DOWNTOWN WOODSTOCK BIA
CONNECTING WITH THE COMMUNITY
MODERNIZED MARKETING
The Downtown Woodstock BIA is an organization that represents over 200 businesses in the Downtown core of Woodstock, Ontario, and operates under the City of Woodstock. When Strobe Creative began with the BIA, no resources were dedicated to digital marketing or social media. The accounts were relatively inactive and underutilized for the audience acquired over the years. The social media strategy focused on community engagement with dynamic content featuring local businesses and attractions. Social media accounts became the backbone of the organization's marketing efforts, with Strobe creating content for magazine and newspaper advertisements that synchronized with the digital campaigns. During the pandemic, Strobe overhauled the BIA website with a fresh design, new consumer functionality, and a dynamic business directory with multiple search filters. A Strobe designer reworked the Downtown Woodstock logo to include "BIA" to reposition the organization's brand identity.
CHALLENGE
It's not that the organization had not attempted to use social media. The issue was that there wasn't much engagement or support from stakeholders in committing to digital marketing. Strobe's role was to develop a social media strategy supported by a board of directors and a rural community that was hesitant to use technology. Once the marketing and communications objectives were clear, the execution of the strategy was implemented, and the result was that the community was very receptive and supportive of the content created by Strobe Creative. With management of social media and the website, a coordinated effort that integrated social media content with calls to action on the BIA website pages ensured the game plan could be used effectively.
Our recommendation for growing the BIA's online audience was to use video and expand into platforms like Instagram & TikTok to connect with a younger demographic.