October 17, 2025 by Cara Pattison, Program Manager An innovative digital outreach insight study led by SME Manufacturing Imperative – Workforce Pipeline Challenge Sector Strategy Program Manager Rich Brewer is helping community colleges across the country expand awareness of manufacturing careers and connect directly with prospective students through targeted digital engagement. Brewer’s approach utilizes a multi-layered strategy designed to achieve three key goals: raising awareness of manufacturing careers, gathering insight into prospective students’ interests and barriers, and connecting qualified leads with colleges for enrollment follow-up. By partnering with colleges in the MI-WPC network, Brewer’s team leverages digital marketing tools to engage tens of thousands of potential learners. “So far, we’ve worked with four colleges and reached more than 200,000 people through targeted marketing on the Meta platform,” Rich explained. “Out of those, over 11,000 people clicked on our ads, and more than 1,000 provided their contact information to engage in further conversations.” The outreach strategy doesn’t stop at generating clicks. Rich’s team uses a text-messaging platform to continue the conversation with interested individuals, collecting valuable data about their educational goals, employment barriers, and readiness to engage in training. This real-time communication allows the team to identify students who are not only interested but ready to connect with their local community college. Wake Tech in North Carolina has been one of the early adopters of this strategy. Rich highlighted their success by sharing examples of digital ads that directed prospective students to a simple contact form which allowed for immediate follow-up. “We’re identifying underrepresented populations, returning adults, and first-time students who may not have otherwise considered manufacturing education,” Rich said. “We then pass those leads along to the college for enrollment outreach, along with key insights gathered through our texting platform.” Rich emphasized that this strategy not only raises awareness but also provides colleges with data they can use to refine their marketing and engagement efforts. His team provides colleges with demographic breakdowns, engagement rates, and feedback from participants to help improve future outreach. The strategy has been so effective that Brewer’s team is preparing to expand the initiative to three additional colleges in the coming months. “This is more than just running ads,” Rich noted. “It’s about building a pipeline of engaged learners who are interested in manufacturing careers but may not know where to start. We’re helping colleges reach those individuals and turn interest into enrollment.”
