‘ Live here, work there’

‘ Live here, work there’

Marion wants to pitch community to Big River Steel workers, families

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Small enough for a family.

Big enough for a future.

That’s the message Marion plans to pitch to potential workers at Big River Steel in an effort to get them to consider buying a home and living in Marion.

Marion Advertising and Planning Commission agreed to spend $25,000 to hire Arkansas State University Mid-South to develop a plan to market Marion to those workers.

“We need to do something to try and attract or at least let Big River Steel employees know that this would be a good place to live,” said Mayor Frank Fogleman. “It is close to work and all the amenities in Memphis and we want to let them know that we have something to offer.”

Big River Steel recently started production at its $1.3 billion plant in Osceola. The company has already hired 260 workers but expects to employ about 525 workers at an average salary of $75,000 a year.

The plant will be fully operational in early 2017 and will produce about 1.6 million tons of steel a year for the automotive and electrical industries.

Diane Hampton, marketing director for ASU Mid-South, said the plan involves developing a twophase public relations campaign to promote Marion that will include a brochure, website, and video footage of the city.

“Our goal is to promote Marion and all of its small town charm and big city access,” Hampton said. “And to kind of create Marion as ‘the center of living’ that’s ‘small enough for a family, and big enough for a fu- ture’ and get employees of Big River Steel to come over here and move.”

Hampton said they will distribute the brochure to the human resources department at Big River Steel and other hiring organizations to give to potential employees.

The brochure will be a glamour piece with picture which highlights all of the amenities of Marion keying on its small town atmosphere, affordable cost of living, excellent schools, close proximity to Memphis, and easy access to a wide variety of recreational activities.

“We want to promote the affordable cost of living and accessibility — to Memphis and the Interstates and Osceola — and all of those great words used to describe Marion,” Hampton said.

The website will feature a video and photographs of Marion to give potential new residents a better understanding of Marion and a sense of the personality of the community.

“The website will initially be created for the Big River Steel audience, but will be something general enough that you can use it for years to come,” Hampton said.

“It will have more depth and offer information about the schools, churches, retail, restaurants and of course the proximity to Memphis.”

Hampton said video will also be key to the campaign.

“This is a You Tube world now,” Hampton said. “The generation that is moving in to new jobs and new opportunities is a video generation. So we believe compelling video will be the key to the website.”

Councilman David Bigger said he likes the idea of a video and pointed out that Wilson — which will also be competing for these new workers — has a video.

“I like what you are saying,” Bigger said. “They have a new video I swear it seems like every week coming out. And they are promoting themselves and telling their story. And if we’re not telling our story, we are losing the game.”

“My son is one,” added A& P member Loretta Tacker. “He loves that kind of stuff.”

Phase 2 of the plan will include billboards, television commercials, radio and print ads, and social media depending on the success of Phase 1.

Hampton said they will have the brochure and website ready by the time ASU Mid-South re-opens after Christmas.

“We’re talking about things we can implement pretty quickly as they are ramping up their hiring of these employees,” Hampton said.

Bigger said he is pleased with the plan.

“I’ve always said this is something we needed to do,” Bigger said.

By Mark Randall