Marketing Guide 2025
The Marketing Team
What We Do
Manage Business and Talent
Attraction Marketing
Promote Commerce Programs & Initiatives
How We Do It
Advertising/Branding
Websites
Email Marketing
Event Marketing
Social Media
Videos
How To Request Marketing Services
Where Can I Find...
Logos
Data & Rankings
Letterhead
PowerPoints
Collateral / Materials
What To ExpectTurnaround
The Marketing Team
Sherri Diehl
DIGITAL TEAM
Marketing Director 410-938-7746
sherri.diehl@maryland.gov
Carolyn Hammock Digital Director 443-680-3058 carolyn.hammock@maryland.gov
Julie Miller
Brian Fisher
Maggie Whitescarver
Digital Content Manager 410-693-6686
Content Strategy & Planning julie.miller@maryland.gov
Digital Designer 917-941-1128
Video Editing, Online Graphics brian.fisher@maryland.gov
Digital Marketing Coordinator 443-301-5944
Social Media, Email, Web Edits margaret.whitescarver@maryland.gov
GRAPHIC DESIGN TEAM
Saundra Jones
Scott Johnson
Creative Director 443-255-3549
Visual Design, Brand, saundra.jones@maryland.gov
Event & Collateral
Senior Designer 410-320-0272
Visual Design, Brand, scott.johnson@maryland.gov
Event & Collateral
WRITING / COLLATERAL
Jim Meyer
Writer/Editor 410-925-8217
Collateral and Web Writing, james.meyer@maryland.gov
Audio Projects, Annual Report
TRADESHOWS / EVENTS / SPONSORSHIPS
Tiffany Sargent
Marketing Manager 410-350-5186
Tradeshow Coordination, tiffany.sargent@maryland.gov
Sponsorships, Promotional Items
What We Do
Manage Business and Talent Attraction Marketing
Our objective is to develop and manage the business brand for the state of Maryland. We aim to position Maryland as a great place to be — to run a business and live a well rounded lifestyle. Our marketing messages reinforce key selling points with an emotional pull to really instill a positive perception of Maryland as a location.
Our primary marketing hub is Business.Maryland.gov This site is essentially an online brochure for Maryland and attempts to engage business decision makers in content that will help them keep Maryland top of mind as they make business move/ expansion plans. All of our business attraction advertising directs to this site.
The marketing budget is comprised of dollars allocated from the state budget as well as dollars collected from fundraising from private sector businesses. Fundraising efforts are made possible by the Maryland Marketing Partnership (MMP). This legislatively mandated organization was created in 2016 as a way for us to generate additional funding for our advertising campaign.
The MMP is led by a governor-appointed board of business executives. The board works in partnership with the Commerce marketing team to oversee the advertising campaign. The partnership is also made up of Maryland Businesses that invest in the partnership and share their resources.
Promote Commerce Programs & Initiatives
Commerce’s marketing team supports the promotion of Commerce programs and initiatives, including grants and other opportunities for business. The team creates printed collateral about Commerce programs as needed, and writes/ designs Commerce’s Annual Report. The team also facilitates and manages many sponsorships on behalf of Commerce. Additionally, the commerce.maryland.gov website is maintained by the marketing team.
How We Do It
Advertising / Branding
The marketing team, in collaboration with an advertising agency, handles all business attraction marketing for the state. Our advertising campaign is continuously evolving, and examples of our ads can usually be found on display around the 9th floor in the World Trade Center. For an update on our latest ad strategy, contact Sherri Diehl.
Commerce also leads statewide branding efforts, and advises all state agencies with proper logo implementation and use. On some occasions, Commerce designs logos for the Governor’s office or other special initiatives. Typically, we encourage the use of the Maryland logo primarily. Please discuss logos and branding with Saundra Jones.
How We Do It
Websites
Business.Maryland.gov
Business attraction marketing site. We use this site in any attraction/promotion. On this site, our team regularly creates custom content in the form of blog posts and landing pages to help tell Maryland’s story and convey key messages.
Commerce.Maryland.gov
State agency site. We use this site to house agency information (boards and commissions, details on incentive programs, etc.)
LiveWorkMaryland.com
Workforce attraction marketing site. This site is used in any advertisements/ promotion for the state’s workforce attraction initiatives.
Business Express
This is a resource site for Maryland businesses and comprehensive of all state programs/initiatives to support business. This is managed by SDAT, with occasional input by marketing.
How We Do It
Email Marketing
Commerce maintains several email programs including:
• Business Pulse (monthly newsletter)
• Daily blog updates (notification daily if new post exists)
• Marketing emails to contacts outside of Maryland
• Marketing emails to young professionals highlighting Maryland career opportunities
• Various industry and topic- specific newsletters (life science, tech, aerospace, business contracting)
• Site Selection News - Tailored newsletter for site selectors
How We Do It
Event Marketing
The marketing team supports Commerce’s event-related opportunities such as managing sponsorships, trade shows and business receptions. We can create print and digital invitations, assist with event site selection, provide event management, design trade show booths and large Maryland pavilions and oversee their installations. Additionally, we can provide promotional items, signage, and collateral materials as needed.
Marketing team can provide:
• Standard tablecloths with Maryland logos
• Promotional giveaway items
• General pull up banners
• Table top displays
• Collateral material
• Assistance with digital invites and RSVP management via digital tools
Custom banners and signage can be created as needed, but require extra time. Please contact Tiffany Sargent with any event-related questions.
How We Do It
Social Media
Our team manages seven different social media accounts. Here is a summary of goals of these channels, and links to the accounts to follow. If you need help getting an event or initiative promoted, please email Maggie Whitescarver, who can consider it for social media.
Maryland Department of Commerce
Goals of Commerce Social Accounts:
• Be a source of news and information for Maryland business owners and stakeholders
• Showcase the state’s top assets; reinforcing with in-state businesses and enticing out-of-state and foreign businesses
• Ads that promote Maryland for business attraction are run through this account
Find Maryland Commerce on LinkedIn, Facebook and X
Live Work Maryland
Goal of Live Work Social Accounts:
• Demonstrate what it’s like to live and work in Maryland to our target audience for talent attraction through engaging content
• Ads that promote Maryland for talent attraction are run through this account
Find Live Work Maryland on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook
Maryland Marketing Partnership
Goal of this Maryland Marketing Partnership:
• Showcase the work of the partnership and entice potential partners to invest in MMP
Find Maryland Marketing Partnership on LinkedIn.
How We Do It
Videos
The video primarily used in marketing Maryland is our “Be Moved” video.
There are several versions of this video, and customizations can be made for it to work for a specific industry or initiative.
Please fill out a promotions request in Salesforce to request a custom video.
Marketing Requests
Requesting marketing services via Salesforce ensures the right team members see your request, and helps our team prioritize your project in our queue. There are 3 different marketing request types:
• Creative Services Request - Use for graphic design needs (brochures, trade show booths, etc). Your request will be assigned to a designer
• Web Edit Request - Use to add your web edits to our queue. Use this for both Commerce.Maryland.gov and Business.Maryland.gov
• Promotions Request - Use to request promotion of a specific initiative, event or topic. Select email/social, etc.
Additional Requests
• Business Cards - See your unit’s Executive Assistant to place an order through our online system
• Promotional Materials - To request promotional materials, banners or other event-related assistance, contact Tiffany Sargent
Where Can I Find...
Logos
JPG and PNG logos can be accessed at commerce.maryland.gov/logo
Different logos include:
• Commerce Logo
• Maryland Logo (No Department)
If you have questions or you are working with a vendor that needs a different file format, please contact Saundra Jones or Scott Johnson and they can provide details. They can also help you select the best logo for the scenario (Commerce / Maryland only). For more information on using our logo and other brand standards, access our brand guidelines here.
Data & Rankings
Data about Maryland can be found in the Data section of Business.Maryland.gov Use the site to see select rankings and various data points provided by Zoomprospector.
An even more comprehensive rankings list can be found on Salesforce, along with other Data resources (Navigate to Knowledge Center / Data / Data Resources). The Research team has access to more data as needed.
Letterhead
Letterhead can be found in the Knowledge Center of MyCommerce/Salesforce (Navigate to “Marketing Resources”).
Where Can I Find...
Presentation Decks
The Marketing team can assist and advise on presentations for business meetings and events. We have developed a few tools to assist business development teams.
• This Why Maryland deck is designed to be customized by the team in sales presentations. See intro slides for instructions on how to do that.
Customized presentation decks that need specialized design should be requested via a Salesforce request.
Collateral / Materials
Print collateral the department produces is converted into digital flipbooks for online sharing. Current collateral can be found here as flip books. In addition to viewing as a digital flipbook, you can also download PDFs from this site.
If you are attending an in-person event and need print collateral, reach out to Jim Meyer to discuss how to secure copies of these materials and if any edits are needed. Advance notice is likely needed as a stock of print collateral is not typically on-hand.
Estimated Turnaround
Creative & Print
• Tradeshow/large format 6 weeks minimum
• Print collateral 2-6 weeks (depending on content and scope)
• Promotional Items 6 weeks
• Sponsorship Ads 1-2 weeks
• Basic Event Signage 2 weeks
• Brand/Logo Design 3 weeks
