We have Space to Grow
Released: Tuesday 3 March 2020
The South Waikato has Space to Grow - the brand developed by Council’s marketing team to umbrella our economic development initiatives.
“The Space to Grow logo represents our special environment, blue for our water and green for our forests, farmlands and native bush. Surrounded by white space, because we have Space to Grow,” explains Council’s Digital Marketing Coordinator Anton Sudano. “The brand is bedding down well online and getting traction and reach from people looking for an alternative to big city living.”
Mayor Jenny Shattock is proud of the brand and the efforts of the Economic Development team of just two staff for delivering the brand and the supporting platforms.
“Council wanted to create a separate brand to improve our economic development profile with a focus on who we are, why we’re a great place to invest and to showcase the great opportunities we have in our district,” said Mayor Jenny Shattock.
Mr Sudano explained that the marketing campaign wrapped around this brand clearly identifies that the Kiwi-dream is still achievable in the South Waikato.
“We have land, we have opportunity, we have lower cost of living. For a fraction of the cost in cities, a family of four can come here, buy a home, maybe even a business and never have to wait at a traffic light again!” he said.
“Our brand new attraction website highlights three key pillars – Invest, Live and Visit. Our initial focus has been on developing the Invest and Live pillars, with Visit containing some valuable information that will be expanded down the line,” continued Mr Sudano.
The Invest pillar bundles together key aspects that business investors and entrepreneurs need to identify business opportunity. It details the Council support investors can expect, commercial and business land availability and businesses for sale. Local businesses can also create its own profile to promote itself and connect with other businesses.
The Live pillar paints a picture for people and families thinking about living here. It draws information on the property market, houses for rent and purchase, jobs that are available in the area, amenities, schools, health care, among other valuable relocation information.
The Space to Grow website is self-populating drawing information from specialist sites like Trade Me and EventFinda. This ensures content is current and up to date.
Coupled with the website is supporting online presence platforms like the Space to Grow Facebook, Instagram and Linked In pages. All of these platforms work together to improve our online presence and make people take a second look at investing, living and visiting here.
“Results from our summer marketing campaign that focusses on attracting young families and older people to take a good look at the South Waikato and what we have to offer have been encouraging,” said Mr Sudano. “The number of followers on the Space to Grow Facebook page is growing by around 128 new users a week; 56% female and 43% male, with the predominant age bracket of 25-54. Since the launch just before Christmas, we have received 15 private messages, our posts have generated 75 comments and have been shared 19 times.”
Similarly, website traffic during December and January showed 9,353 page views with 6,337 being new visitors. Visitors are located predominantly in Auckland (51%) and Hamilton (14%) with Wellington (9%) and others from a range of areas including Christchurch and Tauranga. The Economic Development team currently has 25 conversations underway with various people spread across the Invest and Live pillars.
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To visit the Space to Grow attraction website follow this link here.
