March 21st has been internationally recognized as World Poetry Day. Often economic development professionals will look at their work as a fairly analytical practice. Your potential investors have specific needs, your community has buildings or sites with particular features, your state or local governments have authorized you to leverage specific programs to help attract investment, I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
I've always been attracted to economic development for the features that are specifically NOT analytical. Finding the right mix of features to make a community more competitive, designing the programs that might attract a potential investor, building the relationships with colleagues, site selectors and incumbent business owners - these are the activities that make economic development work fun for me
If you think about that makes economic development much like poetry - there's an inherit structure to it, whether it be a particular rhyming scheme or verse structure, but it's still a very creative exercise that requires your heart if you're going to make it work. So I hope the links this week will help you craft some wonderful poetry for your community!
Now on to the links!
Economic Development News...
Labour markets: Where the jobs are | The Economist - Thayr Richey passed along this link from The Economist which points out that job creation in the United States last year was exceedingly concentrated, with over of job growth coming from the top 8 states and almost 80% coming from top 15 states!
Census shows population center moving out of Midwest - 2010 Census - Salon.com - Salon writes that growing populations in the west and south might shift the heartland out of the midwest. So many economic development organizations in the midwest market their driving time and distance to the bulk of the population - what happens when that's not available as a marketing tool?
Senators debate key economic development bill in Nebraska - The merits of tax cuts for economic development are being debated in the Nebraska legislature. Two major areas of contention seem to be driving the debate: 1) whether they could be made refundible and 2) whether "Angel investment" credits are a wise option given low success rates.
Online Marketing...
Matt Cutts: Social media marketing should be a top SEO priority
- Matt Cutts indicates that Social Media is a key element for effective SEO strategies in the coming year. These channels compliment each other, one should not be ignored at the expense of the other.
3 Methods To Create Your Own Searchable Twitter Archive - Some great ideas for archiving your Twitter feed from TweetSmarter (hat tip to Mark James for sharing). The last of the three solutions might be in danger due to Twitter bringging the hammer down on 3rd party applicaiton development, but that shouldn't impact the other two solutions.
Can Elmhurst "Rock" Again? Economic Development Plan Outlined This Week - A local candidate for public office proposes a marketing plan to differentiate a Chicagoland suburb. While I'm not sure having a candidate drive a place marketing strategy is the best approach, the idea shows a keen focus on how to package what differentiates the community and marketing that (to the point of suggesting the little league teams change their names).
How to Measure Your Brand's Online Influence - Dave Smith with Inc Magazine talks with some of the folks developing products that help brands measure their influence online. Getting a handle on all these feeds and interactions is no easy task but understanding how they're trying to do it for you might help you understand the relative importance of different factors of your online visibility.
How Web 3.0 Will Impact Social Media and PR | Social Media Today - Matthew Gain posted this video documentary with some of his commentary back in May. I think the future-looking aspects of the topics discussed are still relevant and might help you to understand why I put the Musings together every other week. Important takeaway for economic development organizations: EVERYONE is a company spokesperson in the new world of online marketing.
Greplin - Greplin is a great service that allows you search all of the online streams you permit it to access. Need a quote or a stat you shared or stored somewhere online? Greplin is a great resource for tracking it down! This might be helpful if shared something you heard or learned about at a conference but can't find it in your notes or the presentation slides afterwards.
Job Market...
Business Development Employment – Virginia Economic Development Partnership - International Marketing Specialist and Project Manager for Virginia
Providence, Rhode Island - Providence, R.I. Economic Development Director
Indiana Economic Development Jobs - Marketing and Business Development positions
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