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"Economic Development Marketing Letter"
A Blane, Canada Ltd. Publication
Nationally Recognized Experts On Economic Development Marketing and Retention
July 2000, Volume: 3, Issue: e/7 ~~~Needs are NOT expectations... In sales, you can satisfy every one of a client’s needs, but still not meet their expectations. Since it is the expectations that drive outcomes, you will be missing golden opportunities and may not recognize why. Exceeding a client’s expectations, however, is easy to talk about and extremely difficult to do. The secret lies in "meeting a client’s needs WHILE managing his/her expectations." Quote: Larry Kryske, Homeport Training & Development. (emphasis added) Source: John Henry King, VA ~~~CONGRATULATIONS... Grand Forks (ND) Region EDC. The regional partnership won Blane, Canada Ltd.'s coveted Marketing for Results Award at the Mid America Economic Development Council (MAEDC) Annual meeting. The Award is presented in recognition of accomplishments in internal marketing, an essential ingredient of any successful economic development program. Mark Krauseneck, Executive Director, Grand Forks Region EDC. ~~~FAQ...is recognized by almost everyone as computer shorthand for "frequently asked questions." In economic development we have many frequently asked questions. So, use your computer and a simple text file to build your own FAQ file. This will allow you to refine responses, embed triggers demonstrating your professional capabilities, process knowledge, and local success stories while responding more completely and faster to inquiries. Successfully answering a question is much more than just getting the facts right. ~~~70 to 96%... of development in urban areas takes place on Greenfield sites (actual percentage highly dependent on the community and development density). Environmental concerns leaves thousands of usable brownfield sites "locked-up". Exciting new tools are being created to ease CEO's liability concerns and unlock the real estate's value for companies and communities. Speaker: Steve Bucheleres, CB Richard Ellis, 312.861.7887, Source: CB Richard Ellis, Special Properties Group Meeting, July 2000. ~~~Synchronist Users Forum... will hold the second annual meeting of communities using the Synchronist System business retention software in October in Chicago. Dates to be announced. <ecanada@ix.netcom.com> ~~~Web searches... can produce dozens of pages. The
challenge becomes finding the reference you seek on the page. Try "Control
F." When on the Web page, hold down the control key and type
"F". If you are using Microsoft Windows(R), this will bring up the search
"Find" box allowing you to search the page quickly for your
information. ~~~"Experience... has taught me that the more I think I know, the more I don't know. There is always something else to learn, and always somebody else who can teach me something." Quote: Jeffrey Richer ~~~Rethinking your development strategy?... Call Blane,
Canada Ltd. For assistance. Eric or Nancy 630.462.9222 ~~~Marketing... is like the law. It is about who's version of the truth you choose to accept. In both, each side uses essentially the same words, phrases, and tactics to describe their preferred reality. Consequently, management of seemingly minor details imparts real meaning, controlling the audience's acceptance. In my former life as a lobbyist, this was succinctly caricaturized, "The second liar doesn't have a chance." ~~~If...economic development services are "free" to the client, what message does this send the client? Quantify your value lately? ~~~Banner Ads (response to ML May 2000)... "If
the mindset of the viewer isn't near the intent of the message, it's a low
return endeavor," according to Peter Myall, ON, Canada. Peter noted that the Internet user profile of our
primary targets suggests that location consultants go to specific sites to find
answers to specific questions, as they need them. This behavior is difficult to
target and reach with a banner ad. If executive decision makers – not typically
surf prone - are the target of economic development banner ad, what is the
correlation if the banner placement is on a typical surf destination, e.g.
CNN/ESPN? What is the immediate need being fulfilled to such a viewer if the
banner is in fact noticed in that venue?"
Peter concluded, "The banner in and of itself is disregarded by surfers to such an extent now days that brand reinforcement, in my opinion, in and of itself would be suspect - especially for municipalities/regions that don't have a strong brand already." ~~~Brave
soul... (response to ML June 2000)... "I was struck by Shaun Donnelly's
comment that economic developers are out of sync with the times. It takes a
brave soul in that profession to mention the orientation is still towards
smokestack chasing. I might add that the orientation is also on "brand
name," much to the discredit of economic development professionals who are
not taking risks on the entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders pioneering
the changes from the old economy that Donnelly mentions. The Internet is
creating jobs at an accelerating pace. Is the economic development profession
preparing to "retrain" so that its representatives in communities can
address the opportunities of this new arena? (I don't know the answer to the
question.) Those who are orientated to the old economy don't have much to fall
back on. Quote: Bob Glover ~~~Technical
Support..."John, the (data you imported into) the Synchronist database is
linked and everything is working fine. I
am going to give our regional 'partners' a glowing report!
Your customer service is outstanding! Thanks for your assistance."
Danita Andrews, FL -- A new Synchronist Business Information System®
user. ~~~FYI... There has been a rash of web sites pop up with the title www._______sucks.com. Fill in your favorite company or community name. This has been seen mostly in the corporate world, but it could easily spread to the community or organization realm. Consider registering domain names you don't want to see active. Source: Don Holbrook, FL ~~~"The winner is... NOT the player who understands the end game. There is no end game. The winner is the player who sees just one or two moves further ahead than the competitors." Wurster and Evans book "Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy" ^^^+ ~~~Read a good book/article/report recently? If you have a reading recommendation, send us a note, and we will pass them along to readers. Give it a carrot (^) rating 1 (ok) to 4 (great). ~~~Share ED Marketing Letter... with your colleagues and friends. Send us a list of names and e-mail addresses, and we will add your colleagues and friends to the direct distribution for the Marketing Letter including a note from you with their first issue. <ecanada@ix.netcom.com> ~~~Most...of the technological aspects of industrial development have revolved around buildings getting taller. That includes the addition of more sophisticated sprinkler systems, heavier computer usage, radio frequency distribution, and computer sorting systems. Today, 30-foot clear span is considered a minimum; heavier electrical wiring is a must, while narrower aisles reduce the structure's footprint. Source: "Chicago Tribune," Michael Cushing, Industrial Development International, Inc. ~~~E-addresses response tip... Many send out bulk e-mails asking recipients to contact people other than the sender ("do not reply to sender!") But, by hitting the reply button, they still reply to the sender. Make it easy for recipients to respond to the correct party using the following technique. At the top and bottom of your e-mails write something like "to make your reservation, click on mailto:thisguy@service.com " Leave a space before the 'mailto' and after the '.com' and no spaces in the middle. Source: Steve Stewart and Ken Braly, SpeakerNet News 2/26/1999 ~~~"It's time... to scale back spending on mass marketing while stepping up your underlying investment to capture digital markets the smart way. And the overarching strategy to do so is to integrate digital commerce with absolutely everything that you do." Equally true for economic development organizations. Quote: Evan Schwartz, DIGITAL DARWINISM, Summer'00, http://www.digitaldarwinism.com/summer00.html ~~~Tacky, tacky...a new product designed (?) to "drive" Web traffic is a license plate holder. The *I.D. IT! Plate* is molded to prominently display a web site URL. You can bet that some developer will not only order them as a premium for a trade show, but will probably even enter it in one of the association literature and materials competitions!
Blane, Canada Ltd.
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