Invest in Cape Breton Podcast
In addition to the below written abstract, we have also prepared a video to highlight our submission, available at: https://youtu.be/UjJ9FQ2zavo
The Invest in Cape Breton Podcast is available across all major platforms and at: https://welcometocapebreton.ca/invest-podcast/
Purpose of Project
The Invest in Cape Breton Podcast was developed as a tool to bring the investment opportunities of Unama’ki – Cape Breton to the world, and allow the world to engage with us in return. Additionally, we wanted to highlight local successes and opportunities on our Island across all sectors, from Tourism and Creative Arts to Green Energy and Manufacturing.
We planned to release 6 episodes in the first year and reach 500 or more listeners, with a focus on reaching countries not as familiar with Canada, and specifically with our region.
Effectiveness
In the first 8 months we released four episodes that have exceeded our initial objectives with over 1,600 downloads (average of 337 downloads per episode) with over 1,200 listeners from 15 countries.
We have been elated to receive applause and support from the local and regional business community, local chambers of commerce, post-secondary institutions, provincial industry associations, and the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program who also sponsored the first episode.
Challenges
Our biggest challenge has been shortlisting and scheduling each episode’s guests, ensuring our episodes are able to demonstrate the diversity and variety of our region’s traditional and emerging industries, as well as our communities’ unique cultures.
As all our guests are busy putting in the work across our region, we’ve had to become more flexible with our production and release schedule. We believe that quality discussion and insights are more important in the long run than a tidy release schedule, and are working to improve the latter as we near the Podcast’s second season.
Audience
Our primary audience are future Investors of Unama’ki – Cape Breton, as well as locals who need additional insight to move their own business dream forward. For those who are not familiar with our region, we aim to show them why they should consider our Island for their future project(s) and why our Island is investment-ready. For those locals with potential, we aim to help them discover the opportunities that exist in their backyard and the partners available to help them get there.
Specifics to the particular Awards Category
In addition to the downloads and feedback mentioned above, we’ve also had a lot of interaction on the podcast’s social posts. Note that the following highlights are for our organization’s posts and exclude those initiated by staff, partners, and listeners.
- 8 LinkedIn posts had 437 interactions (comments, reactions, and clicks) and were reposted 38 times, with over 5,600 impressions;
- 8 Facebook posts had 186 interactions (comments, reactions, and clicks) and were shared 22 times with a total reach of over 7,000 users; and
- 4 E-Blasts had 3,748 email opens and 295 clicks through to the Podcast webpage.
Sustainability & Local Impact
It is important to the Cape Breton Partnership to ensure maximum impact and benefit here at home in Unama’ki – Cape Breton. For that reason, our Podcast is 100% locally produced, sourced, and launched, including the theme music licensed from a local singer-songwriter.
