Attracting companies not what it used to be

LONGMONT — For John Cody, working to attract companies to Longmont is a never-ending battle to keep up with the changing times.

“Two things primarily are different today: It’s more complex, and it’s more competitive,” said Cody, president and CEO of the Longmont Area Economic Council.

Longmont competes with the rest of the world in trying to attract companies. But domestically, Cody says, Longmont has an advantage that sets the city and region apart.

The LAEC is one of nine partners with the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. that promotes economic development regionally.

About 20 years ago, the partners signed a formal agreement that they would not poach businesses from one another and would not disparage one another when talking to companies. More here.

Site selection has evolved into a sweet science

LONGMONT — Gone are the days when an executive for a growing company places a call to a local chamber of commerce and asks for a community’s demographics and real estate statistics. A global economy and the advent of the Internet have changed the way expanding business find a place to build or relocate.

And it’s changed the way people such as Don Schjeldahl, a site-selection consultant for 25 years with Cleveland-based The Austin Co., operate.

"In a town like Longmont ... they have to understand the competition is not down the road," said Don Schjeldahl with Cleveland-based The Austin Co. "It might be Shanghai, or what’s happening in St. Louis, or somewhere else."

Companies’ moves today often involve international searches, said Bob Ady, a 30-year site-selection veteran and owner of Chicago-based Ady Inter national Co.

"You might be looking at places in four different countries," he said.

Both men agree that it’s a much different world than when they first got into the business. More here.

Baltimore tries to break free of Rust Belt image

Baltimore left the Rust Belt behind years ago, but local economic development marketers think the metro area has yet to shed the reputation of a struggling manufacturing hub.

They want to get out-of-town companies and locals to think of the Baltimore region as an equal of affluent Seattle, Denver and San Diego, rather than besieged Cleveland and Detroit, its historical peers.

The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, a nonprofit partnership between government and business to encourage economic growth, released a "progress report" last night that makes the argument by marshaling facts about changes in the Baltimore area since the start of the decade. More here.

Extreme Makeover: Brand America

In today’s hyper-competitive world, countries are becoming important brands in terms of tourism and business, and it doesn’t take too many trips out in the world to sense that Brand America is in trouble.

If you’re interested in the numbers, the Pew Research people have them all. The basic message: America’s image is in a dramatic decline just about everywhere. This is not a good thing in a world being driven by the global economy. Whether you’re Boeing, Apple Computer, General Electric or Ford Motor, it’s not helpful when people dislike the country of origin. It gives your global competitors an emotional edge.

No one appreciates this more than Brand America’s sales force, namely the State Department.

Several years ago, I was asked by them to develop a marketing program to help diplomatic officers better sell America, its products and its efforts to the world community. Obviously, it’s something that is desperately needed. The only concept attached to the U.S. is a terrible one: “The world’s last superpower.” All this expression does is to portray us as the world’s bully. And some of the administration’s language and policies only re-enforced this perception. In China, for example, the media often refers to America as the global police.

Coming up with a better marketing concept was fairly simple. Go to the world community with a program that offered more benefits, not one with threats. The strategy was to have President George W. Bush say to the world that we are shifting from self-vision to a new world vision simply expressed as: “Helping the world to be a safer, freer and more prosperous place.” That’s what everyone wants, and we can help deliver those benefits. Here’s a simple, but wise, observation as to why this approach should work. It’s from The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as he wrote, “If you convey to people that you want them to succeed, they will take criticism. If you convey that you hold them in contempt, they won’t listen to you.” More here.

The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising, and Personal Branding

Found this great article at Quick Sprout on the difference between PR, Branding, Marketing and Advertising:

A few months ago on Ads of the World and Pronet Advertising, the difference between marketing, PR, advertising, and branding was discussed through pictures. These illustrations were also used at the International Economic Development Council Annual Summit in Phoenix in a presentation by Development Counsellors Inc.

If you take a close look at the pictures from a personal branding perspective you’ll notice that you definitely don’t want to market yourself as well as advertise yourself. Doing these two things makes you seem a bit desperate. Telling a woman that you are a great lover usually doesn’t mean much because it is coming out of your mouth. And if you go one step further by repeating that you are a great lover (advertising), you can definitely count on the woman not believing you. But on the other hand if a woman tells another woman that you are a great lover or if a woman tells you that “I hear you are a great lover” chances are you are going to get laid.

If you want to brand yourself you need to understand that it is much more effective when other people talk about you in a positive fashion compared to self-promotion.

Hopefully the picture helped!

Sparta refreshes Web presence with new branding effort

SPARTA -- Sparta has a new tool to help link the past and future -- a revamped interactive Web site unveiled this week by Mayor Tommy Pedigo.

The launch coincides with a new regional branding effort and corporate identity program for Sparta, dubbed "Bluegrass, USA."

Home to several early bluegrass pioneers, Sparta is regarded as a cradle for the musical genre, a theme that resonates throughout the Web site, starting with the banjo picker who greets viewers on the home page.

Visitors to www.spartatn.com can travel the virtual streets of Bluegrass, USA and find everything from historical tidbits and a Sparta trivia quiz to key information such as phone numbers for city officials and economic development information.

"Our new Web site is an invaluable marketing tool for Sparta," said Mayor Tommy Pedigo. "It will help us promote Sparta to tourists and visitors, retirees, business and industry, and many other groups and individuals. Our strategy is to increase the number and the volume of our revenue streams. Our goal is to contribute to the well being of the citizens of Sparta." More here.

Looking forward: County adopts brand for uniform promotion

A new branding campaign is under way for Tuscarawas County.

The logo features a prominent Tuscarawas County, with the theme “A tradition of creating the future.” It’s Phase Two of the Tuscarawas 2020 marketing committee’s plans to create a brand for use by businesses, organizations and residents throughout the area.

“It provides a philosophical approach toward looking long-term for the county’s growth,” said Tiffany Gerber, who will become chairwoman of the marketing committee in January. “If the logo keeps appearing, it starts to become a top of the mind recognition for people. We’d like to see it appearing all the time in some form, whether it’s on Web sites, stationery or with e-mail correspondence.”

“It works across the board,” said Kelli Baker of the marketing committee. “We’re not asking anyone to abandon their own brand or identity. We’d just like to see them make this part of their overall efforts. Several organizations and businesses have already told us they’re adding the new logo to their e-mail or letterhead. The 2020 Web site is being revised to reflect the changes as well.” More here.

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise returns its focus to marketing

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise will focus on marketing the region to businesses, as it was originally conceived, while other economic development agencies work more on helping existing companies stay and expand.

“The whole marketing part of it, we can beef up,” said Tom Kucharski, president and chief executive officer of BNE. The group outlined its strategy and reviewed last year’s results at its annual meeting on Wednesday.

BNE over the past year researched industry sectors it will target for new jobs and investment, primarily life sciences, agribusiness and back-office operations, Kucharski said. It also worked with commercial real estate professionals to create an online commercial listings service, to showcase available properties in the region in a centralized way.

With those resources lined up, BNE felt the time was right to devote more attention to promoting the region to business prospects, as it was formed to do eight years ago, Kucharski said. In recent years, BNE has also become more involved in working with existing companies on keeping them here or helping them grow. Read more here.

EDA sees busy period for recruiting

On the heels of some of the most active months for industrial recruiting, the Coastal Gateway Economic Development Authority is also gearing up for an aggressive marketing plan.

“We’ve had some incredible activity over the last two months,” CGEDA Director Wiley Blankenship said. “We’ve had a lot of requests for information, and every county has benefited from those requests.”

CGEDA is a partnership of Escambia, Conecuh and Monroe counties, with businesses in those counties also providing investment capital.

Turning those requests for information into requests for proposals is the next step, Blankenship said.

While interest in the area has increased since German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp announced it would build a $3.7 billion plant in north Mobile County — about 75 miles from Brewton — Blankenship said TK has not created the only buzz.

“It’s not necessarily a result of TK,” he said. “I would like to think it’s because of what we’ve been doing.”

In coming months Blankenship plans to attend trade shows for aviation, retail and wood products, as well as food processing and plastics.

Those are among the top areas of recruiting that CGEDA focuses on, Blankenship said.
Attending those shows helps keep the region top of mind with prospects and developers, he said.
Meanwhile, CGEDA has also had exposure in two different trade magazines that published articles and the organization.

“This will be our most aggressive year when it comes to promotion and marketing,” Blankenship said.

Cedar Valley counties launch mass business recruitment drive

WATERLOO --- Business recruiters throughout the Cedar Valley and Northeast Iowa are speaking with one voice and saying one thing to prospective businesses:

Y'all come.

And they're coming.

That's because economic development and governmental groups in Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, Buchanan, Grundy and Chickasaw counties have banded together to form a Cedar Valley Marketing Partnership.

It was formally announced Thursday at Hawkeye Community College after months of advance work. That work is paying off"

Personally, I've had more leads for projects in the last three months than I had in the five years I've been in this position," said partnership chair Jeff Kolb, director of Butler County Resource & Development. "It's totally changed the way we do business."

The Iowa Department of Economic Development gave the group a three-year grant of $150,000 to help market the area, to be matched by organizations in each of the counties, based on population. Read more here.