Interview with Brianna Boyd: The Marketing Wonder Woman Amplifying Solano Workforce Board’s Brand

Brianna Boyd is no stranger to workforce marketing. As a seasoned journalist in her former life, she has taken on the role of marketing specialist for the Workforce Development Board (WDB) of Solano County and its hosted Small Business Development Center for the past four years. Brianna recently completed the Brand Amplifier for Workforce & Education online course. FCM caught up with her to discover how she is applying what she learned to build a better workforce brand, recruit underserved job seekers, and engage employers. 

Brianna, tell us about your organization and your role in it. 

We have an awesome setup at the WDB because we also host a small business development center (SBDC). While I’m responsible for marketing both entities, we also have opportunities to combine our services and work collaboratively to help the business community with a host of services outside of workforce development. I also help with job seeker marketing and recruiting underserved Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) participants. 

What have been your biggest branding, marketing, and communications challenges? 

Like many staff to workforce boards across the country, we wear many hats and constantly juggle a multitude of tasks and priorities. This is especially true in my situation, as I have a dual marketing role for both the WDB and the SBDC. So, bandwidth is always challenging. 

Another challenge is having so many different partners under the WIOA umbrella and making sure everyone is informed and coordinated with marketing, communications, and outreach efforts. There are siloes in every organization, and we are no different. 

How have you typically marketed to your various target audiences? 

We are active on social media, including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram and we try to use video and visuals that tell a good story. Public relations is also important, so we send out press releases and connect with our local news media. As a former journalist, I know that reporters want to hear relevant and meaningful stories about the work we do with our partners in the community. Most recently, our board members and my colleagues have been really focused on a marketing revamp campaign. 

Will you explain that a bit more? 

So, about six months ago, our Board was very interested in marketing and wanted to look at our messaging strategies. As part of our website redesign, we went through a marketing audit and looked at how we communicated to different target audiences at different touchpoints. That’s when we heard about the Brand Amplifier for Workforce & Education online course and thought it would be valuable in helping us figure out our messaging and creating a marketing and communications plan. 

Was it? 

I must admit I wasn’t sure how I would like learning online versus face-to-face, but I was pleasantly surprised at how the course kept my attention and how the concepts built from module to module. What really helped me understand each of the concepts was real-life, relevant workforce examples and case studies. It’s interesting to see what other WDB and educational agencies are doing. 

For example, the Santa Cruz WDB’s model for their collaborative partner campaign, Behind Every Employer, was so creative. I want to replicate that, or something similar, in our area, as it’s a great strategy for engaging employers. 

What are some of the principles and concepts you are applying? 

Right from the start in Module 1, the course affirmed the challenges we were facing and the best approach to using data to overcome issues and be more proactive. 

One of the “aha” moments I had was the concept of using psychographic data to help build market segment profiles and personas to build effective messaging. There is a great example of Prince Charles and Ozzy Osbourne sharing the same age and ethnicity but nothing else. 

And that’s so true in workforce development!  We serve such a wide variety of underserved populations, and we can’t just use the same message for any particular demographic. There’s no way we can expect the same message to engage an English Language Learner, a Veteran, and an older mom coming back to the workforce. While they may all be job seekers, we have to go deeper to understand each of their motivators and barriers to education and training, and their lifestyles.

I remember one of the statistics mentioned in the course was that, on average, people can see anywhere from 4K to 10K advertising messages a day! So, a “one size fits all” approach is never going to work if we want to be successful at building an effective brand and engaging our various market segments. 

We only had two personas developed for job seekers a few years ago, and those included a younger professional and a dislocated worker. Because of learning about psychographics, we are now revamping all of our messaging and tailoring our campaigns and outreach based on who we want to engage specifically. 

Fantastic! Yes, that’s a key insight from the course, Ms. Wonder Woman!  What’s your proactive plan looking like? 

It is really coming along nicely. Right now, we’ve finished our competitive analysis and marketing audit, a deep dive into all of the modules on integrated marketing and using PESO (paid, earned, shared, and owned), and are applying these to our plan with goals and strategies. 

What would you say to others in workforce and education who are thinking about taking the course? 

Do it! It’s a great investment. There is so much relevant and valuable information, and the lesson plans and templates help you move through the modules and gain new skills. 

There are some very cool crosswalks that help you figure out what your potential goals could be.  For example, if your organization has a lack of brand awareness of your organization or your enrollment numbers are low, the cross walks recommend various mediums and strategies to start based on the challenges you are facing. 

Because the course is specifically for workforce and education professionals, you’ll know how to apply each module to the challenges you face. 

It was totally worth my time and energy. 

Thank you, Brianna, for sharing your insights into the course. Thank you also for your leadership and all that you do in workforce development. 

Thank you! For more information, go to https://fcmbrandamplifier.com/