Michigan Economic Development Corporation(MEDC/JP)

A public-private partnership agency in the U.S. state of Michigan.

Website: https://michiganjp.org/

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation, in collaboration with more than 100 economic development partners, markets Michigan as the place to do business, assists businesses in their growth strategies, and fosters the growth of vibrant communities across the state.

The mission of the MEDC is to achieve long-term economic prosperity for Michiganders by investing in communities, enabling the growth of good jobs and promoting Michigan’s strong image worldwide. MEDC’s strategic focus aims to position Michigan at the leading edge of economic development in the nation.

The target audience of MEDC is CEO who is running a company in Japan. The target audience considers expanding the business to the United States. Quite a nitch, but it absolutely exists based on the future of the economy in Japan. The second target audience is the company that locates high-cost states, such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, etc. I thought about below at the beginning.

– How does the target audience find MEDC? 
– What’s the pain point?
– What makes them hesitate?
– How can the website earn trust?
– Who/Where is the competitor?

The domestic economy in Japan will be gradually declined because of the population. Therefore, the CEO looks for the market which predicts to improve in the future, such as southeast Asia, the EU, or the United States. There are quite many competitors.

Situation
– There is a website, but it’s not independent.
– The website does not attract new customers. The photo is too small and no content strategy applied.

Target
– CEO who is running a business in Japan.
– CEO who is running a business in the United States.

Problem
– There is a lot of information on PowerPoint, but it did not show on the website.
– Not update frequently.
– No designing(need organizing information and make it healthy/priority)

Goal
– Reflect on the business opportunity in Michigan ✔️
– Provide benefits and increase attention
– Embed SEO keywords on the website and increase leads ✔️

I researched the other states, but to be honest, I could not find many cities which is really put on effort into attracting overseas companies. On Google, the domestic service dominants the first page. Public service, JETRO, also exists. I believe that majority of the target audience would contact them.

・JETRO: 在米日系企業の拠点数は36州で国別首位、全米各地で高いプレゼンス
・帝国データバンク: 米国進出企業実態調査
・PR TIMES: 米国に進出している日本企業、全国に6702社 4年前から約100社減少
・JETRO: 初めての海外進出
・JETRO: 海外進出支援

What the value of this project? It’s all about SEO(reach target audience) and increase audience engagement. The client does not need a $10K logo. The logo itself does not influence the results in this case. Spend the budget for marketing is much valuable. A designer maybe not want to accept that.

As designers, we want to provide all material that relates to the brand, communication. Consistency is important, but we have to prioritize occasionally.