When you lose something, learn something.

This is the third in a group of five economic development marketing misses, one for each decade I’ve been in this business.

When I first started in economic development in the late 1950s there was no such thing as economic development targeting.  Every competing county or community – and there weren’t that many – considered and described themselves as a combination Nirvana or Utopia; letter perfect for any kind of economic activity from anywhere.

About three decades ago targeting began to take over often with two characteristics focusing on investment opportunities:  A. where you had a demonstrated economic advantage; B. where the right target was of special value to the community’s sustainable future.

Targeting is a sizeable step forward, but it brings with it its own set of problems including:

• If everybody picks the same target you lose the advantage of any competitive leadership, and targeting itself proves counter- productive
• If you don’t have effective follow up you lose all the advantages of targeting because in the end nothing happens

Unfortunately for many development groups both conditions hold sway.

For example, experts agree that only a handful of places will have viable life science centers, but it is a relatively rare community that doesn’t list biotechnology or an analogous title among its prime targets.

Also, literally hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars are poured into target advertising or “cluster marketing” programs in which there is little or no follow-up should a potential investor actually show interest.

Ergo, here is a list of common sense guidelines for the now universal business of targeting:

First, as they say in baseball, hit the ball where the fielders aren’t; if you must select a common target, lay claim to a special piece of it.  For instance, Buffalo-Niagara Enterprise has set its site not on biotechnology generally but rather on the limited but important province of bio-econometrics, the place where bioscience intersects with computer science.

Second, look at unusual targets where you have less competition.  A medium-sized Southern city and DCI client was we believe the first place to target non-profit organizational headquarters.  As a result they arranged a luncheon meeting of non-profit executive directors in Washington, DC where they hoped to attract 30-40 participants.  Instead they did welcome 161 top people simply because nobody else had done that before.

Third, have a follow-up organization and process firmly in place before you start marketing.  What’s best here, we’ve found, are follow-up teams led by local/regional private business people in analogous industries who can honestly say to prospects: “This has worked for us; it could also work for you.”

How do you target?  Does it work?  Tell us about it.  Scroll to the comments section below and give us your thoughts!

Welcome to DCI's "Cartoon Caption Contest."  Here's how the contest works:

1) Take a close look at the cartoon specially created by cartoon team, George Hughes and Jon Stamell, a creative duo whose cartoon clients have included law firms, publishing companies, wineries and even Ross Perot (leave it up to a cartoonist);

2) Click on the "Comments" section below and post your entry for a caption.  Make sure to include your name and email address;

3) Enter the contest as many times as you like (with as many caption entries as you can come up with).  And feel free to extend the contest to your economic development colleagues across the US and around the globe.  

The contest closes on March 28th at midnight.  George Hughes and Jon Stamell will then select the top five winning captions which will be announced by DCI on Tuesday, April 1st (April Fools Day, of course).  The winners will take home a framed copy of the drawing with their caption.  The cartoon will be signed by George and Jon.

But best of all, you'll own bragging rights as one of the economic development world's most creative individuals.

P.S.  And I’ve been asked to add that if you would like to discuss using cartoons for any kind of promotion or advertising, you can contact Jon at 917-608-1390

“Make it easy to buy” is Rule #1 for any sales success: and in late March DiscoverAmerica.com will do just that for international travelers interested in visiting the United States.

Described as “America’s ultimate CVB” and designed to be a one-stop shop, with extensive information on American destinations (states and cities), activities, U.S. travel policies and trip booking options, the site is co-sponsored by the Travel Industry Association and Travelocity.

“With overseas travel to the U.S. down 11 percent since 2000, DiscoverAmerica.com is one step in creating a warm welcome and invitation to come and visit,” TIA’s Greg Staley told me. “For the first time, our travel policies, destination and activity information, and booking opportunities will be housed on an official U.S. travel and tourism Web site.”

Developed through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the site will reach the top five inbound markets to the U.S. which account for about 75 percent or 37 million international visitors to the U.S. each year. Information will be available in English for consumers in the UK and Canada, and will be fully translated into French, German, Japanese and Spanish for consumers in Canada, Germany, Japan, and Mexico.

No question, it’s a wonderful thing: and long overdue.

But in each of those target countries - and most others around the world – there is an official national tourist office that fulfills the role that TIA and Travelocity have stepped in to fill, from our biggest market,  the UK to Australia and even Tasmania, Chile and Dubai.

For many years, this most pervasive of industries was the ONLY one in which the US had a favorable balance of payments. In the United States and around the world, the tourism industry is unquestionably one of the top job creators and generators of revenue (foreign exchange, in the case of international travelers, sorely needed at this time of a soft dollar).

In Miami, for example, one in every five households benefits in some way from the tourism industry – and many of those travelers are international.

Perhaps it’s time to ask the Presidential candidates their position on encouraging travel to the US – and re-establishing an official US National Tourist Office that would support one of our country’s most important industries at Cabinet level!

What do you think? Just scroll below to post your comments!