Challenge: Delaware’s economic development agency, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, runs an annual startup funding competition for underrepresented founders. Known as Startup302, the pitch competition targets tech-enabled startups with founders who are women, people of color, Native Americans, Latinos, Black and members of the LGBTQ community. The partnership wanted to increase the number of applicants from prior years.
Solution: Hook crafted several social media ads across multiple channels to promote the competition, each targeted to a specific type of entrepreneur. The team also devised a direct email campaign sharing information about Startup302 with more than 380 national organizations and agencies that the Hook team researched and identified working with each of the targeted groups.
Results:
- Nearly 170 startups applied in 2023 – an amazing 70 percent increase over last year.
- The Startup302 ads reached 184,000 people and had more than 4,200 people click to its website.