Move to Minto

The Town of Minto is an amalgamated, rural community located in southwestern Ontario with a population of 9,000. Move to Minto is the Town of Minto’s resident attraction program/campaign. The main goal of the campaign is to increase awareness and consideration of Minto as a preferred destination for a new home and life among a targeted audience of families, young couples and retirees that are considering a move away from nearby cities south of Minto (1 – 1 ½ hours).

The Town of Minto has a well-established municipal tagline that connects its communities: Where Your Family Belongs. The tagline for the Move to Minto campaign leverages the municipal tagline – “You Belong Here”. We selected this tagline because belonging is the core feeling people seek, and a sense of belonging is fundamental to how humanity organizes itself. Related to this campaign, it is the primary purpose of the Town’s economic, cultural and residential development efforts. Using the word “you” makes the statement relevant and inclusive to anyone who reads it, while reflecting the Town’s commitment to building a welcoming community.

The website www.movetominto.ca was launched in May 2022 and features our award winning Move to Minto Video (2022 Communicator Award), stories about local residents (Meet the Locals), employment opportunities, housing availability and stats, information on running your own business, working remotely and much more.

To achieve our goal to increase awareness and drive people to the website we paired complementary Google Display Network and TrueView Video ads on YouTube to maximize exposure and views inside our target markets, with copy focused on welcoming communities, friendly neighbours, and belonging. This copy was directly informed by the content of the website, and the images and video that were provided, ensuring cohesive branding and messaging.

Total Ad Placements across the Display Network and YouTube to build brand awareness: 416.3K

Total Ad Clicks on Display and Video Views on YouTube (shows consideration & education): 56.7K

High Interest Actions: 120 (indicating significant research on the website, intent, and/or likely direct contacts.

Between May 1, 2022 – August 9, 2022 the website has had 2,500 visits.

One of the challenges we faced is the delay in housing starts. Many subdivisions were to be started by March 2022, which is why we were prepared to launch in May 2022. However, many of them will just be starting in September. This resulted in a lack of housing opportunities being promoted at the time of launch.

Regarding sustainability of this program and being mindful of the community, we engaged real estate developers and local real estate agents in focus groups early in the campaign creation process. This provided insight into the demographic groups that are interested in Minto, the locations people were coming from, and what people were looking for in the community to build our brand identity and campaign, which further informed the development of the website. We have shared the website link with the developers and agents to use in their marketing efforts to further drive traffic. Additionally, we are also proud that we incorporated all local residents, businesses and locations in our website including fun, blog-like stories in our “Meet the Locals” section. All elements of the website were produced by businesses located in Minto (brand, photography, website design).