guides and update them to reflect evolutions in
branding as necessary.
• Brand personification: Create a detailed personality guide that outlines the tone,
diction and personality traits to exemplify Innovate78.
• Video campaign: Translate Innovate78 assets and assistance into video vignettes
featuring 78 Corridor companies and or data to enable Innovate78 to reach a new batch
of businesses that might be hesitant to ask for help directly. Short form content for use on
social media is preferred.
• Trainings and webinars: Host and record topical trainings of varied lengths to post on
Innovate78’s website. Topics should range in business savvy and build Innovate78’s optin email lists.
• Communication briefs: Create short briefs with key messaging and talking points that
can be shared with the SDNEDC, city staff and possibly the media surrounding key events
and report findings for unified messaging across agencies.
• Press kit creation and maintenance: create and maintain a package of downloadable
files on the website that contains the logo, key statistics, images and reports for press and
media outlets as well as brokers and site selectors.
• Branded marketing promotional items: suggest, create and order branded items as
necessary for events; examples may include items such as: t-shirts, water bottles,
notebooks, pens, folders to hold marketing collateral documents etc.
Due Date: OCTOBER 1, 2021
Address:
Michelle Geller
Economic Development Manager
City of Oceanside
300 N. Coast Highway
Oceanside, CA 92054