By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After a recent robust discussion, members of a Whitewater economic development panel agreed to provide financial resources for year two of a pilot marketing project aimed at spreading the city’s attributes to a broader region.
The Community Development Authority’s board of directors on May 23 voted to contribute $2,916 to Go WW Now, which was first hatched as a concept in early 2018 and began taking form last spring.
Jeff Knight, president of locally based Knight Public Affairs, has been leading the effort.
In April, Knight discussed some of the first-year efforts with Go WW Now. At the CDA’s most recent meeting, board members wrangled over funding sources and some of the finer points associated with the endeavor.
CDA board member Greg Meyer, the sole dissenter of allocating the funds, said he had concerns with the social media approach. Meyer read off the headlines of several articles pointing to declines in Facebook, which has been one of the primary instruments used to share Go WW Now’s marketing messages.
“I’m not on Facebook. I don’t need it,” Meyer said. “I’d rather see (CDA-contributed funding) go toward an actual website.”
But Council President Patrick Singer, who serves on the CDA, said there is still value in using platforms such as Facebook, particularly in light of Go WW Now’s target demographic of adults in their 30s and 40s.
“To me, this is a multi-channel approach of what we’re trying to do,” Singer said. “There is still a significant market (at Facebook). But I agree we need to be careful in how we spend our money.”
In reviewing the first year of Go WW Now’s posts, CDA board member Bruce Parker said he was disappointed about the quantity of posts pertaining to available, vacant land in the city, particularly at the industrial park.
Knight said communications efforts on land availability could pick up steam in the year ahead.
“We did a lot from the innovation center and the businesses in town,” Knight said of the first year. “That’s what we focused on.”
