MASSENA - Word will soon be spread about Massena’s selling points in Canadian business journals, trade magazines, newspapers and Web sites.

The Business Development Corporation for a Greater Massena’s Board of Directors voted unanimously at a recent special meeting to retain Electric Strategies of Ottawa to implement a marketing plan.

The BDC will pay the company $19,300 for the work. That money will fund print advertisements in the Ontario Industrial Magazine and online promotions in the Toronto Star and the Business Times of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga. Other advertisements will be placed on the Ottawa Business Journal’s and American Chamber of Commerce’s Canadian Web sites.

Electric Strategies will also submit an editorial titled “Massena’s Power Advantage” for publication in the industrial magazine. The ads will run from September through November, according to Executive Director Jason A. Clark.

The online ads will feature links to the BDC’s recently produced video highlighting Massena’s assets to prospective companies, Mr. Clark said.

The video, titled “Massena Power Play,” touted low-cost hydropower, proximity to Canadian cities, recreational opportunities and a skilled workforce as reasons to move to the town of nearly 13,000 on the St. Lawrence River.

The BDC spent $23,000 for Adworkshop of Lake Placid to produce the video, which was completed in January. The entity needed to launch a marketing campaign to give the video momentum and bring more eyes to it, Mr. Clark said.

The BDC will pay for the contract through a $15,000 grant from the River Valley Redevelopment Agency, $2,500 from the Massena Electric Department and $3,000 from the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust, the owner of the General Motors-Powertrain site.

“It’s money that’s been committed specifically from other sources to implement the strategy,” Mr. Clark said.

Paying for online advertisements was a key element of the strategy, Mr. Clark said.

“That’s really where the market has gone in the last several years,” Mr. Clark said. “It’s targeting a very specific audience and keeping yourself in front of them for three months. It’s accomplishing exactly what we’re looking to accomplish.”

The Canadian market has been a target for years, Mr. Clark said. The BDC is hoping to reach companies in Toronto’s industrial and Ottawa’s technology sectors looking for an American presence.

“It allows us to utilize our proximity to the border,” Mr. Clark said. “Being a border community, it makes perfect sense to market to them.”

Board member Larry Ralston agreed. The contract will also include data for the BDC to review how well-viewed the online advertisements were, he said.

“We have the assets those folks are looking at,” Mr. Ralston said of the Canadian companies. “I know the board is pleased with it. They all agree with the approach that is being taken.”

Board members Ronald Bacon and Daniel S. Pease could not be reached for comment Friday.

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