Grant awareness with real community heart
Summary
Baytown needed bold thinkers—not grant pros—to bring fresh experiences into the community. So together we built a media plan that felt more like an open invitation than a municipal program. Reddit sparked conversations with creators, Google caught high-intent searches the moment they surfaced, and LinkedIn rallied entrepreneurs already in build mode. The mix turned curiosity into action and reframed Baytown as a place where bright ideas find real support.
Client
City of Baytown
Scope
Economic Development
Campaign Title
Baytown Forward
Results
9,420
of web traffic driven by Landing Page Visitors
1.69M+
Ad Impressions
10.2K+
Clicks to Landing Page
1.59%
CTR, LinkedIn
10.13%
CTR, Google SEM
Baytown’s Bet on Big Ideas
The Baytown Forward initiative wasn’t built for the people you’d expect to submit a grant application. This initiative from the City of Baytown Economic Development Office aimed to attract fresh, tourism-driven experiences and events, something more magnetic than municipal. The challenge? Finding applicants who didn’t write grant applications for a living but instead attracting creatives, dreamers, and risk-takers with bold ideas to apply. So we got to work crafting a media mix that didn’t act like traditional economic development. It acted like inspiration.
Reddit: Top of Funnel, Big Impact
We zigged where others zagged… straight to Reddit. Why? We were looking to capture creatives and not just thinkers. We targeted niche subs like r/Entrepreneur and r/EventPlanning, expecting a slow burn of awareness. Instead, we sparked real momentum. It shot to the top as the leading traffic source to the Catalyst Fund landing page, proof that stepping off the beaten path can light the way better than the map ever could.
Google SEM: Intent, Captured
When someone’s actively searching for “Texas business grants,” they don’t need a sales pitch, they need a link. Google SEM helped us intercept those high-intent users in the exact moment they were ready to act. This channel caught people mid-search, turning questions into clicks, and those clicks into real momentum toward applications.
LinkedIn Sponsored Posts: Professional Momentum
To stay part of the conversation with professionals, we also ran LinkedIn Sponsored Posts. The goal? Reach entrepreneurs and business leaders in growth mode. LinkedIn pulled in a focused, future-minded audience, people already mapping out their next move, from scaling up to pitching big to chasing their next investment.
The Program Was Temporary. The Shift Wasn’t.
While the nature of grant applications meant that drop-off was expected (1.5% navigated to pre-application), this campaign did more than drive traffic, it introduced Baytown as a place where bold ideas can take root. Baytown Forward may not be annual, but its impact echoes forward. It reframed the city’s role from funder to connector, from office to opportunity.
