The Alabama Department of Commerce on Monday announced the launch of a digital marketing campaign showcasing rural Alabama as a great place for doing business and the source of valuable, globally demanded products.
The new “RurAL” campaign’s centerpiece already features an online website rich with content that highlights the tangible business advantages of the Yellowhammer State’s rural communities and shares success stories that energize their economies; however, a phase two of the campaign will subsequently include additional website resources and a targeted digital media advertising campaign.
The site’s “Made in Rural Alabama” tagline and branding is essentially a spin-off of the department’s “Made in Alabama” moniker, which launched in 2013.
“Alabama’s rural counties are home to many of the world’s best-known companies and thousands of skilled workers and talented artisans creating first-class products,” Governor Kay Ivey said in a release.
The marketing campaign continues a theme of the Ivey administration and state economic developers enhancing the focus on rural Alabama in recent years.
This was the subject of a segment at the Alabama Economic Growth Summit in 2019. That was the year the Department of Commerce created the position of rural development manager and that saw the rural development strategist position formed at the Economic Development Association of Alabama. January 2020 also witnessed the first-ever Rural Economic Development Conference held in Alabama, under the banner of the fresh Alabama Rural Development Initiative.
“The state’s rural communities are primed for business growth and economic development. I am firmly committed to helping rural Alabama realize its growth potential,” the governor reiterated on Monday.
The overall objective of the Commerce campaign is to help corporate decision-makers and site selection consultants understand the growth potential of rural Alabama, which is already home to the operations of many high-profile manufacturers and a growing network of auto suppliers from around the world.
In fact, foreign direct investment in Alabama’s rural counties approached $1.5 billion between 2015 to 2019, according to Commerce estimates. Since the Alabama Jobs Act went into effect in July 2015, incentivized projects have brought over $4 billion in new capital investment to the state’s 40 “targeted” counties (those with fewer than 50,000 people), data shows. Legislation was just signed into law on Friday that will seek to build upon that progress.
“One thing that is often overlooked is that rural Alabama is a place of great innovation and industry,” stated Brenda Tuck, rural development manager for the Department of Commerce.
“Through this new campaign, we can tell the story of what rural Alabama has to offer and shine a light on the industries that are there and the quality of life that exists in these communities,” she continued.
The RurAL online platform will also serve as a hub for information and resources to assist economic developers working in Alabama’s rural counties, adding a new dimension to Commerce’s strategic effort to improve the competitiveness of those areas for job-creating projects.
“While economic developers working in rural areas often face a specific set of challenges, we know that these communities offer advantages that are sometimes overlooked,” said Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield.
“We think the RurAL campaign will help us highlight the business opportunities to be discovered in these communities,” he concluded.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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