National Awareness Campaign for Workforce Initiative
Statewide Nonprofit CoalitionAdvertising · Video Production
- The challenge
- “Program had strong outcomes but minimal public awareness outside one region”
Headline results
- 4.2MImpressions
- 3xInbound Inquiries
Overview
A statewide nonprofit coalition had built a workforce development program with strong placement outcomes, but its impact was invisible beyond the three counties where it operated. The coalition needed a national awareness campaign to attract federal funding, corporate partnerships, and replication interest from other states.
The situation
The program had placed over 4,000 workers in skilled trades over five years with a 78% retention rate—numbers that were competitive with any workforce program in the country. But the coalition's communications budget had been minimal, and its public presence consisted of a dated website and an annual report distributed to existing funders. A new federal workforce funding opportunity created urgency: the coalition needed national visibility within six months to be competitive.
Our approach
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Step 1
Impact Narrative Development
We distilled five years of program data into three core narratives: individual transformation stories, employer testimonials, and community-level economic impact. Each narrative was designed for a different audience: federal funders, corporate partners, and peer organizations.
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Step 2
Video Production
We produced a four-minute anchor documentary and three 60-second testimonial clips featuring program graduates, employers, and community leaders. All content was shot on location across three program sites.
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Step 3
Digital Advertising Campaign
We ran a targeted digital campaign across LinkedIn, Facebook, and programmatic display, geo-targeted to Washington D.C. policy audiences, corporate CSR decision-makers, and workforce development professionals in 12 states.
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Step 4
Earned Media Strategy
We pitched the program's outcomes to workforce and economic development reporters at national outlets and coordinated op-ed placements by the coalition's executive director.
Execution
- Completed narrative framework and messaging guide within three weeks
- Produced all video content within a 45-day production schedule
- Launched digital campaign with a $120K media buy across three platforms
- Secured coverage in workforce development trade publications and two national outlets
- Delivered a presentation toolkit for the coalition to use in federal funding applications
Results
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4.2 million
impressions
The digital campaign reached 4.2 million impressions across target audiences, with above-benchmark engagement rates on LinkedIn (2.1% CTR).
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3x
inbound inquiries
The coalition received three times its historical average of inbound partnership and replication inquiries in the six months following the campaign launch.
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Federal funding secured
The coalition was selected for a federal workforce innovation grant, citing the communications materials in its application.
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Replication interest
Three state-level organizations initiated formal conversations about replicating the program model, driven by the campaign's reach.
What we learned
Nonprofits with strong outcomes often assume the work speaks for itself. It doesn't—not at the scale where federal funding and corporate partnerships are decided. The coalition's numbers were genuinely impressive; what was missing was a communications infrastructure that put those numbers in front of the right people in a format they could act on. The video content did the heaviest lifting, but the targeted digital campaign is what ensured it reached decision-makers, not just supporters.
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