Budgets are tight, and shelling out dollars to send executives to conferences might be a hard sell to many chamber boards right now. Some may see travel costs for conferences and visits as an unnecessary expense in this information age, but according to one site selection professional and public incentives expert we spoke with, face-time with other decision makers is much more valuable than you might think.

A recent discussion with Jason Hickey, of the Hickey & Associates consulting firm, about the site selection process led us to the topic of marketing venues for economic development agencies. Along with other important activities like maintaining a top-notch website and distributing materials, Hickey stressed that meeting in person and establishing relationships is also an important part of bringing new businesses to town.

“Making sure that site selectors and companies have that information top of mind – like knowing that X community is focusing on bio-science if I’m a bio-science company – that could definitely be helpful, but I can tell you that site selectors and companies get inundated with a lot information,” Hickey said. (more…)

Economic Development, Economic Development Conferences, Hickey and Associates, Site Selection

In our last post, Dr. C. R. Canup of Canup & Associates shared the process by which site selection consultants help corporate clients choose new locations for their facilities. In this post, we return to that interview and pick up the discussion on site selection as it relates to community preparedness through incentives and investment.

“When we counsel our clients on incentives, we help them understand the difference between legislated incentives and discretionary incentives,” Dr. Canup said. “Essentially, legislated incentives are those that are going to be awarded to any project that meets the criteria that the state, county, or city has established for that particular incentive… Discretionary incentives, however, can actually exceed the value of legislated incentives for some projects. They are not just tax credits or tax rebates, but they may get into buying the property, building an access road, or paying for a sewer system. (more…)

Canup & Associates, Economic Development, Site Selection

In continuing our series of posts on economic development, we felt that it would be valuable to explore the approach that site selection professionals use in helping their clients find the best places to locate new facilities. With that in mind, I approached Dr. C. R. “Buzz” Canup, founder and president of the site selection and community consulting firm Canup & Associates, and asked for some insights into how the process of choosing a community for a new enterprise really works. While much of the process is just as you might suspect, the sequence of the evaluation, the role of incentives, and the places where communities fall short might surprise you.

“One of the key things communities need to understand is that every site location study really is a custom study for a specific client based on the specific project requirements,” Dr. Canup began. “The process we go through is to help our client define the criteria of the project, and then that criteria drives where we search, how we search, what we look at, how we evaluate it, and how communities stack up against each other.”

Meeting these criteria is the first hurdle for a community to clear in order to be in the running, and while communities can prepare for some, others are more innate and are based on the geographic location. (more…)

Canup & Associates, Economic Development, Economic Incentives, Site Selection

In our last post, Mr. Jeff Finkle, CEO of the International Economic Development Council, shared some insights on economic development mistakes to avoid. In this post we will share the rest of our Q&A session with him, which includes discussion about incentives, investment, and marketing venues for small to mid-sized communities:

What types of incentives seem to be sparking the most activity right now, and what should a community be offering to stay competitive?

It is worth noting that no two communities are created equal. Each community faces diverse factors that impact the types of incentive programs they can and should offer and the actual effectiveness of those programs. (more…)

Community Marketing, Economic Development, Economic Incentives, International Economic Development Council

The economic downturn of the last few years has left communities around the country fighting to recoup lost jobs and tax revenue after major employers in their areas either downsized or shut down completely. As a result, economic development has been the hot topic for community leaders everywhere, particularly small to mid-sized communities. But just trying isn’t enough in such a competitive environment; to win you need to plan correctly and execute that plan without mistakes.

We recently approached the folks at the International Economic Development Council with some questions concerning economic development efforts in small and mid-sized communities, and they were kind enough to fill us in on some of the trends they are seeing. In this first of a two-part series of posts where we share their insights, IEDC President and CEO Jeff Finkle addresses the most common and damaging mistakes that these communities can make when preparing an economic development game plan: (more…)

Common Economic Development Mistakes, Economic Development, International Economic Development Council