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.
Andy, you are right. Ed nailed this one. His framework is something that makes marketing and branding for ED much easier to understand. However, I don't know that I completely believe the conclusion that smaller entities must invest in larger geographies' branding efforts to be effective. Today's marketing tools (email, LinkedIn, websites, etc.) enable a much stronger one to one relationship with companies and site selectors, and that helps small communities compete.
Ben - Thanks for the compliment (you too Andy). Also, thanks for the comment. You are right that it is not mandatory for smaller entities to invest in regional branding. And you are right that the internet has lowered the cost of promotion to a point where it is likely going to be a core communication tactical choice by any place looking to tell their story. Based on my observations to date (and I didn't talk about in the presentation although I tipped my hand with my answer to the last audience question), the key strategic question is whether a place should invest in a sales plan, marketing plan, or a branding plan. In my mind there are important practical differences between the three, not the least of which are funding level required and time horizon. However, the internet and electronic media is a tactical choice that makes sense in the communication plan for all three. If you like, send me an email (eburghard@mac.com) and I will forward you a white paper I have in DRAFT form on the subject. I'd welcome your comments. Perhaps a discussion on this topic could be a 2009 IEDC plenary session. By then I will have a much clearer set of guidance I can share.
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