The document presents strategies for transforming workforce investment boards (WIB) into pivotal engines for economic development and job creation, emphasizing the importance of targeted marketing to employers. It outlines the need for WIBs to engage with specific stakeholders and to focus on creating a quality workforce that meets employer needs. Key suggestions include improving website content to showcase local workforce capabilities and actively communicating with employers about their specific needs and training opportunities.

1. WIB Websites
How to Turn Your WIB Website into
an Engine of Economic Development and Job Creation
Presented By: Colleen LaRose
North East Regional Employment and Training Association

2. We are going to go where no WIB
has gone before….
What is required to be “Revolutionary.”
Recognize self as change agent and leader
Open to new ideas
Vision
Belief in possibilities
Desire
Fearless
Bold
“The NERETA Revolution”

3. You can’t be
everything to
everyone!
State WIB
Local WIB
Employers
Job seekers
Partners
State DOL
Please fix these issues!
Low Literacy Levels
Mental Health
Laziness/poor work ethic
Computer iilliteracy
Youth employment needs
Older worker employment needs
Veterans employment needs
Offender employment needs
Person’s w/disabilities employment needs
Everybody else’s employment needs
Transportation /child care needs
Articulation between schools
We will have more for you to fix
tomorrow.
Staff/Contractors
Help!
DEAR WIB DIRECTOR:

4. Stakeholders vs. Target Market
Stakeholders – Those who are invested in
your success.
Target market – Those who you need the
attention of in order to be a success.
Who should be your priority?
Which are your stakeholders? Who is your “target market?
Politicians, Jobseekers, Local Board, USDOL, State DOL, State WIB, Staff
Contractors, Partners, Economic Development, Chambers of Commerce, Employers

5. What is Success for a WIB?
 Active Board?
 Invited to sit on other boards?
 Quoted often in the media?
 Acquired many grants?
 Respected by state/federal officials?
 Fix lots of issues/problems?
 Positive financial impact on the
region?...HOW???

6. What is the product of a WIB?
?

7. If the WIB’s Product
is a Quality Workforce....
Have you looked at the workforce through
the “marketing” lens?
 Product - quality, usability
 Place – available when and where I need it
 Price – relative value, competitive
 Promotion – Benefits are known by potential users

8. Have you ever sold a product?
What is our unique selling
proposition?
(What makes our cupcakes
unique, special, different, memorable?)
Does the look and feel of
the website matter when
ordering a cupcake?
Do testimonials about
our cupcakes matter?
Let’s say we are starting a company
selling cupcakes.

9. Which is most powerful?
 FEATURES (telling -marketing)
 How big is the cupcake
 How tasty is the cupcake
 How attractive is the cupcake
 BENEFITS (believing -persuasion)
 You will attract attention when holding the cupcake
 People will think you are smart/powerful/wealthy when
you are holding the cupcake
 People will be jealous of you when they see you have
the cupcake
Steak
Sizzle

10. Sell the Benefits of your region’s
Workforce Capabilites
Features:
Close to major university
Low cost labor
Large youth population
Benefits:
Close to major university – Great minds at your doorstep to
help you with your business challenges
Low cost of labor - You can afford a larger staff to get more
hands and minds working for you
Large youth population – Youthful vigor with up-to-date
technical skills and fresh ideas

11. Why does your WIB have a website?
 Because we were told to have a website
 To explain who we are and what we do (justify our
existence)
 To provide a place where people can see public reports,
meeting minutes, meeting schedules, etc.
 To provide information about workforce services and links
to local employment and training providers
 To entice businesses to locate or expand in the
region based on our workforce capabilities

12. So then, who is the target
audience for your WIB website?
 Board members?
 Politicians?
 System partners and other stakeholders?
 Jobseekers?
 State and/or federal officials?
Of course not…the priority and target audience of the WIB is
Employers!
Again….who is the WIB’s priority?

13. Why concentrate efforts on
employers?
 WIB’s are Demand Driven
 WIB’s are 51% private sector
 Employers create jobs
 Employers grow the economy
 When employers are happy, so are:
◦ Politicians
◦ Jobseekers
◦ System partners
◦ Board members

14. “All Employers” are not the WIB’s
Target Audience
Can the WIB “position” the local workforce in the
marketplace to retain and attract strategic “buyers?”
Which employers should your WIB target?
Which employers is economic development trying to
attract?
Which employers are growing?
Which employers are crucial to retain in the community?

15. Think like an employer!
(or the site selector they hired)
If you were evaluating
a region to determine
relocation or growth
potential for a company,
what would you
want to know
about the workforce?

16. What is special
about your
region’s workforce
capabilities?
UNIQUE SELLING
PROPOSITION
Who are you marketing to?
 Highly educated
 Proud history of strong work ethic
 Low absenteeism
 Motivated, engaged
 Innovative
 Diverse
 Strong technical capabilities
 Superior training facilities
 Young workforce
 Older, experienced workforce

17. Is this
similar
to your
WIB’s
website
content?

18. Is this what is on your WIB website?
 Strategic plan and other reports
 List of your members
 List of your committees
 Minutes of meetings/Calendar of future meetings
 System partners
 Incentives, tax credits that can benefit employers (that are really
about hiring the down and out…not about helping employers)
 Information about some training programs
 WIB policies and procedures

19. Telling vs. Doing
 Are you explaining why the WIB is
valuable? (Playing defense)
 Are you demonstrating that the local
workforce is valuable? (Playing offense)

20. A quality workforce is the number one reason that
businesses now choose their location…surpassing tax
incentives, low cost of business, transportation, and even
quality of life!
Economic Developers say,
“Workforce Quality is #1”

21. Communicating with Employers
Encoding Decoding
 What you are telling
employers
 What employers say
they need
 What employers want
to know
 What is provided to
employers

22. Learning to speak the language of
employers.
 Quantify, Quantify, Quantify!
 How much does it improve their profitability?
(Most important!)
 How much does it reduce their costs?
(Not as important)
 Would you rather have a dollar bill or a dollar
off coupon?

23. Would these topics
intrigue employers?
 What is special about your region’s workforce capabilities?
(unique selling proposition)
 What are the existing workforce characteristics?
 How are training needs met in the region?
 What are the existing employer characteristics?
 What are the emerging employment trends and economic
opportunities?
 What other supports can you provide employers ?

24. What are the
existing
workforce
characteristics?
 How large is the local labor pool?
 What are the prevailing wages? How are wages meeting living expenses?
(How does cost of living compare to the national average?)
 What are the skills possessed by the local labor pool?
◦ Basic skills?
◦ Workforce readiness certified?
◦ PC Literacy?
◦ High school graduation rate?
◦ Percent in remedial education in 1st year of college?
◦ Percent with BA degree? MA degree? PhD’s?
 Work ethic?
◦ Turnover rates?
◦ Absentee rate?
◦ Productivity?

25. How are
training needs
met in the
region?
 Are k-12 and colleges participating in the economic vision and solutions?
 Is there one point of contact for employers to get information they need
about finding and training workers?
 Are employers surveyed regularly about their training needs?
 What Colleges, voc schools, and private training providers located within
one hour?
 How are the training providers and colleges doing on their “scorecards?”
 Who provides which kind of training?
 Worker training programs?
◦ Incumbent worker training?
◦ Apprenticeship programs?
◦ On the job training?

26. What are the
existing employer
characteristics?
 What are the major industries?
 Who are the local major employers?
 Which companies are unionized? Is this a “right-to-
work” state?
 Who are the newest employers? Home grown?
Recruited?

27. What are the
emerging
employment trends
and economic
opportunities?
 Are there untapped/hidden pools of labor?
 Is the region attractive to talent who may
need to be recruited nationally?

28. What other supports can
you provide employers?
NOW PROVIDE
Recruitment, LMI, UI, Compliance, Incentives
WHAT ELSE?
 Human resources, Labor relations, Wellness
 Being/becoming a value to the community?
◦ How to achieve/maintain preferred employer status in the community?
◦ Civic involvement/corporate giving?
 Industry specific initiatives?
 Economic gardening program? (business expansion/CEO training)
 Temp services?

29. The Difference….
Home Workforce
Profile
Key
Sectors
Grow Your
Business
About Us
Home Workforce
bd
Contact
Us
Training
Providers
Jobseekers Resources RfP’s About Us
RECOMMENDED MENU (Employer Focused)
TYPICAL WIB MENU (Board Focused)
Which Menu draws the attention of employers?
Which Menu has the best chance of driving economic development
and job creation?
Which menu entices businesses to locate or expand in the region
based on the region’s workforce capabilities?

30. How to get “There” from “Here”
Will require some additional research
(Labor market assessment and annual
employer survey).
Will require a commitment to engaging
with employers.
Will require NEW thinking!
 Able to see the benefits.
 Willingness to be “revolutionary.”

31. More than
just “LMI”
Labor Market Assessment (Objective)
◦ Population and Demographics Overview
◦ Labor Location (commuting distance)
◦ Labor Demand
◦ Industries rising/Industries falling
◦ Education and Training
◦ Labor Costs (regulatory, unions, etc)
◦ Draw to recruit workers (Quality of Life)

32. Annual Employer Survey
Employer Self-Report (Subjective)
◦ Workforce reliability
(Availability, Stability, Productivity, Quality)
◦ Training (in house, consultants, providers)
◦ Employee type (ft, pt, temp)
◦ Company plans
(growing, merging, exporting, new
products/services, etc)

33. A Step by Step Online Guide
www.wibwebsite.com

34. Stakeholder Opinions….
How will politicians, system
partners, board members and even
jobseekers feel about a WIB website that
sells the benefits of the local workforce as
its dominate message?

35. Quality
Communications
Planning
 Fresh, Attractive, (balance of graphics and text)
 Interactive, easy to navigate and intuitive
 Uses effective language for target audience (No Jargon)
 Define mission of organization and clearly explain products/services BENEFITS
 Calls to action/opt-in - take our survey, sign-up for newsletter, connect on
social media, sign-up for online workshop, send questions/suggestions
 Pertinent and up-to-date news (local unemployment rate, plant closings,
business openings…what this means for jobs)
 Strategic partner links and information (economic development, education,
industry associations, etc)
 Tracking and responding to analytics, SEO Plana

36. The Don’ts
 Don’t overwhelm with too much
information. (Keep the information “quippy”
You want them to call for more information)
 Don’t combine the One Stop and WIB
websites
 Don’t limit WIB information/offerings to
currently funded programs.

37. The Do’s
 Do make the WIB website employer centric
 Do Highlight the positive Labor Force aspects of your region
 Do a Labor Assessment! Listen to Employer Needs and Try to
Respond to their Needs (not just give them what you already have
available)!
 Do explain the many training options available for staff and
executives that encourage opportunities for business growth and
expansion
 Do use the website and social media to regularly stay in touch with
local employers
 Do offer Industry focused opportunities for employers to engage on
topics about the local workforce with other local employers in their
industry

38. Questions?
Need further assistance? We can help!
Colleen LaRose
President and CEO
North East Regional Employment and Training Association (NERETA)
P (908) 995-7718
E colleen@nereta.org
www.nereta.org