OVERVIEW
  • Employer – U.S. Army Central California Recruiting Battalion
  • Industry – Military
  • Date – 2023

Established in 2007, the U.S. Army’s Central California Recruiting Battalion Headquarters is in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley and headquartered at Lemoore Naval Air Station. Consisting of the Fresno, Bakersfield, Gold Coast, South Bay, East Bay, and Monterey Bay Companies, it covers an area of approximately 48,549 square miles of California. As the Digital & Social Media Manager for the battalion, it was my job to build the overall 2023 campaign and a positive reputation within our area. So, with the new slogan and logo coming out for the U.S. Army the “Be All You Can Be” campaign was born.

 

I collaborated with the battalion’s Market & Mission Analyst, who granted me complete access to the U.S. Army’s Segmentation Marketing Guide. This primary research was gathered through the Department of Defense’s “Office of People Analytics”. The Segmentation Marketing Guide aims to furnish recruiters with pertinent information regarding the attitudes and interests of youth and influencers in each market segment, enabling more effective communication with these segments.

GOALS

From the research, each target audience was tailored to each company’s geographical area as the size of the battalion has several large cities within the area. But the baseline for a target audience was both men and women between the ages of 18 and 34 with various educational levels. The goal was to;

  • Promote a positive reputation of the battalion both online and within the community with a timeframe from January 2023 to December 2024.

Having a budget of $9,000 for digital advertising, my measurable objectives were to.

  • Reach over 100,000 people on social media.
  • Reach over 50,000 people on Google Ads.
  • Create 3 different community relations events.
STRATEGY

Below are the strategies and tactics that were used during the overall campaign.

  • Social Media: Maintained 72 accounts (FB/IG). I created content showcasing the benefits of the U.S. Army and tailored it to each individual company while strategically creating ads weekly.
  • Digital & Traditional Marketing: Built digital marketing campaigns on Google Ads that showcased jobs and benefits of the U.S. Army. I also created several marketing materials (flyers, banners, posters, digital ads) for our recruiting companies that requested help for various events.
  • Community Relations: Organized three distinct community gatherings: a toy donation event, a school supply donation event, and an ice cream social for nurses at a children’s hospital.
  • Social Media Influencers: Established partnerships with sizable organizations for community events, and they subsequently posted content from these events on their social media accounts.
  • Media Relations: Upon organizing each community relations event, I crafted a press release and pitched journalists at local media outlets within our battalion footprint.
RESULTS

Below were the final results.

  • Social Media: content saw a reach of 224,870 which was 124%+ higher than the original measurable objective. Digital Marketing: Google Ads saw a reach of 87,200, which was 74.4%+ higher than the original measurable objective.
  • Community Relations: I managed to create and manage 3 different campaigns. The battalion and a local ice cream shop joined forces to create the Rolling for Heroes: Ice Cream Social, where U.S. Army Recruiters helped the ice cream shop serve over 150+ PICU and NICU nurses at Valley Children’s Hospital. Another event was the Army School Supply Crawl where I had the battalion donate over 1,800+ school supplies to 6 different schools and organizations within the Central Valley. Lastly, I built the Army Toy Drive where the battalion donated over 1,200+ toys to a local homeless shelter in Bakersfield California, the Boys & Girls Club in Visalia California, and Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera California.
  • Media Relations: One of the big local networks KMPH Fox26 covered the 2023 toy donation with an article on their website, which sees an average of 155,918+ organic visits a month. While the Sun-Gazette covered the school supply donation event with an article on their website which sees an average of 9,000+ organic visits a month.

 

Overall, I was successful and obtained my measurable objectives and the battalion commander was very happy with the overall results as it helped increase the overall reputation of the battalion and U.S. Army.

AWARDS

This campaign won an award in 2024.

  • Public Relations Society of America “Image Awards” – Award of Excellence: Community Relations