Say My Name: How a Small City in Oklahoma Used a Targeted Outreach Campaign to Attract New Business Interest

When it comes to attracting new businesses and jobs to your community, simply making it onto the list of locations being considered by companies that may be looking to expand or relocate is half the battle. So, what do you do when your city, county, or region isn’t well known? How do you make it onto the shortlist before location decisions are made when no one knows your name?

Duncan is a city of 22,300 people in south-central Oklahoma located just north of the Red River and Texas border. Boasting strong manufacturing characteristics, it is the home of Haliburton, various distribution centers, and large manufacturing and energy facilities. Duncan is well connected to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and other major cities through the Arkansas River Navigational Channel, the Pacific Railway, local and commercial airports, and major highways.

The City of Duncan also provides its businesses with a low sales tax (3.5%), various Tax Credit programs, and the lowest overall electricity rates for industrial customers. Duncan’s central location, low cost of living, and strong manufacturing and energy-focused workforce make it an ideal location for businesses looking to expand or relocate.

However, despite all the business-friendly things it has going for it, Duncan simply doesn’t have the name recognition enjoyed by other larger manufacturing hubs in North America and is largely unknown to many business owners.

In 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic regulations began to lift and people began feeling safe returning to work, the Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation (DAEDF) hired Camoin Associates to try and connect it with growing businesses and get Duncan a seat at the negotiating table.

DAEDF’s primary goal was to generate new jobs and grow the local economy by attracting businesses within the Energy, Health Care, Aerospace, and Defense sectors with a need for a workforce dominated by Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) machinists, welders, assemblers, and engineers—skills well represented in Duncan.

To meet this goal, Camoin Associates employed an outreach and marketing campaign designed to raise Duncan’s profile among U.S. and Canadian companies of a certain size within the target industries DAEDF had selected and whose workforce needs matched the skillsets of Duncan’s residents. Camoin Associates also found it essential to identify companies that would fit the values, interests, and work ethic of Duncan residents to fully capitalize on the opportunities within the region.

Camoin Associates’ targeted outreach and marketing campaign resulted in meetings between DAEDF and six different companies within the Energy, Aerospace, and Manufacturing industries that were planning to expand their footprint within the United States. DAEDF continues to nurture several of these opportunities, using its seat at the negotiating table to the best advantage of Duncan and its residents.

Learn more about Camoin Associates’ Lead Generation + Business Relationships Services.