Shop Local

Shop Local - as economic developers we all know the benefits to a community when we can get residents to stay at home and shop locally. As consumers we understand the importance of keeping the small mom and pop stores in our community - in fact, most of us want to retain the unique character that these types of shops provide. So if we know it as professionals, residents and consumers - why do so many of us still shop outside our communities or at big box stores? This was one of the questions we recently discussed with a community who was wanting to put a Shop Local program in place.

Let's face it - convenience is sometimes going to win - the lowest price is sometimes going to win - the brand is sometimes going to win. A community that wants the Shop Local program to be the only shopping option in town is being unrealistic. The consumer wants all the choices available and that means having the convenience of big box along with the uniqueness that only local shopping can provide.

For towns that want to start a Shop Local campaign there are lots of resources available online. The key to getting a program off the ground is to have a champion or champions behind it. The program needs to be sold to your local retailers and residents for it to be successful. Start with a small step and build from there - get your media involved and education your consumers about the dollar value of a Shop Local program.

Here's only a couple of excellent online resources to help your community develop a program:

• StayLocal.org - New Orleans developed this excellent resource for shopping local. The website provides the toolkits, studies, reports and success stories.
• Big Box Tool Kit - This website is a project of Local Self Reliance. It provides a step by step guide to competing and winning against big box.
• Foods Co-op Toolkit - Communities are setting up food co-ops so they can get good food at an affordable price. This website helps communities set up their own food co-ops and buying groups.

Building Accountability in Economic Development

Economic development should be accountable for how they spend public money and how programs are working or not working in their community. Many economic development organizations have no formal system for accountability and in the end it will catch up with them. Here are five ways to build accountability into your daily routine.

Make your goals public – This works on a number of levels. In terms of your organization it means publicly announcing your goals and objectives for the year. In terms of your board, it means clearly defining your goals and providing regular updates on status. In terms of yourself, it means holding yourself accountable for getting the job done and working with your team to motivate and lead.

Share your planning documents and action plans – Many of your economic development projects will have timelines and milestones. By sharing your action plans with your team, board and other key stakeholders you build trust and increase accountability. It is another way to publicly state your agenda and create a powerful accountability mechanism for getting things done. If you are constantly missing milestones, questions will begin to be asked. Alternatively, when you are constantly meeting milestones, you begin to build a strong sense of accountability.

Build in short-term goals – If every goal is long-term it will be difficult to show results. Make sure every goal has smaller or short-term goals built in. Then communicate with others when the smaller goals are met and how they work towards and are accountable to the larger goals.

Encourage discussion and debate – It is often easier to quietly go about business and work towards your goals. However, by encouraging discussion and even debate with staff, board and stakeholders about what you are doing will help to stay accountable. It will communicate your goals and provide another level of understanding of what you are doing and why.

Schedule regular updates – Some organizations meet on a weekly or monthly basis while others it’s quarterly or annually. Depending on when your organization meets develop a regular routine of providing updates. This can be through emails, newsletters or scheduled meetings.

Business Leaders and Change

Business owners have no control over how fast markets grow or how sensibly banks lend their money. But one thing a business owner does control is his own attitude and mindset. In these challenging economic times it may only be the businesses that change or do things a little differently that will survive. Economic development needs to be a part of their business community and provide information and assistance to help them grow in any economy.

Harvard Business Publishing put together the 10 questions that every change agent must answer. How would you answer “Do you see opportunities the competition doesn’t see?” or "If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would miss you and why?"

Challenge your businesses and yourself as a business leader to answer the questions and see how you can change the way of how business is done.

Successful businesses grow because they have strong leaders that define them. Read about seven innovative companies that are inspiring workers and boosting their bottom line. What can you learn from what they do? Can your businesses offer on-site daycare, stop smoking assistance or a break room complete with Wii?

Another way to change how businesses do business and to become a leader in your community is to look at how giving can be part of the business strategy. Small businesses are finding that using charitable giving can increase sales, lift employee morale and helps a good cause.

Website Check-In

The importance of a website is not lost on economic development organizations but once the website is up and running how often do you check in to see how it’s doing? Technology changes every day, how people access websites change and user expection change. Here are a few things to look at for your website to improve its efficiency:


Increase the speed – The user expects to find the information from a website quickly. They want to get it and get out. Adobe Flash was the premier choice but demand has decreased so your site may not need showy add-ons. Users would rather read information but you will still need images of some sort. Make sure your image files are as small as they can be and move any unnecessary items to the bottom of the page. This will help load the important information first.


Write a better script – Spend some time reading what is on your website now and make sure it is succinct and not filled with extra and unnecessary filler. It may help to have a third party read through what your website says and offer advice from a “user’s” point of view.


Use only the tech you really need – While you may want to show that you are up to date on the latest software or tech gadgets, use only what makes sense. Evaluate your use of music, video and detailed zoom views . Be aware of adding in the trendy and new technology because it can be costly and time consuming to keep up with. Look at how you will use the technology and whether it really make sense for your organization.


Unique page titles on every page – These are the words that appear in the bar across the very top of the browser window. Users may not notice them but search engines do. If you have 15 pages on your website and they all say Come Do Business Here, the search engines are not going to see them as different and this will affect your search ranking. When you change your page title make sure it actually relates to what the page content is. Again, you may want to have a third party assist with this project.


Short forms – If you have a contact form on your site make sure you only ask for the information you really need. Do you need a physical address when you will only communicate through email? Resist the urge to get more information and don’t make the user jump through hoops to get your information. Keep it simple.

Signs of Recovery in Your Community

Businesses are starting to become more and more optimistic about an economic recovery coming sooner than later. Good news for communities that have been struggling over the past year but do you know how to read the signs of recovery in your community? Here are a few examples of successful businesses, pockets of consumer spending and rebounds to look for in your community.

Personal Services – Over the past year and a half businesses offering personal services (i.e. salons, spas, massage) have been experiencing a drop in demand. Recently, more and more of these businesses are expressing an increased demand and are seeing consumers no longer holding out on paying for these services. Can you easily walk into a salon in your community and get an appointment immediately or do you have to book in advance?

Increased Automobile Sales – Certainly financial incentives and low or zero payment plans are playing a role in consumers purchasing cars. But look around your community and see how many new vehicles are on the road, how many have temporary paper plates or demo plates?

Temporary Agencies – Local temp agencies are starting to report an increase in demand for their workers. As local businesses start to see an increase in demand for their product or services, one of the first places many will go to is the temp agencies to start to fill the vacancies. Talk to your local agencies to see what they are experiencing.

Business Expansion – Are any businesses expanding in your community? Many communities are seeing an expansion of their local businesses, particularly the ones who had planned it over a year ago are now starting to go ahead with their original expansion plans.

Consumer Spending – Are your local consumers confident enough to spend their discretionary income on products considered non-essential or luxury? The sale of 1 million iPhones 3Gs within three days of its launch in the US was clearly one sign of recovery.

Advertising – The way businesses spend their advertising and marketing dollars have changed over the past number of years and businesses have cut marketing budgets. Recently, businesses are starting to investment again in marketing and advertising. Online, low-cost advertising investments are booming. What's happening with your local businesses?

Economic Development and the Media

Today the word media has expanded to more than the traditional means of print, television and radio. It encompasses much more since the proliferation of the internet and the explosion of social media. Though the methods of media communication has expanded there are still some very basic rules of engagement.

It is worth asking how economic development professionals can best prepare themselves to communicate in the most effective manner possible. Even with these ever expanding avenues of media, it is still the good, old-fashioned methods that work best.

Prepare – This point cannot be overstated. It is at the core of successful media communication. Know what your message is and how you will convey it. This means more than just memorizing the message, it means internalizing it. Read related publications, know who else is involved, brush up on the media with whom you expect to connect. It is important to set aside time before connecting with the media to put your “game face” on. This applies whether it’s a traditional press conference, video or podcast.

Be in charge – When the time comes for the media interview you are the one who should be in the director’s chair. You must be truthful under all circumstances but be the one who leads the interview and take charge of your story. The media is there to hear from you and expects you to follow your agenda even if they may challenge it. The interview is not an interrogation nor are you on the witness stand so take charge and answer honestly.

Be concise –Pick a limited number of points to emphasis, i.e. three key messages. The media needs things quickly and precisely. By preparing well this should not be an issue. You are not writing a book, you are conveying a message that should be short and to the point. This is true for face-to-face interviews, blogging and tweeting (there’s a reason there’s only 140 characters).

Create a picture – Use powerful word images. Develop sound bites. Use well-crafted metaphors and similes. Be interesting. Most media will not have the same level of understanding or expertise that you have developed so try to relate what you are doing to the broader audience so they can relate.

Smile and engage –Just like most everything else the physical demeanor can tell a story in itself. It says whether you are passionate about your subject and whether you believe in your message. Be expressive, lean into the conversation and a smile can be detected even in a sound bite.

Develop the relationship – The use of media is not a one time event. Develop an ongoing relationship with media in your community and farther afield. Make sure the relationship is not one-sided. A supportive media can go a long way to ensuring economic development success.

Can Twitter Work for Economic Development?

I’m hearing from a lot of economic development organizations who want to get involved with social media. Some are interested in Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc., but almost everyone I hear from is interested in Twitter. Although most are not sure if Twitter will work for econoimc development or what it is they should be tweeting about.

One of the first things you should do is develop a separate social media strategy so that you understand what it is you want and the specific policies surrounding it. Once that’s done, here are some ideas on what to tweet about.

Share what’s going on – I’m not saying you need to share every little thing that goes on in your organization but share the important things. For instance, your community has recently won an award or your organization played a key role in a business expansion or relocation.

Communicate your Vision or Mission – What is your community striving for and how are you, as economic development, doing things to help realize that vision?

Talk about trends – Many organizations are using Twitter to not only talk about themselves but to discuss trends in their industry. This can be true for economic development organizations. Discuss best practices in the industry or talk about trends you are seeing locally, nationally or internationally.

Recognize key players in your community – There are many ways you can share the things that are happening in your community. What company is thriving, what company is doing something unique, what individual is working towards making your community a better place to live?

Be receptive – Twitter is still evolving and your organization needs to be flexible to adapt to a changing environment. What starts out as sharing information about your community may evolve into something completely different. Be aware of who is following you and the type of response you are getting to help forecast your Twitter future.

Ask questions – Twitter can be an excellent resource for finding out information. Don’t be afraid to ask a question. For instance, perhaps your community is struggling with how to help local businesses, put the question out to see who is doing something that your community may be able to adopt.

Economic Development and Social Media

The buzz about social media and how it can help business is all around us and now our industry is talking about how it can work for economic development organizations. Whether it can help or not is still too early to say. But one thing I know for sure is social media will never work for you if you’re not plugged in.

The first thing I suggest is to get involved and one of the easiest social media tools out there is Twitter. Before signing up with Twitter take a little time to decide what it is you want from social media. Just like having a strategy plan in place for your organization, have a social media strategy in place before heading in blind.

Here’s five easy steps get you started:

Signup for a Twitter account – Its free and all you need to do is go to their homepage and click the green button that says “Get Started” to create your account.

Select a good username using keywords or a brandable phrase – Your username is what people will use to communicate with you, so it's important to pick something related to your field to better brand you as an expert. You can use your real name, organization or you can use keywords to help you rank better in searches. It's a 15 character limit. Remember, you can change your username at any time after signing up.

Create your profile - Start to update your profile by adding a picture of yourself or organization’s logo and include some information about yourself /organization to your page. You can add the picture by going to the Settings section on Twitter.

Follow people with the same interests as you (including us http://twitter.com/ecdevcomdev. The more people you follow, the more will follow you back but be careful not to follow people just because you want followers. Understand what it is you want from the people you follow or who follow you. For example, EDCD Consulting wants to provide relevant economic development and business information to our followers.

Send out your first tweet - You can start just by saying hello. You won't have many followers yet. The key is getting started.

Learning for Others - Part III

Here’s the final article on what other communities are doing for economic development. As you read through them think of how they be applied to your community.

City of Cotati

Cotati is focused on attracting and retaining new businesses and they do that in a number of ways. They have a new website that lists available commercial properties. They also have a site that gives businesses an opportunity to advertise free of charge.

They formed a task force, in partnership with the city council, to ensure it is easy for firms to locate in their community by educating them about zoning, permits, fees and licences. The task force launched an Economic Development Survey for citizens and businesses to identify specific business types that residents want to attract to Cotati.

City of Sebastopol

The city’s Community Development Agency emphasizes business retention and assistance for existing firms, while also finding ways to expedite city processes for new and existing businesses. A Business Outreach Committee was created with the goal of tripling funding to the city’s Facade Improvement Program, developing a new city Web portal, implementing a downtown directional signage program and providing matching funds for consolidated advertising campaigns.

This fall, Sebastopol is hosting an Economic Summit and will be providing grants and loans to non-profit organizations for technology improvements. This program could evolve into a similar loan program for local business.

Learning from Others - Part II

I love hearing from other economic development organizations about what they are doing. It’s an easy way to learn what’s working in other communities and how it might be applied elsewhere. It’s also a great way to get ideas flowing to improve economic development strategies. Here’s a few more examples of what others are doing.

Sonoma County

Sonoma County Economic Development Board has defined their role as providing tools to help businesses perform better and stay ahead of emerging trends. The organization has stimulated economic vitality for the technology, tourism and agricultural sectors in recent years. Evidence of this is seen in the science curriculum at their state university where 70 percent of graduates are able to find jobs. They have created the Sonoma Tourism Bureau and have developed integrated marketing program for county agriculture.

The Board understands that education attainment is a priority noting that a well-educated work force will attract business. They have initiated a website to show small business how to survive tough economic times. As well, they are conducting a permitting function study with the goal of accelerating operations along with another project monitoring how climate change legislation will impact firms in their area.

City of Cloverdale

This community conducted a branding study that revealed 70 percent of residents leave each day for jobs elsewhere. The Cloverdale Economic Partnership updated their general plan to include ways to attract more jobs to the community. The city also wishes to expand Cloverdale’s sphere of influence by annexing Asti and an unincorporated area near the southwest side of town.

Cloverdale received an MTA grant to study ways to transport people from downtown to the future SMART station on the other side of Highway 101. They will be exploring ways to commercially use land formerly occupied by the Citrus Fair.

Learning from Others - Part I

Some communities do economic development really well while others struggle to understand what they can accomplish. No matter how well economic development is done in your community we can always learn new ideas and strategies. Here are a few examples of what some economic development organizations are doing in their communities.

City of Santa Rosa

In 2007, the City of Santa Rosa refined their economic sustainability strategy by focusing on new employment opportunities and ways to increase the spending by visitors to their downtown retail stores. The revised plan targets firms that they have identified as desirable for their community. They are building a brand image to support Santa Rosa’s shop local campaign and have developed events such as Small Business Week, Getting Diners to the Door, the Retail Academy, the Amgen Tour, Scooter Rosa, along with specific holiday events and First Friday’s for the arts.

Using the service LoopNet, the city is taking inventory of vacant retail space so the planning department can assess site decision data. A business visitation process has been initiative that interviews 30 to 40 firms annually to learn about challenges facing local firms and how the city can facilitate change.

Various federal/state loan programs are being utilized to upgrade properties and aid in remediation. Parking signage is being improved to enhance the use of public spaces, and five city redevelopment projects have been identified.

The Environment, Equity and Economics are the three E’s of their local strategy.

Economic Development - The Retail Store

Often times we think of economic development as something different and separate from those agencies or businesses that have customers. For economic development our customers include local businesses, community stakeholders, residents, potential investors, the list goes on. Many economic development organizations could learn from the practices of successful retail businesses about how to interact with customers or clients. This is especially true for the support staff that are usually your front line. This is basic stuff but many organizations do not address it.

Welcoming smile – Just like the retail store first impressions are important. The first person in your office is the first impression of your community. Smile at each individual as they come into your office. Make them feel welcome and important.

Your telephone greeting – Rather than leave the greeting to chance, consider the phrases that are fitting for your community. Keep the greeting short, there’s no point in overwhelming the client. Make sure the greeting ties in with your overall messaging of your community.

No matter what – No matter what else you or your staff are doing, pause to acknowledge your customer when they enter your office. Research shows that people are more willing to wait for service if they feel that their presence is acknowledged.

Serve the line – Serve people in the order that they have asked for service. Don’t keep people waiting and don’t let others jump in front.

Find the answer – There are times when you will be asked a question that you don’t know the answer to. Always do everything possible to find out the answer, whether you refer the customer to someone else or you do additional research then get back to them. The answer is never “I don’t know”.

Economic Development Freebies

Many economic development organizations have had to tighten their belt in this down economy. There’s no extra money for anything other than the basics. But all is not lost in these tough economic times. There still are things you can do and they’re free.

Google yourself – You think you have the best community, you think you have the community everyone wants to live in and do business in. But how well do you really know and understand your community? You need to listen to what others are saying about you. What have businesses, residents, visitors, anyone said about your community this week? Google Alerts can tell you. Check your community through Google every day.

Show me – You can tell me all you want about how good your community is but telling me is one thing, showing me is another. Use video, use testimonials, use feedback surveys. Demonstrate how your community will change my life or my business. There are many tools available on the internet for free that can show your community to the world.

Twitter – Learn how to use Twitter – it’s easy, free and it doesn’t have to take more than a few minutes a day. Your community can get out its message to a much broader audience than ever before.

Strategic Planning in Uncertain Times

Economic development strategic planning is something that every community should do regardless of what the current economic conditions are. Planning for your community’s future doesn’t have to be an exercise in futility or anxiety. Today’s planning may be different than it has in past years because today is a completely different environment than it was in past years. Here are three tips to take into the strategic planning process:

• Be realistic and look at all outcomes – In a highly uncertain environment, it is necessary to develop plans on the assumption that several different futures are possible and to focus attention on the underlying drivers of uncertainty. For example, let’s say your community’s largest employer is an industrial supplier that is highly involved with commercial and residential real estate but also has many government customers. The future for this company and its impact on your community depend on a variety of uncertainties, including construction, housing prices, government stimulus programs etc. It will be important to look at the different outcomes that may be presented to this company and how that will affect your community.
  
• Increase monitoring – Keeping with the example above, depending on how events unfold, the industrial supplier could make a variety of different moves. Ensure your strategic planning has a built in monitoring system that will evaluate current and future indicators so that you are not behind the eight ball. You need to keep up-to-date on what is happening and be able to respond accordingly.
  
• Look beyond the current situation – the economic change now underway will be a continuous unfolding event. It will not remain static and you need to make sure your strategic planning is balanced enough to work through current conditions while being ready to take immediate action as things change. This year’s strategic planning process is a time to evaluate the strategies the current crisis has helped, hurt or failed.

Developing strategies in greater depth, monitoring indicators more rigorously, and remaining focused on the long term will help to boost the odds of creating a plan that can assist your community through the uncertainty.

Economic Development Recovery Plan

Congratulations, your community is surviving through this economic slowdown. You took the initiative and made the necessary adjustments with your strategic plan, weeded out under-performing initiatives or projects, shed unreliable marketing efforts and concentrated your marketing dollars on channels that prove to deliver a strong return on investment. Your organization may even have downsized, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Now, you are looking for the signs that the economy is on the rebound and the opportunity to increase investment into your community and some fun. Here are a few recommendations to plan ahead:

Focus on high-potential opportunities. Make sure you focus on building relationships with the individuals and businesses in growth industries, where pent-up demand is going to be unleashed once the economy turns the corner.

Don’t assume a return to normal. The competitive landscape will have changed and you need to listen closely to your existing business base and potential investors to revise your market assumptions.

Know your lead indicators. Every economic developer should be aware of the specific indicators, macro or micro, that predict demand and interest for their community. Use common sense, take a look around your community and region to see what is happening right now.

Be ahead of the crowd. Don’t wait to heard an official declaration the recovery is underway. Get ahead of the crowd and develop your recovery plan now and pull the trigger when your lead indicators say go.

Economic Development 101: Economic Development Defined

Whenever the topic of economic development arises, even among those who have been in the industry for years, you will get a variety of definitions for what the term means. It’s not only a struggle sometimes to define economic development but throw in a few other terms like “community economic development”, “technology-led economic development”, “business development” and things can get very complicated.

Here’s a quick glossary to economic development terms based on a variety of sources including the International Economic Development Council, University of Waterloo and the Worldbank.

Economic Development (ED): Economic development is most commonly described as the creation of jobs and wealth, and the improvement of quality of life. Economic development can also be described as a process that influences growth and restructuring of an economy to enhance the economic well being of a community.

Community Economic Development (CED): A process by which a community and its institutions organize economic activity in ways that benefit the community as a whole, and leads to community and individual empowerment through strategies, which encourage cooperation and interdependence. CED creates community wealth and assets through developing and preserving affordable housing, developing viable neighbourhood-serving commercial activities, creating and retaining jobs and businesses, promoting labour force development, and cultivating indigenous leadership.

Local Economic Development (LED): Local economic development offers local government, the private sector, the not-for-profit sectors and the local community the opportunity to work together to improve the local economy. It aims to enhance competitiveness and thus encourage sustainable growth that is inclusive.

Neighbourhood Economic Development: Neighbourhood revitalization seeks to improve a neighbourhood's physical, economic, and social conditions to improve the overall quality of life and economic opportunities for neighbourhood residents.

Technology-Led Economic Development: Technology-led economic development fosters the development of new technology-based products and encourages the deployment of technologies to the private sector

So, You Want to be in Economic Development

Welcome to the boondoggle of Economic Development. It will frustrate you, empower you, challenge you, mock you, consume you and all before you’ve had your second cup of coffee. Are you sure you’re cut out for it? We asked a few economic developers to come up with a list of questions you should ask yourself before you determine whether this is the right job for you.

Are you willing and able to bear a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders? In economic development the good times and, particularly the bad times, rest on your shoulders. Have you created an environment for your community to grow? Did you do everything you could to attract the company that ended up locating in your competitor’s community? And, just for the heck of it, when are you going to turn this economy around?

Are you willing to sacrifice your lifestyle for potentially many years? This is especially true for communities just starting economic development. You will be called upon to attend every meeting and every event. You can be busy from 6 am to midnight, seven days a week. You will need to learn how to say no and how to ensure you are at the right meetings/events and not just wasting time.

Do you like all aspects of running a business? Because that’s pretty much what you will be doing as an economic developer. You will manage, you will budget, you will promote, you will sell, you will hire, you will fire. Depending on the size of your community, you will be the receptionist, the data entry clerk, the decision maker, the administrator, the finance guru and the HR specialist.

Are you comfortable throwing the playbook out the window? There are too many times when an economic developer has to make a decision quickly and efficiently. The “rules” don’t apply and you need to make sure you’re ready for any fall out that may happen. Your day is going to have very little structure and you will be making decisions with limited or no guidance whatsoever. You better make sure it’s always the right decision.

How persuasive and well-spoken are you? Many aspects of economic development relies on selling – your community, your businesses, your stakeholders. You will continually be called upon to sell your community’s vision and mission. You will need to get people to believe in your vision as much as you do. Your presentation skills will need to be polished. You will be in the public eye and many times you will be the face of the community.

Still willing to become an economic developer? Well, then, hold on – it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Raise Your Level of Economic Development (Part II)

Previously we provided five steps that you can take to raise the level of how you do economic development. Here’s four more:

Start a newsletter – an inexpensive way to stay in the forefront of your prospects and to maintain communication with your existing businesses is through a newsletter. You determine the frequency and the content but keep in mind what your expectations are and make sure you are providing interesting and valuable information to your subscribers.

Maintain relationships – whether this is with your stakeholders, local businesses, prospects or media, make sure you have strong relationships. That means you have to actually work on it. Invite a business or media contact to lunch. If you are in another city, schedule a meeting with a prospect. Consider hosting an annual event where your businesses and stakeholders are invited.

Lead by example – the current push is towards green and it’s no different for economic development. Many communities are developing green strategies for attracting and encouraging home-grown green businesses. Take the lead and do something green. Here you can find two simple ways to help your organization become more environmentally friendly – green is the new black.

Upgrade yourself – a key element to successful economic development is being aware of the current best practices and knowing what works and what doesn’t. Professional development should be seen as a requirement for you and your staff. Most times professional development is an add-on to a conference, make sure you take the time to attend. Conferences themselves can provide valuable information and key networking opportunities that can go a long way. But dedicated professional development will help you do your job better.

Raise Your Level of Economic Development (Part I)

The new year is well underway and maybe you’re finding that what was working in the past no longer does. Things have shifted dramatically in the past year and if you’re still doing economic development the same way it might be time to re-evaluate and raise the bar.

What is expected of you – this has been mentioned time and time again in previous posts. You need to know what is expected of you as an economic developer. One of the key ways to do that is to talk to your business community, your stakeholders and your prospects. Whether you pick up the phone, develop a survey or just implement a feedback form on your website, start the communication.

What’s your strategy – this has also been mentioned in previous posts. Many economic development organizations are operating on a tight budget with very little staff resources. We end up reacting instead of being pro-active. You need to be clear on your strategic objectives and goals. You need to communicate these objectives within your organization and ensure everyone is on the same page.

What is your Community doing differently – There are many examples in business where a company stands out from the crowd. Economic development can learn from them. Take Zappo’s for example, all they do is sell shoes but they manage to set themselves far apart from their competitors. What do you want your community to be known for? Can you write it down in less than 25 words? Focus on the vision for your community and then you can start to be it.

Expand your boundaries – we hear it all the time, regionalization. In a lot of cases it makes sense to partner with your neighbouring communities or even wider, a province or a state. No one can do it alone and that can be true for a community. Don’t just partner for partnering sake. Make sure the partnership is clearly defined, that each participant knows the expectations and responsibilities. The partnership has to work for everyone and not just a select few.

Web 2.0 – get on board with new technology. There are so many applications available online that can be used for economic development. Social networks can be very advantageous for community economic development but you need to be clear on what it is you want from it. Pick one of the many DIY survey websites, link to websites of value, or just commit to mastering one new technological skill.

Read the Signs

The economy is declining and experts are struggling with their predictions for the upswing. Here’s some ways you can look within your own community for signs of recovery. Some of the signs will be anecdotal – you have to park your car further from the mall; the contractor takes longer to return your call; your friends or co-workers are taking vacations away again. More tangible signs of recovery include:

Housing sales – we all saw the rapid decrease in sales and values to start the downtown. While there is still little to be optimistic about pay close attention to home sales, both new and existing. As they start to recover so does your community’s economy.

Employment – Canada lost 129,000 jobs while the US lost almost 600,000 in January alone and it may continue to get worse before it gets better. Many employers are cutting back hours instead of layoffs so one of the first signs of recovery is increased hours of work. Currently it’s at a record low of 33.3 hours per week. Look for a stabilized increase over a two to three month period. Another sign of recovery is the hiring of temporary workers.

Car sales – the automobile industry has been hit hard. Big ticket items like cars are one of the first indicators of an economic slowdown as consumers start to tighten the belt. An encouraging sign of recovery is when consumers start to loosen their belt and begin to buy again. Keep a close watch on stabilizing car sales.

Retail sales – Consumers are shying away from purchases that are not seen as necessities and the retail industry is clearly showing the signs. Discounters like Wal-Mart are bucking the trend as consumers shop for the best price available. As consumers start to feel more confident in spending the retail industry as a whole will start an upward trend while the discounters will see a more even playing field.

Pasta – as any college student knows pasta is a cheap meal and sales are increasing as consumers shop for value. Early recovery sign will show a decrease in the sale of pasta. The largest pasta producer in North America is the American Italian Pasta Company. They have seen a dramatic increase in sales – 43% in 2008 over the previous year. Watch their stock price to see signs of recovery.

Movies – As consumers are only buying what is seen as a necessity, things like going to the movies are seen as an extravagance. The number of tickets sold dropped 4% last year as consumers stopped or reduce the number of times they go to the movie theatre. The increase in ticket prices will be an early sign of economic recovery.

Business Retention

Why are there so many economic development organizations still not in touch with their local business communities? No matter what the economic climate is, a well developed Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) program is a must for all economic development organizations. This isn’t rocket science. The program doesn’t need to be complex and costly. In fact, there are many tools on the internet that can help. Here are just a few:

Ministry of Ontario – provides full BRE resources including a video, survey broken out into specific industry questions, web-based applications and funding information.

University of Minnesota – provides a Business Retention & Expansion Strategies program. They offer workshops and design a full program for a community. They provide much of their information on the internet for download at no cost including a BRE Handbook and survey template.

Ohio BR&E Initiative – here you can get audio podcast and transcript of why your community needs a BRE program plus supporting information including a handbook, sample survey and success stories.

Just these three websites alone will provide you with more than sufficient information to start a BRE program. There are no excuses. In a depressed economy, your local businesses are vital, in a vibrant economy, your local businesses are vital.

Captain Sully’s Lessons

We all know the story. Captain “Sully” Sullenberger saved the lives of 155 passengers on Flight 1549 after landing his plane on the Hudson River in New York. An experience like that is sure to teach something. Captain Sully has brought away some lessons for economic developers to learn from.

• Don’t panic – Sullenberger was able to handle a life or death situation while staying in complete control. For economic developers, the lesson here is to remain calm and in control no matter what. If you have just lost your largest employer, don’t panic. Instead, find out why. Was there something your community could have done and didn’t? Be proactive and communicate with the individuals involved. How can you work to mitigate the fallout?

• It’s not WHO you know but WHAT you know – The captain attributes the safe landing to the experience he’s gained over his years in the business as well as the ongoing training he’s received. For economic developers, the lesson here is to understand the process of economic development through real experience and also include ongoing professional development to make sure you are on top of trends and best practices.

• Balance and perspective – Captain Sully acknowledges that the demands of his job have affected other parts of his life. For economic developers we can be pushed and pulled in many directions – attending too many meetings that have little or no value, wasting valuable time on projects or prospects because of funders who don’t really understand, micro-managing and not understanding the big picture. It’s important to know that some things will just not get done and that every community has to make its own priorities for success.

• Take pride – Sullenberger has been praise by his peers for giving them pride in their profession. The lesson for economic developers is to take pride in not only what you do but also in the community or region you represent.

Know Thy Competitors and Know Yourself

We’ve talked about the importance of knowing what your competitor is up to and how well they are doing. This type of knowledge can help a community in many ways but how do you find out any information. When it comes to a competitor’s website, finding information is only a click on your toolbar away.

Quarkbase -will provide you with a wealth of knowledge about a site including how popular it is in social news and networking sites, its estimated traffic and even any Twitter accounts associated with it.

Who is Hosting This? will tell you who is hosting a site. You can simply drag the bookmarklet (applet or small computer application) to your browser toolbar.

Smart PageRank does one thing only, it tells you the page ranking of the site you are on. It also provides other information including traffic data and an estimated number of pages indexed on search engines.

DomainTools provides its information in a clear and easy to understand manner. Here you can see who registered the domain name and information about inbound links and references in search engines and directories.

Way Back Machine has nothing to do with 80’s disco and everything to do the history of how a website evolved. You can see how a site looked at almost any point in that site’s history. By looking at the older versions of a page or website you can see how its look and content changed and evolved.

All of these tools are free and are an easy way to look beyond just the website page. You need to know what your competitor is doing but these tools also can provide some useful information for your own website.

What Should You Be Doing Now?

The economy is in a definite slowdown and opportunities are hard to come by. What should you be doing to increase external and internal growth for your community? No matter where you want your opportunities to come from, and for your community to thrive, it is more important now than ever before to engage both your external and internal audience.

Time to take inventory – what is happening at the local level with your businesses, your partnerships, your stakeholders and your prospects? What is it they expect of you and what can you do to answer? It’s time to step up to the plate and start swinging.

Stay in touch – let your businesses, partnerships, stakeholders and prospects know you’re still around and interested in what they are doing. Determine their preferred method of communication and reach out to inform, educate, listen and just stay in touch.

Ask and you shall receive - ask for feedback on how you can do things better or improve communication. What can you offer to benefit your businesses, partnerships, stakeholders and prospects – they’re your customers and you need to know what they want.

Be someone people enjoy working with – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, enjoy what you do. Everyone wants to work with someone who is passionate about what it is they do. Being passionate about your job and your community is what can set you apart from other economic developers who are just showing up.

Be on the radar – keep marketing and promoting your community. You can’t just build it and expect them to come. You have to build it, market it, promote it and show it.

Where’s your competition – keep on top of what your competitors are doing. You need to make sure you are the first community that is thought of.

Be strategic – this is the time to have a strategic plan firmly in place. You need to know exactly what is it you’re doing today and what it is you’re planning for tomorrow.

Are You Smarter than an Economic Developer?

As an economic developer you have to know about a lot of different things. You have to be aware of what your community is all about, what is happening in the local, regional, national and global economies, what industry trends are happening, what are the best practices in economic development, how to write a good business plan, marketing plan, where to find financing. As an economic developer sometimes it feels like we know a little about a lot. What do you know? This is a quick quiz for you to test your knowledge of economic development terminology and simple basics.

What is absorption?
a) The process of absorbing nutrients into the body after digestion.
b) A measure of how much real estate product is absorbed with a given period of time.
c) Job created minus jobs lost

What is BRE?
a) Business Retention and Expansion
b) Business Recruitment and Enhancement
c) Branch of Real Estate

What is not necessary in a Business Plan?
a) Financial Data
b) Competition
c) Vision Statement

What is breakeven analysis?
a) Breakeven Point = Fixed Costs / (Unit Selling Price – Variable Costs)
b) Breakeven Point = (Fixed Costs – Variable Costs) / Unit Selling Price
c) Breakeven Point – (Fixed Costs + Variable Costs) /Unit Selling Price

What is FDI?
a) Financing Data Initiative
b) Foreign Direct Investment
c) Foreign Development Impact

If I gave you the answers that would be cheating. Besides that’s what Google’s for.

What's Love Got to Do with It?

It’s not usual for economic development and Valentine’s Day to be tied together. Sure, we can talk about the economics of Valentine’s. According to a survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), most of us will spend about twenty dollars less this year than we did last year. Fewer people will be going out for dinner this year and will chose to stay home instead. It will be more about small tokens of appreciation than it will be about extravagant purchases. For economic development we can factor out what that means for our individual communities. How our local businesses will be affected. How the local consumers are spending their money – to local mom and pops, big box or online?

As Tina Turner belted out in the 80’s, What’s Love Got to Do with It? For the sake of your community – a lot. This Valentine’s, let’s look at a few ways that love helps your community.

· Love Your Community – if you don’t, who will? Love what your community has – the good, the bad and the ugly. Proudly promote the good and work to improve the bad and revitalize the ugly. If you don’t know the good, the bad and the ugly – make it a part of your strategy to understand what your community is all about.

· Love Your Businesses – in this time of economic slowdown, you need to ensure you value your existing business base. If you don’t have a formalize business retention strategy, this is the year to make it a priority. Find out what is happening with your businesses and how you can be involved and a catalyst to their success and growth.

· Love Your Job – be passionate about what it is you do. When you are truly passionate about your community it makes everyone else want to know why they need to be living there, doing business there, spending their dollars there.

· Love Your Competitors – find out what your competitive communities are doing right, what are the best practices being implemented, why are businesses there succeeding, why is investment growing there?

As Economic Developers loving your community has got everything to do with.

Is Your Community Investment Ready?

In today's economic uncertainty many communities are rounding up the troops and looking internally rather than externally. While communities need to ensure they have a solid business foundation in place they also need to ensure they are ready for opportunities when the tide changes. Economic development does not happen in a bubble and taking advantage of the economic slowdown to proactively prepare for the future is what successful communities are going to do.

Attracting foreign direct investment can provide a community with new technologies, products, skills and financing, and as such, can stimulate and support economic development. Investment readiness is about ensuring a community is ready when opportunity comes to knock on the door.

A recently produced Investment Readiness manual provides answers to explain the general FDI process and what is required by a community. It provides a step by step process that any community can adapt for their specific attraction goals. The manual provides contacts and links for agencies and organizations that provide additional resources for FDI attraction.

There are many communities that are doing investment attraction successfully and are ready for the opportunities. Unfortunately, there are more communities that are not prepared at all. This manual can be the first step to develop the economic development tools necessary.

Click here to download the manual. More information can be found at twitter.com/ecdevcomdev.

Economic Development 101 – Overview of Economic Development

Those new to the economic development industry and even those who have been involved for many years can be challenged to define exactly what economic development is. Is it job creation? Is it relationship and facilitation? Is it attracting new investment in a community? Is it diversification of industry? Is it increasing income levels? Is it managing rates of growth? Economic Development is all of those things and more.

One of the simplest definitions of economic development is the activities relating to working with the business community to support business development, trade, investment and partnerships. Each economic development organization needs to understand what economic development is for their specific community or region and they need to be able to clearly communicate it to their stakeholders.

There are a few myths or misconceptions about what economic development is. When defining economic development for your community remember to try to keep it simple – it isn’t rocket science and it doesn’t have to be expensive. It shouldn’t just be about high tech but it should be inclusive, collaborative and practical.

Before you can successfully do economic development you must clearly understand what it is you’re suppose to be doing. Taking the time to define economic development for your specific community or region is an important step to create community buy-in and to develop successful and sustainable strategies.

This is meant to be a series of articles designed to assist individuals new to the Economic Development industry. There may also be value to those already in Economic Development looking for additional resources and best practices. For a complete overview of economic development consider the EDCD Consulting “Economic Development 101©” presentation for your community.

Top Trends For Small Business 2009

What a difference a year makes! Last year’s top trends in small business revolved around technology, the Internet, smart phones and search engine optimization. This year it is no surprise that the dominant trends relate to the economy. While the economy will take some time to improve it is not all bad news for small business.

Consumers want to save not splurge – consumers are looking to spend less and get a bargain. For small business that means offering discounts, bundling services for less and being open to negotiate.

Green is still the new black – being green will become even trendier in 2009. Even with consumers looking for a bargain, they also want their products and service providers to be environmentally conscious. Green consumers in particular will almost always be willing to pay a premium. At a minimum, a small business needs to make sure their website indicates a green commitment. Two websites that can help small business become more environmentally friendly are:

http://www.greenbiz.com/ – this site offers information on sustainable business practices and green business in general. It has a section where small business owners can find out how their energy investment can be best put to use.

http://www.verdiem.com/ – helps small business track their PC energy consumption and then calculates cost savings using internationally accepted energy measurements and verification methodologies. It provides an understanding of how long it will take to achieve a return on a green investment.

Entrepreneurship rules – as the unemployment rate continues to climb many individuals will look to start a business and there are plenty of opportunities. Some of the top business start ups include senior care, pets, children’s services, fitness, personal care and green business.

Interactive Web and Social Networks – the internet has reached a completely new level with the evolution and growth of interactivity for websites (YoutTube, Facebook) and the significant move towards mobile computing will continue. Social networks like Twitter provide cost effective marketing opportunities for small business. Businesses need to take advantage of what is out there or risk falling far behind their competitors.

Low Cost Marketing – businesses will tighten their belts during this economic slowdown but the ones that step up their marketing efforts will benefit. Businesses are looking for low cost marketing that delivers big. Small businesses can work within some of the identified business trends for marketing ideas including online video to connect with customers; blogs; Twitter; coupons, greening your business.

Businesses that are ready and willing to look at their business in a new way during this economic crunch can take advantages of the opportunities that do exist.

EDCD Consulting is an economic development consulting firm that helps communities strategically plan their economic growth. EDCD provides accurate information on demographic, economic, business and industry trend.