EDOs may think that the need for their service is obvious (they are serving a cause, or they are there to do good) and it is true, most organizations are clear about the needs they would like to serve but they often don't understand these needs from the perspective of the customers. What is taken for marketing sometimes in economic development is actually selling: when you start with the "product", i.e. the region, and you want to push that out into any market you can find, that's selling. I don't want to minimize advertising and communication plans but that should come after studying the market, understanding the target groups you are after and how to bring value and fill up ever changing needs.
The businesses are the most important "client" for an economic development organization, even if you have a multitude of constituencies; growth is achieved greatly through your business community. Most of all, inquiring into the mind of your business leaders, provides an outward focus where the results are. We help our clients with the process of inquiring and it can take many forms (business surveys, sector analysis, BR&E program, etc.), but the quality of the questions will determine the quality of your results: Who is your client? Who is not your client? What does your client consider value? What are your results with your client? What does that mean for our organization? How can we continuously deliver value? This is part of your on-going marketing strategy. The late Peter Drucker put it well when he said that "the aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary".
Case Study: Laval Technopole (Laval EDO)
The challenge: Laval Technopole wanted a way to systematically meet with the majority of their foreign subsidiaries each year and to also use those visits to explore the different facets of their business and discuss opportunities. Their desire was to go beyond gathering information; they wanted actionable information that they could use to identify opportunities for new investments. They had done some visits in the past and felt it did not provide strategic information about the future of the company.
The solution: For Laval Technopole (Laval EDO) we helped to design a Business Retention & Expansion Program dedicated to their foreign subsidiaries, including new questionnaires, interviews with the majority of their foreign subsidiaries each year, connecting resources to exploit new opportunities, to maximize new investments to the community and perceived value-added by the business leaders. So we initially focused on the quality of the contact with the executive of the companies (the questions asked), establishing a continuous rapport with them and improving where mutually Laval Technopole and the executives can work together to create investments. We mention this because most BR&E programs tend to focus on the technology, data gathering, reports, etc. Not that those are not important but the technology is sometimes seen as a "saviour" and it's not, it's a tool and it should be adapted to your environment and simple to use so that your resources spend most of their time with the companies they are serving. For the last 5 years, we have worked with Laval Technopole to continually improve and adapt the program. For example, by meeting with every subsidiaries and asking the right questions, Laval Technopole was able to identified growth opportunities in companies they did not at first suspect such as distribution companies and help them build the case to the headquarters for approval.
The end result: Laval Technopole has a portfolio view of all their foreign subsidiaries in their region, they can see the evolution over the years, where they can put their effort and resources to increase investment in the future. With this systematic program, a continuous rapport with the local leaders is established which helps the process of working on new opportunities or issues to be resolved with other partners (city, government, etc.).
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