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Baton Rouge Area Chamber
Revitalizing Our Community
2
Executive Summary
East Baton Rouge Parish is the most populous Parish in nine-parish Greater Baton Rouge
Area. The “Revitalize Our Community” campaign will target small professional businesses in
East Baton Rouge Parish. The marketing campaign will consist of two events (one in May and
one in October) and a social media campaign. The first event is a cook-off in May. BRAC will
provide the winning business a complimentary marketing plan. The second event is a networking
cocktail event that will take place in October. For both events, proceeds will go towards helping
those businesses that were destroyed or damaged in the flood. Both events will be used to
encourage small professional businesses to join BRAC. The social media push will involve
“Business Months” where each week during the months of May and October a new business will
be showcased. BRAC should hire an employee to run this feature and prepare the showcases for
social media.
The target customers are small professional businesses made up of 40 employees or less.
There are 1,472 professional businesses in East Baton Rouge Parish. The shear amount of
professional businesses, along with their client bases, are the reasons these businesses should be
targeted. There is also the potential for a spillover effect where these businesses clients will join
BRAC due to their relationship with the small professional businesses.
The goal is for increased social media presence and increased membership and revenues
for BRAC. The target number of new investors is 255 new small professional businesses overall
from the campaign. This would equal a positive return on investment. The social media presence
will be measured during the months of May and October as well as by questions to new investors
on what influenced them to join BRAC.
3
I. Understanding the Customer
Introduction:
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (hereinafter referred to as BRAC) is a nonprofit
organization that was created in 1948. BRAC’s mission is to provide services and assistance to
local businesses in the Greater Baton Rouge area in order to promote the growth and success of
local business. Having worked for both large law firms as well as a small practice, I have
personally viewed clients with small businesses who could use the help of BRAC. The students
in the E.J. Ourso College of Business MBA Program have been tasked to create a marketing
strategy for BRAC to attract new investors specifically for the months of May and October for the
year 2017. Overall, these two months represent a slow period for BRAC. That coupled with the
recent tragedies in Baton Rouge, BRAC will be looking to help revitalize the Baton Rouge
economy so that it can rebound and become stronger than before. The following paper will detail
a marketing strategy designed for BRAC to attract new investors.
Target Customer:
BRAC’s main target are the businesses that are located within the nine-parish Baton Rouge
Area. These parishes include: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston,
Point Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.
1
The estimated total population
of East Baton Rouge parish in 2014 was 443,598.
2
This population represents the largest of all the
parishes in the nine parish Greater Baton Rouge area and therefore East Baton Rouge will be the
geographical location that will be targeted in the marketing campaign.
Baton Rouge is also generally seen as a business friendly region. In fact, in 2009, Baton
Rouge was ranked ninth among mid-size metro areas on a list by CNN for best places to launch a
1
http://www.brac.org/ecodev/regional_parishoverview.asp
2
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk
4
new business.
3
Additionally, many out of state businesses are expanding into Louisiana,
specifically the Baton Rouge area.
4
Because of the increased surge of small businesses in East
Baton Rouge Parish, BRAC should specifically target these new small businesses and market
towards them as potential new investors. The term “Small Business” has many definitions. The
United States Small Business Administration (SBA) has standards to define small businesses.
Businesses size categorization is determined based on two-factors – the amount of money
generated and the number of employees (baseline of 500 employees and under).
5
The problem
with these categorization factors is that 99.7% of all U.S. firms/businesses would classify as a
small business.
6
For those reasons, in this campaign, a small business is defined as any business
with 40 employees or less. Generated revenue will not be a factor in determining whether or not
a business is small or not.
The reason that BRAC should target these new small businesses is because the early
formative years are the most volatile years for a business. According to a 2012 report from the
SBA, only two-thirds of businesses survive at least two-years, and only half of those two-thirds
who initially survived will still be in operation after five-years. These survival rates are also
comparable across all industries and sectors.
7
BRAC would be instrumental in assisting new small
businesses in crossing this booby-trapped wasteland into success and stability.
Of these small businesses in East Baton Rouge Parish, BRAC’s main goal should be to
target professional businesses. Small professional businesses are a key demographic in the Greater
3
http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/best_places_launch/2009/snapshot/28.html
4
https://www.businessreport.com/business/many-state-businesses-find-capital-city-perfect-place-enter-louisiana-
market
5
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Size_Standards_Table.pdf
6
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2012/09/20/the-government-definition-of-small-business-is-b-
s/#27206efb5ef8
7
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/Business-Survival.pdf
Baton Rouge area and more are located in East Baton Rouge than an any of the other nine-
parishes.
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MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES & ENTERPRISES (#…
PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL SERVICES (#…
REAL ESTATE & RENTAL & LEASING (# Businesses) [NAICS…
FINANCE & INSURANCE (# Businesses) [NAICS 52], 2016
INFORMATION (# Businesses) [NAICS 51], 2016
TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING (# Businesses)…
RETAIL TRADE (# Businesses) [NAICS 44], 2016
WHOLESALE TRADE (# Businesses) [NAICS 42], 2016
MANUFACTURING (# Businesses) [NAICS 31], 2016
CONSTRUCTION (# Businesses) [NAICS 23], 2016
UTILITIES (# Businesses) [NAICS 22], 2016
MINING (# Businesses) [NAICS 21], 2016
FORESTRY, FISHING, HUNTING, AND AGRICULTURE…
Industries of East Baton Rouge Parish
