The challenges of regional marketing Saturday, August 07, 2004 Regional marketing is the toughest area in which to coordinate regional economic development efforts. It all sounds happy and healthy on paper. "We need to collaborate to compete." But when it comes to prospects, they can only land in one place. Few regions have tax sharing arrangements in place to enable local communities to share in the benefits and costs of a big investment, no matter where it lands in a region. The Triad Region of North Carolina is under this kind of pressure right now. They are facing the real test of regional cooperation. Dell is likely to put a big facility in the Triad region, but it is not clear where it will land. Read more. Over the long term, regional marketing efforts generate pressures that can eventually pull these efforts apart. In the short term, the issue is trust and transparency (which must be balanced against the client's requests for confidentiality). All the partners in the alliance must feel that they have a fair look at all the prospects. Over the long term, the challenge comes in balancing the equities. Some portions of a region will benefit more than others. Effective regional marketing requires an ongoing effort to balance these fiscal pressures. For example, in Charleston, SC, Berkeley County is getting most of the prospects, Dorchester County has been getting a lot of the new residents (added costs), and Charleston County has been paying the most of the bill for the regional marketing efforts. These pressures erode the base of support for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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