Impact of an Impact Loan
Envision Saint John: The Regional Growth Agency manages the Impact Loan program for the City of Saint John.
The program helps foster small and medium-sized businesses by providing low interest start-up and expansion loans to help entrepreneurs take their business to the next level.
When reviewing goals for 2024, a clear need to provide awareness to entrepreneurs about programming and available resources was determined.
Success stories from past Impact Loan recipients, combined with profiling the various services provided within Envision Saint John, and through agency partners, created the narrative for the Impact Loan campaign.
Messaging expanded beyond Impact Loan funding – highlighting how Envision Saint John supports entrepreneurs via one-on-one mentorships, navigation of the ecosystem and partner training and development opportunities.
Our target audience focused on entrepreneurs aged 20-55. Based on the needs of the local workforce, it was also determined there was a need to target entrepreneurs within the trades which helped inform the media buy.
Key messages focused on how many entrepreneurs the agency served in 2023 – helping small and medium-sized businesses to reach their full potential. We shared how our whole-system view helps easily navigate the entrepreneurial ecosystem and creates connections to successfully build a business.
Prior to launching the campaign, we had interviewed entrepreneurs who were launching a new café and music venue – breaking barriers and creating safe, inclusive spaces for artists to perform in Saint John via Haven Music Hall for a growth story. We used this story as a basis for the development of video and radio scripts.
With the high overhead that comes with operating a business in the trades and low inquiries from trade sector entrepreneurs, a goal for this campaign was also to highlight an Impact Loan recipient from a trades sector and tell their story to inspire people across various trades to seek support.
In addition to the video, social media ads were executed during the month of the video launched and showcased Impact Loan recipient testimonials. A radio ad was also in-market, strategically placed on stations that would have higher trades people listenership.
The promotional video was rolled out organically via social media, shared with partners who offer training and support within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, included in our agency newsletter to a readership of nearly 900 and received an open rate of 47%, and was also uploaded to our entrepreneurship and business growth webpage.
Since launching the video in April of 2024, there has been an increase in Impact Loan requests. Nine new businesses received support between April and June 2024 – up from three during the same time period in 2023. Overall entrepreneurial support via business navigation assistance has increased 115% year over year from April – June 2024 vs 2023.
Impact Loan Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMK02FotX94
E-Newsletter with Video Launch: https://saintjohn.idss.com/email/preview/view.aspx?dN*SQ7LblCECStyvonC0nyhokbGJohGUUIJ4p5PcTWZi*3UKvXaq3D0lkWz597nx
