The economic development world was a hotbed of new ideas and technologies in 2013, but when do economic developers have time to read about it all? In case you missed them, here are some of the topics and tidbits we shared throughout the year.
1. Leading communities spotlight commercial availabilities to promote business growth. Site selectors decide which communities will add jobs—and which won’t. How do you get your community on their radar screen? We answered that question with a series of articles describing best practices for marketing your community’s available buildings and sites online, because …
2. 91% of site selectors look for property data first. With all the data available to site selectors—demographics, tax structures, business environment, labor statistics and more—better than 9 out of 10 named property information as the most important content on a community’s website. Makes sense—site selectors need sites to select!
3. The Walking Dead is an endless source of economic development lessons. Sometimes, it takes a zombie apocalypse to get some basic insights across. Go for the head. Don’t take infrastructure for granted. Anything can be a resource. Remember the real enemy. And—depending on where you live—don’t trust the Governor.
4. Transparency isn’t just a trend—it’s a growth strategy. Speaking of trust … cities like Chicago are leaving the backroom deals behind. They’re opening their databases for entrepreneurs to create useful apps that help everyday citizens, and engaging their communities with accountability about lobbyists and incentives.
5. Branding your community isn’t very different from branding a soda. Start with “_______ is the only community that ________,” choose the data and content that support that statement, and blast it out to your target market through the appropriate channels to maximize the return on your marketing dollars. Our popular webinar went into somewhat more detail.
6. There were at least 76 softball tournaments in Illinois last summer. Why? Because youth athletic events attract attention and revenues to a community. Our article found all kinds of parallels between sports and economic development marketing, although we’re glad there’s no link between Chicago’s economic health and the Bears’ playoff hopes.
7. If you missed the IEDC conferences, you missed a lot. We thought the highlights of the spring event in Ann Arbor were sessions on technology, analytics, coworking and logistics; while we were dazzled by the repurposing of steel mills and navy yards near annual conference host Philadelphia.
8. You don’t need a license to hunt gazelles. Not when youdefine gazelle as “a high-growth company that’s increased its revenues by at least 20% annually for four years or more, starting from a revenue base of at least $1 million.” Round up a few gazelles for your community, and you might be able to trade your Impala for a Jaguar.
9. Just because GIS property search is essential doesn’t mean it’s easy. The data available from GIS search platforms can be phenomenal—and overwhelming. Spotlighting your community’s commercial listings—especially by integrating aBrokerSavant Property Index with your website—can help ease the overload for you and site selectors alike.
10. Commercial brokers are your friends—or should be. When you make commercial availabilities a cornerstone of your marketing, you need to work with the brokers who know the properties. They help you keep your web inventory populated, and you get their listings more exposure. But who buys the first round?
We hope our friends in economic development had a healthy, prosperous year. Thanks everyone for a great 2013!
What was your community’s highlight of 2013? Let us know, with a comment below!
via:http://www.brokersavant.com/10-things-economic-developers-learned-2013/
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