With a talent attraction and retention challenge continuing in Wichita, workforce leaders are attempting to take their efforts to the next level.
Earlier this year, the Greater Wichita Partnership, a regional economic development organization, began working with Development Counsellors International in an effort to begin work on the design of a multi-faceted marketing campaign to draw people to Wichita.
“Talent is the key commodity now,” says Andrew Nave, the GWP’s executive vice president of economic development. “I’ve been doing economic development for 15 years. Workforce promotion and talent promotion has always been a key criteria, but now it’s now not only at the top of the list, it’s almost in a category all its own.” Wichita, like many other cities, is looking for ways to bring workers here and, once they’re here, to keep them. That’s where DCI — the firm calls itself a “highly-specialized” company in the areas of tourism and economic development marketing — comes in. In short, it markets places.
What DCI has provided the partnership is basically a blueprint for a multi-year marketing plan to sell Wichita. Part of the plan that DCI presented includes marketing Wichita to residents in four specific metro areas — Los Angeles, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Dallas/Fort Worth. Additional markets could be added.
(Read more: Wichita Business Journal)