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"Economic Development Marketing Letter"
A Blane, Canada Ltd. Publication
Nationally Recognized Experts On Economic Development Marketing and Retention
September 2001, Volume 4, Issue e/9, ISBN 1527-5175 ~~~Impressed... by the Southern Economic Development Council, Inc.'s SEDC News. A portion of each issue is dedicated to business locations and expansions within the 17 states of the region. It imparts an image of solid work, good return, and program continuity. ~~~Forward thinking... New titles tell you what's happening in the ED profession. For instance, the Oklahoma City Chamber is seeking a director of biotechnology and marketing. Preparing for the millennium's challenges? ~~~Community Technology Leadership Seminars... Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and College of Continuing Education are being held throughout Minnesota in September. The seminar will assist MN community leaders to better understand the issues surrounding the provision and use of advanced telecommunications and will provide strategy ideas for improving a community's competitiveness in the Information Economy. Technology strategies is a topic we are often asked about. Source: Bill Colemen, Community Technology Advisors http://www.extension.umn.edu/techleadership/index.html ~~~Words Wanted... the Canadian Broadcast Company has a radio segment titled "Words Wanted." The program highlights invented, expressive words, for example, procrastimattress - hard to get out of bed on a cold morning; and, yawntagious - yawning in response to another's yawn. As marketers, word play is central to our work. Some words build credibility while others erode it. Eric will be presenting a workshop, "Power Wordsmithery," an excerpt from our course, "Selling in an Economic Development Environment" at the Virginia Economic Development Association (VEDA) fall training program, September 27, 2001. ~~~Trend forecast... 24 month "Future Scan" by The Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) Center for Business Innovation (next to the MIT campus in Boston) forecast is updated every six months. Trends they see include: 1) Real-time Everything; 2) From Capability to Usability; 3) Navigating a Sea of Data; 4) Intangibles Achieve Legitimacy; 5) New Environmental Accounting; 6) The Network is the Enterprise; and 7) Innovate from the Periphery. Source: David S. McIntosh, CGEY; http://www.cbi.cgey.com/research/future-scan/index.html. ~~~Speaking of periphery... if you want new ideas, you must push yourself to the periphery. Or, as Ed DeBono, noted author said, digging the same hole deeper adds little value. Where are you investing your thinking time? ~~~www.ibelieveincorpuschristi.com ... another good example of internal marketing. Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development (TX) is supporting this web initiative with TV PSA's (public service announcements), billboards, and bumper stickers. The only goal according to Ron Kitchens, President of CCRED, is "to highlight the great things happening in the community." An unanticipated benefit according to Ron: "Staff is spending more time looking for the good news and morale is up!" Well done Corpus Christi! http://www.ibelieveincorpuschristi.com/news.html. ~~~Invite... three of your economic development colleagues to subscribe today. As one reader noted, "It is still possible to get something for nothing." http://www.blanecanada.com/Newsletters/frameset_newsletter.html ~~~Unions and ED organizations... Bill Graper of Kansas' Dept. of Commerce sent us an interesting perspective on this topic. "While the mix of ED personnel and unions may initially sound like oil and water, pleaseremember that many state and municipal ED personnel are represented by unions, whether by choice or by "agency shop" agreements." Bill managed unionized staff while working for NY. His take on the challenges and benefits: surprise with the level of motivation shown by ED staff who would ignore all sorts of restrictive state and union rules to get the job done. ~~~Credibility... is not created by the sales person declaring greatness. In sales, you must prove greatness first. ~~~Distinguish yourself!... You cannot imagine how many "edc", "ed", "edo", "econdev", etc. e-mail variations are on our database. From one perspective, this separates the economic development function from others in a broad organization. If your name or organization is not clearly identified, there might be a lack of recognition or difficulty in contacting you. If several people have the same e-mail address, some e-mail management software drops all contacts after the first, if you share the same address. Check on your status. Send yourself an e-mail. What info do you find? Is there a link to help the reader learn more? Or are you trying to keep your identity a big secret? ~~~The difference... between a suspect and a prospect is a few letters and an investment. A prospect has made an investment in going or sending someone to the community to check it out. Until this investment has been made, call them anything you want... but to call them a prospect is mostly wishful thinking. ~~~Next time... you feel like criticizing an action taken by a predecessor remember the context of a decision is always related to the moment of action. Time changes the context making it nearly impossible to understand the context in which the decision was made. Move on. Pass on the desire to criticize. Act on the context of today's moment taking full benefit of what can be learned from past decisions and actions. ~~~Want to check... out the anonymous contact who just called about some acreage or a site? Use the "reverse directory". Try AT&T's http://www.anywho.com/telq.html or http://www.infospace.com/reverse.htm ~~~Book it!... Everything begins with attitude - and YOU have a choice what attitude you bring to your work. "FISH!" A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results," draws the essence of the best selling business management training tape furthering the fame of the Pike Street Fish Market (Seattle, WA). Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen (c)2000, Hyperion. Recommended by Jodi Basso, a wonderful Spanish teacher who is trying to make a difference. Maybe we should say "GO FISH!" ~~~"Blane Canada Ltd. is unique in economic development... You are like a honey bee going from place to place, picking up concepts, insights, and ideas. Then, you share all of this richness through your newsletter and speeches with those of us in the field. Thanks!" Martin Briley, VA ~~~Additional replies to incentives... Bob Levin of the Rockford (IL) Council of 100 offered good thoughts on the need to educate local elected officials on the benefits of incentives. 1) No prospect has unlimited resources. Incentives might impact their investment elasticity. 2) Objective criteria. Are the benefits received from the prospect greater than the cost and the risk of the incentive? 3) Subjective criteria. The project might reduce community poverty, revitalize blighted areas, employ hard-to-serve workers, provide an environmental benefit, start a cluster trend, or fill a weak link in a value chain of an existing employer. Although subjective criteria are more difficult to weigh, often they may be equally important. Thanks, Bob!
Blane, Canada Ltd.
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