Larimer County, Business
Northern Colorado brand aims to attract and keep workers
The proposed effort would give employers shared recruiting messages and templates, with an online toolkit and paid campaigns directing job seekers to open positions. Partners are targeting an early December internal launch.
A Northern Colorado regional branding effort aims to attract and retain workers through a shared regional identity and recruiting tools, organizers told Larimer County commissioners Oct. 19.
The proposed recruitment plan would give employers and workforce centers shared messages and templates, then direct paid-media interest to employer pages with open jobs. For nursing, it would use a talent profile to plan media targeting nursing programs and clinical sites. A presenter said the initiative has budget for nine community sub-brands, with more planned later, and will offer open-source materials through an online toolkit. Organizations could tailor use of the brand to their needs and marketing capacity alongside their existing work, the presenter said.
The initiative’s presentation says Northern Colorado is growing quickly but lacks a shared identity and unified story to shape its future. “What story are we telling them about the region?” Amy Gutmann asked. Gutmann said the region had not invested meaningfully in market research, audience identification, a cohesive website or media to bring prospects into its pipeline. Research also found a gap between the region’s lived identity and how it appears online and in AI results, a presenter said.
Chair Jody Shadduck-McNally questioned an aerospace workforce estimate that omitted CU graduates, citing the university’s proximity, a regional fusion lab and possible recruits from Boulder County. “I'm curious how we'd be careful to tell that whole story,” Shadduck-McNally said. One presenter said the estimate needed more work because it left out CU graduates and the team needed to research the region’s graduate numbers. Another said it was hard to estimate how many CU students would take Northern Colorado jobs and that Colorado might lack enough aerospace talent to meet employers’ needs.
John Kefalas asked how the county and its partners would measure whether the initiative was making a difference. A presenter said possible measures included website visits and calls to the teams. Another said the initiative would track how its campaign content appeared in search queries and AI results.
A presenter said the initiative was working toward an early December internal launch among partners in NoCo Ready, the Northern Colorado Regional Economic Development Initiative. The presentation places an internal launch at the initiative’s annual meeting. Its timeline runs from the third quarter through the second quarter of 2027, with milestones including a photo and video contest, Wayfinder profiles, toolkit and website development, and AI optimization.