By Adam Swift
City Manager Fidel Maltez is looking for the big win when it comes to attracting new business and industry to Chelsea.
During the city council meeting, Maltez shared that the city signed a contract with a firm to launch a business attraction marketing campaign.
“The work will include market research and strategic planning to position Chelsea as an attractive place for companies to invest in,” Maltez stated. “We will create various videos highlighting our available properties and will create virtual tours, interactive property showcases. We will highlight successful businesses already in Chelsea.”
Maltez said the city and the firm will ask those businesses to share their story and share what makes Chelsea attractive.
“We will run ads and will target trade media outreach, focusing on high-growth industries that will bring development and jobs to Chelsea,” stated Maltez. “Finally, we will create a database to capture interested parties, focusing on analytics and performance measurement. We are clear that this campaign will lead to more new growth for Chelsea.”
Maltez said the city council’s voices will be centered in this marketing campaign.
District 7 Councilor Manuel Teshe said he wanted to make sure the city manager alerted the district councilors if there is a tour or event scheduled at a business in their district.
District 8 Councilor Calvin T. Brown asked that Maltez give an overview of what the campaign will entail and its target audience at last week’s council meeting.
“This campaign is going to be really focused on attracting companies to come to Chelsea,” said Maltez. “So it is industrial and commercially focused. It is also ideally focused on industry that brings jobs into Chelsea. As the council has already seen, we have started this on our own in the last few months, particularly visiting the companies that are in Chelsea and are very successful.”
Maltez said he and other city leaders have either visited or are planning to visit Chelsea businesses such as Eastern Minerals, Kayem Foods, the New England Produce Center, Cinco de Mayo Tortillas, and Muffin Town.
“These companies, combined, have about 2,000 jobs in Chelsea and are really fueling our tax base,” said Maltez. “These are the kind of companies that we are trying to attract. We need to be a very targeted campaign focused on industry journals, trade journals, and getting the right contacts.”
Councilor-at-Large Leo Robinson said he would also like to see the city bring in somebody whose job it is to sell Chelsea to big industries and businesses.