On the last day of the IEDC Atlanta Conference (Wednesday, 10/22) a phalanx of 20 professional site consultants had at it with close to 700 development practitioners answering a couple of dozen queries seldom unanimously.

But on one point the location advisors agreed: how to and how not to contact them walking a tight rope between apathy on the one hand and annoyance on the other. Some highlights:

1)     They’re busy and their time is literally money so no big brochures. leisurely newsletters or multi-colored sales pieces no matter how flashy and flamboyant;

2)     Plug them in on the bad news too, especially newly closed facilities where a cluster of skilled and talented people are still available;

3)     For your website forget the pyrotechnics; stress hard up-to-date facts and figures particularly when they differentiate you from your competition;

4)     Most of the consultants favored regionally packaged information which covers and combines a number of places with differing characteristics; you’ll gain attention if you join with your neighbors;

5)     In all your consultant communications brevity is the soul of success and the right graphic, as the Chinese once pointed out, is still worth a mountain of words;

In talking to place consultants the famous “KISS” principle still applies (‘Keep It Simple, Stupid!”)  

One of the highlights of IEDC’s recent Atlanta Conference was a “Branding for Economic Development Success” presentation by Ed Burghard, Executive Director of the Ohio Business Development Coalition.   

 

Ed’s not your typical economic development professional.  He comes with 30+ years of experience from Procter and Gamble, a company that knows a thing or two about product branding. 

 

During the course of the past three years working to support the State of Ohio, he’s developed a “Three Moments of Truth” model that was the centerpiece of his presentation.  He’s taken a difficult and challenging topic and boiled it down to three simple boxes: 

 Some key notes from Ed’s excellent presentation: 

1)     Most economic development organizations are “over invested” in the First Moment (Winning the Right to Compete) and “under invested” in the Third Moment (Winning the Reinvestment). 

2)     In today’s online world, a strong brand works to get your location on the short list.  This is increasingly important as 71% of companies do not contact economic development groups during their initial screening.  (Thanks Ed, for referencing DCI’s Winning Strategies Survey on this).    

3)     Not all communities should be engaged in brand building.  Smaller communities will see a better “return” by supporting regional or state economic development groups in their brand development efforts and focusing their limited budgets on Moments 2 (Winning the Competition) & 3 (Winning the Reinvestment). 

Want to speak to Ed? He encouraged all place marketers to contact him via email at Eburghard@mac.com.