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New Website Highlights Kentucky Lake’s Business & Industry Assets

Monday, December 10, 2018

Benton, KY – Kentucky Lake Economic Development just launched a comprehensive website to elevate its online presence and showcase Marshall County, Kentucky’s abundant opportunities and business advantages. This will serve as an important asset for site selectors and investors. "We are extremely excited to reinvent how we do economic development in Marshall County, Kentucky, with Kentucky Lake Economic Development. We are on the verge of a more aggressive and strategic approach moving forward that is generating a level of energy in our community that we have never seen before,” said Josh Tubbs, president of Kentucky Lake Economic Development. “Our community partners...

Website Showcases Spruce Grove’s Business Assets

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release City of Spruce Grove, AB – The City of Spruce Grove just launched a new website to promote its economic development efforts. The site will serve as a valuable resource for both existing businesses and potential investors. Spruce Grove is one of Alberta’s fastest growing cities. The website was created as part of the City’s economic development strategy and action plan with the goal to create a comprehensive online portal for existing companies and potential investors. “The new website adds an important level of functionality to our efforts. It will allow potential investors to seamlessly access relevant, concise information...

New MEDA Website a Resource for Economic Developers

Monday, November 19, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release The Montana Economic Developers Association (MEDA) has launched a comprehensive new website to promote its statewide membership and activities. The professional association for “lead” economic developers is dedicated to building Montana’s economy. “MEDA is all about local economic development professionals serving their community and impacting lives and businesses. The impacts are real and in many cases they shape the future of towns, cities and our state for the future,” noted MEDA President Steve Arveschoug of Big Sky Economic Development in Billings. The updated, user friendly website provides a solid foundation for marketing MEDA and its strong network of members....

St. Landry Economic Development Launches New Website

Monday, November 19, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Opelousas, LA – St. Landry Economic Development (SLED) recently launched a comprehensive new website. The site is a valuable resource for citizens, businesses and site selectors that showcases SLED’s economic development activities, business assets and rich culture. SLED takes a forward-looking approach to the economic and community development of Louisiana’s St. Landry Parish. Its collaborative initiatives are designed to bring growth and prosperity to area businesses and communities. The sophisticated and interactive web platform aims to better connect St. Landry Parish to the region, nation and world. The site has details about the three St. Landry Economic Development Districts,...

New Websites Emphasize Hutchinson’s Many Assets

Monday, October 15, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Hutchinson, Kansas and the larger Reno County area recently launched three new websites to promote the region. The sites will serve as a valuable promotional tool for businesses, economic development and tourism. An online portal combines the sites into one user-friendly and comprehensive resource with a wealth of information for businesses and site selectors as well as potential residents and visitors. The sites were developed for three different organizations with distinct, yet related, missions: the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce; Visit Hutch, the Greater Hutchinson Convention/Visitors Bureau; and Greater Hutch, a partnership for economic development in Reno County. The Hutch...

Workforce Attraction Toolkit: Beating the Workforce Woes

Friday, October 12, 2018

By Golden Shovel Agency To assist you with the items talked about in this article, download Golden Shovel's Workforce attraction Toolkit. -- Worker scarcity permeates almost every conversation in political and economic development circles. For the last three fiscal quarters, analysts predicted the unemployment rate reached the lowest possible level; now, analysts wonder how low the rate can actually drop. One headline earlier this year stated “2018 Too Many Jobs and Not Enough Workers”. At the most basic level, this defines the problem communities’ face. Tight labor conditions have always existed in specific sectors. For example, shortages of programmers created difficulties for software companies. But...

York County Development Corporation Receives Excellence in Economic Development Award from the International Economic Development Council

Tuesday, October 02, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release WASHINGTON, DC (October 02, 2018) – York County Development Corporation received a Bronze Excellence in Economic Development Award for York County Educational Partnerships, a project in the category of Partnership with Educational Institutions of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). The honor was presented at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, October 2, during the IEDC Annual Conference, which was held September 29 – October 3, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. “It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of York County Development Corporation. This initiatives show that with dedication, a team of partners can come together and...

New Website Highlights Western Iowa’s Business Assets

Monday, September 10, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Carroll, Iowa – Western Iowa Advantage has launched a new website that will serve as a valuable tool for economic development. The comprehensive online portal highlights Western Iowa’s many business advantages. “The primary purpose of the site is to let site selectors and real estate professionals know that Western Iowa has a story to tell. It is a story of long term and innovative business success, while maintaining a comfortable lifestyle,” said Shannon Landauer, vice president of Western Iowa Advantage. The user friendly site simplifies the process of delivering details and custom reports on an array of pertinent topics...

VR Technology Brings Economic Developers and Site Selectors Together

Monday, September 10, 2018

Economic developers face an uphill battle to get site selectors and executives to visit their community and tour available properties. With site selectors scouting locations throughout the country, and potentially the world, it can take months or years of concerted efforts to arrange for a FAM tour. VR technology is solving this problem by making it possible for site selectors and executive to visit communities in the virtual world. Minnesota-based communication firm Golden Shovel recognized the potential for virtual-reality to bridge the gap and make these connections possible. In 2017, the firm launched a new service, PlaceVR, making it possible...

New Website Illustrates Development Opportunities in Pasadena, TX

Tuesday, September 04, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Pasadena, Texas – The Pasadena Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has launched a comprehensive new website to highlight the region’s many business advantages Pasadena, Texas is located just 20 minutes from Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. Its residents enjoy an excellent quality of life. Its proximity to a vast transportation network, including major airports, freeways and rail systems, makes it a prime location for development and redevelopment. With this new online portal, Pasadena EDC has rebranded itself. The economic development agency’s website is a one-stop-shop for those interested in learning more about Pasadena. “We wanted to provide site selectors,...

South Dakota Prairie Gateway Site Showcases Opportunities

Tuesday, August 07, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Sisseton, SD - The South Dakota Prairie Gateway just launched a new website that illustrates the many economic development efforts and business opportunities in eastern South Dakota. South Dakota Prairie Gateway is a partnership to promote economic growth in the state, with a particular focus on the eastern region. Member organizations work together to attract businesses and develop their local economies. The website is one of the products of that collaboration. “This website partnership showcases the different and yet similar economic development efforts in the area and provides quick links to these partners via links to their websites,” said...

Five Steps to Strategy

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Building a framework in five steps that you won’t snore over. Every economic development director has created or discussed a strategic planning document. This process is critical to building a successful plan. And, getting started doesn’t need to be a formidable process that is overwhelming--start small and build on the success of each stage. Your organization's strategy should start with five basic components: purpose and goals, advantage, target, marketing, and lastly, niche. These components, if built correctly, can provide a solid framework for use in grant writing, business attraction and workforce campaigns as well as internal stakeholder communication. Purpose and Goals Why does a...

From the Archives: Five Strategies to Make Your Economic Development Content Marketing Stand Out in 2018

Monday, July 30, 2018

It’s past the halfway point for 2018, how many of these strategies have you implemented? Enjoy one of our archived articles for strategy development. ------------- Published by Golden Shovel 12/19/2017 The 2017 calendar is running out of days and there is a steady supply of cookies and eggnog in offices all over the country. This time of the year brings people together for conversations and optimism for the coming year. It is a special time of the year. It is also the right time to review successful content marketing strategies to be utilized in 2018. Before going to the big whiteboard and mapping out...

Midland Development Corporation Launches New Website

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Midland, Texas – The Midland Development Corporation (MDC) has launched a state-of-the-art website that displays the organization’s services and touts Midland’s many advantages and amenities. Midland has an auspicious location about halfway between Dallas and El Paso, Texas. It’s the third fastest growing metro area in the nation. MDC’s new online portal includes a host of innovative tools, yet is easy to use and optimized for mobile devices. “The Midland Development Corporation is proud to release a website that highlights our organization’s role in the community, and provides a wealth of information about living, working and doing business in...

With Oculus Go, VR for Economic Development is Ready for Business

Thursday, July 19, 2018

By Aaron Brossoit Golden Shovel Agency unveiled PlaceVR in Toronto at the 2017 International Economic Development Council’s Annual Conference. Our team showcased the first 360 videos of familiarization tours and site tours to the industry. For economic development professionals promoting their regions, these spherical videos are the best way to virtually bring people into a region or community. In September of 2017, however, the VR viewer options that were available for showcasing the videos were still limited. There were the top quality systems like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and the Playstation VR which presented a great VR experience, but was burdensome...

Why Some Economic Developers Find “All” The Deals

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

It is no secret that new introductions and relationships are fundamental to the success of an economic developer. Having the ability and tools to build a robust network of key industry contacts is critical to the success of failure of many of the economic developers I know. Conferences and tradeshows provide popular gathering events for people to come together and trade contract information. But there is another gathering place for economic developers and business owners: your website. Your website is attracting people every day. Have you reviewed the website traffic to see who’s visiting and how you can attract more visitors? With...

Using Data and Storytelling for Industry Attraction

Thursday, July 05, 2018

We’ve all heard the importance of data, and storytelling, but we haven’t spent much time working on storytelling with data and hard numbers. Communities have to not only have tangible numbers to show industry and site selectors, but they also have to have a compelling story for why the industry would want to move there. Let’s examine what you could be doing better to tell your community story. You are not a marketer. As an economic development professional, you wear many hats. But the most important hat you wear is the leader. Too often economic development directors try to lead and try to...

Violet Township’s State of the Art Website Aims to Attract Industry

Monday, June 25, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Pickerington, OH – Violet Township has launched a new website, which will serve as a valuable tool for the region’s economic development. The online portal showcases the area’s many business advantages and aims to attract business. Site selectors for large projects, small business owners looking for a place to start up and existing business looking to expand will all find helpful information on the website. It features available sites and buildings as well as details on the area’s infrastructure and three distinct growth corridors. “This state of the art website tells the story of Violet Township and will...

Attracting New Industry Through Advanced Marketing Strategies

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Northeast Kentucky Development has officially launched this week, a organization that aims to attract new businesses into the 12 county region, which will serve as a valuable player for the region’s economic development. The development organization will highlight available sites, buildings, and resources available for new and expanding industry into the area, primarily in Aerospace and Automotive. Sam Howard, Managing Principal of Northeast Kentucky Development says he started the organization to provide the region with a voice. “Counties within the region are typical of rural Kentucky. We have an abundant availability of land at a reasonable cost. We have a workforce...

Golden Shovel Agency Partners with Barber Business Advisors for Economic Growth

Thursday, May 17, 2018

By 24-7 Press Release Barber Business Advisors and the Golden Shovel Agency have agreed to a strategic partnership in which the two firms will jointly offer consulting services to economic development organizations nationwide. The announcement was made while representatives of the two firms were attending the Consultant Connect ECONOMIX conference in Frisco, a Dallas suburb. BBA is based in Dallas and Golden Shovel is based in Little Falls, Minnesota. Representatives of the two firms attending the conference said the partnership is designed to bring additional services to communities that seek to market their locations for business attraction. “Promoting the economic development narrative of communities...

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