Podcast # 167: Digital Marketing Strategies for Small EDOs with Alissa Sklar

Making Your Website Work When You're Wearing All the Hats

31 Mar 2025 — 4 min read

They discuss leveraging AI tools while maintaining an authentic voice, website management tips for small EDOs, content amplification through LinkedIn, and how to build partnerships with educational institutions. Alissa offers practical advice for economic developers wearing multiple hats, emphasizing how to maximize impact with limited resources and time.

Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps!

Actionable Takeaways for Economic Developers

Use AI tools like ChatGPT to draft content, but always rewrite it to match your organization's voice and verify all information.
Amplify LinkedIn posts by having your director and board members repost content with additional commentary to significantly increase reach.
Define clear objectives for all marketing content (website visits, downloads, event attendance) before creation.
Avoid using auto-translate features that might make your organization appear to have capabilities it doesn't.
Partner with local universities or community colleges for mutually beneficial marketing projects.
Repurpose and leverage the same content across different platforms to maximize efficiency.
Develop a consistent hashtag strategy for your organization's social media posts.
Focus website content on what visitors need rather than internal organizational structures.
Build relationships with educational institutions to connect with future business leaders.
For small EDOs, prioritize quality website content over trying to maintain presence on too many platforms.

Episode Links

Insights from the Show: How strategic digital marketing is leveling the playing field for economic development organizations

In the competitive landscape of economic development, communities of all sizes vie for attention from potential investors and businesses. While major metropolitan areas have traditionally dominated this arena, digital marketing is rapidly changing the equation, allowing even the smallest organizations to punch above their weight class.

"Brick and mortar size doesn't have to limit your effective presence online," says Dr. Alissa Sklar, a communications strategy consultant specializing in economic development and digital marketing. "I once worked with a one-man chamber of commerce on how to make the most of their online data tools. His website wasn't anything special or fancy, but he followed all of my recommendations, and his Google Analytics traffic ended up in the top five of all our clients—competing with statewide organizations and major metro areas across North America."

This kind of digital democratization is at the heart of Sklar's approach to economic development marketing. In conversation, she emphasizes that success begins not with flashy websites or expensive booth displays, but with strategic messaging that leverages existing resources.

"The first thing is the value proposition. What is your core messaging? What is it that you're trying to communicate? How are you differentiating?" Sklar asks. "There's a lot of counties out there, a lot of states, a lot of cities, and there's a lot of warehouses and retail spaces and factories. What are your core brand values and what's the core messaging?"

For economic development organizations (EDOs), the challenge often isn't a lack of compelling data or resources, but rather knowing how to transform that information into marketing assets that drive traffic back to their websites.

"Ideally you want to take a data point and create content that brings people back to your website," explains Sklar. "You're bringing them back to your website. Hopefully your website is now built to keep them there because there's lots of other engaging stuff on that page that they'll see once they get there."

This approach creates what Sklar describes as an unintentional campaign. "We have potential for an email newsletter. We have potential for a really compelling marketing email. We can then use the same 50 words, maybe tweak them, and think about what that looks like on LinkedIn. So you've already got the same data point and now you've got a campaign whether you realize it or not."

The simplicity of this strategy is particularly valuable for smaller EDOs, where staff members typically wear multiple hats. "Lots of our EDO clients wear a lot of hats," Sklar notes. "They are the chief cook and bottle washer and marketing person and economic development officer. That's okay. We want to make this as easy as possible."

Beyond content creation, Sklar highlights the importance of website navigation—an often overlooked aspect of digital strategy. "I've been on thousands of economic development websites over the years. I cannot tell you how many feel like a scavenger hunt," she says. "I should not have to be clicking and scrolling and looking for that contact page. I should not be clicking and scrolling and trying to figure out how to find the data tools that you have invested in."

When it comes to new technologies like AI content generation, Sklar takes a pragmatic approach. "You have to know what your objective is first," she advises about using tools like ChatGPT. "I want to encourage them to come back to our website to learn about this event, to download this white paper. Whatever those things are, you have to hit those different things."

She emphasizes that AI-generated content requires significant human refinement. "When you get it, you have to go in and make it sound like you. Rewriting is absolutely gonna be necessary. ChatGPT doesn't know your specific industry terminology. Are you gonna be using language and lingo appropriately? Does it sound like you? Ultimately, this is all about that brand, right? Like you are the face of your organization."

Perhaps most crucially, Sklar stresses the amplification effect that comes from engaging team members in sharing content. "It should be reposted with five words or more by your director, by your chief cook and bottle washer," she says. "If you can get your board to regularly repost your content, if you can get other stakeholders to regularly repost your content, literally with a little bit of text in that LinkedIn post, the reach will just be absolutely phenomenal compared to what you would get just posting it by yourself."

In an age where digital presence often eclipses physical location, Sklar's insights offer a roadmap for economic development organizations looking to maximize their impact regardless of size. The message is clear: strategic digital marketing isn't just about having the most resources—it's about using what you have most effectively.

Podcast Newsletter