Place Marketing

Some local leaders today will travel some 6,400 miles to make Loudoun County mean more to business people in Germany.

Together, County Chairman Scott York (I-At Large) and his assistant, Keith Nusbaum; Georgia Graves of the county's Economic Development Commission; Cheryl Kilday and Christine Geno of the Loudoun Convention & Visitors Association, and Beth Hain, the county's Economic Development Department business investment manager, will travel to Frankfurt.

The county first embarked on its global marketing strategy in 2004 when it chose to focus on German businesses locating here. Next week, the leaders will meet with Chambers of Commerce and tell companies about Loudoun County's story, highlighting its proximity to Dulles International Airport and the presences of other German companies here. They will return Sunday, April 20.

"Chairman York is going to visit with various partners as related to the cultural, educational, political relationships of the partnership [Sister County relationship]. They've done a couple of educational exchanges and they'll discuss the next steps related to that," Hain said. "We're also looking at the tourism component of how we can offer our packages and opportunities for folks in that region to come visit Loudoun. We'll also be making a few site visits while we're there with a handful of firms."

But the purpose of the trip is not to bring back any new wins for the county. Realizing the long-term investment and amount of time needed to create a global bond with countries, they want to perk some interest, nothing more.

"The more you get the network out, the more opportunity there will be for business development to happen," said Robyn Bailey, marketing manager for economic development. "You keep massaging that relationship."

The county set aside $250,000 in next year's budget for a cluster of new business development; some of that money could be slated for international development purposes. The details what's slated for that money will be clarified at the Economic Development Committee meeting on June 8.

"When you look around the region, Loudoun has a significant number of German businesses," Larry Rosenstrauch, Loudoun County's Economic Development Director, said. "It's always easier to build on something where you have an existing strength. It will take a while to reel in some fairly small fish but we'll feel like they're a big fish in our pond."