Many municipalities struggle with the same economic development challenges, especially if they are located in a similar geographic area. Although it offers many benefits, regional economic cooperation is not always easy to start or sell to stakeholders. So what is the best way to get the ball rolling? First let's take a brief look at some of the benefits and challenges.

First of all, regional economic cooperation offers the following major economic benefits:

• As a whole, there is more to sell – When municipalities work cooperatively, each one brings its own assets and strengths to the table. As such, the whole package offered to outsiders is larger, more varied, and increasingly attractive than would be the package offered by a single municipality working alone. It is also believed that businesses and consumers consider the region first before an actual municipality when making location or investment decisions – another reason to sell the region as a whole.
• Sharing resources – By pooling resources (financial, human, etc.), cooperating municipalities can expand their economic development initiatives. The previously limited resources of the municipality when acting alone are now increased, allowing them to pursue larger and higher impact initiatives, and in markets not previously accessible.
• Economies of scale – In many situations, it is not efficient for each municipality in a given region to deliver all of its own economic development services (leading to unnecessary duplication of efforts). By cooperating regionally, more can be done with the existing inputs.
• Networking potential – By working through an expanded network, you will become much more aware of opportunities, learn from other people's experiences, better understand the varying interests in your region, and allow you to better align your efforts with those of other municipalities.

However, regional economic cooperation does also have some challenges. These include:

• Politics – Political (and sometimes organizational) leadership structures often impede cooperation. By defining an undeniable mutual benefit from cooperation, politics can be overcome.
• A culture of independence and self-sufficiency – Many organizations feel that they can do things best on their own of that help from others is not required; however, by working together greater results can be achieved by all parties.
• Resistance to change/fear of failure – In order to combat the resistance to working with former competing regional partners, it is important to define a clear and compelling benefits-based call to action in order to win them over.
• Focusing on the wrong things – The focus of the cooperation should be on bettering the region as a whole, not on narrow or limiting goals such as developing real estate or supporting businesses. It is also important that it be recognized that prosperity for the region is less likely to be achieved through traditional economic development approaches and that innovative, outside-the-box thinking is required.

So, where does one start when considering regional economic cooperation? Here are some tips to get you on your way:

• Start small – Often the trust does not exist within a region to start with a large project such as a regional strategic plan. Start with a project that has broad support, and use that project to open the lines of communication and to build trust.
• Define your region – This is the tough part, and there is no singular right answer. In order for regional cooperation to be effective however, it is essential that the involved municipalities are faced with similar challenges and opportunities. In addition, the defined region must be geographically reasonable, and the local leaders must be willing.
• Set-up the framework – Identify a high-profile champion to lead. Make the decision-making process and expectations clear to all from the start.
• Ensure effective leadership – The leadership should have vision and influence. In addition, they should be able to facilitate meetings, promote and lead discussions, mediate and mitigate conflicts, create a neutral playing field, organize ideas, keep participants informed and engaged, keep the discussion relevant, and push the collective effort towards resolution.
• Communicate the process widely – From the beginning, ensure the process is transparent and communicated to both stakeholders and the public. Involve everyone early and often, ensure updates are communicated regularly.

Ultimately, the key to regional economic cooperation is to start talking - with colleagues, counterparts in other municipalities, and key stakeholders. Build the excitement and the support for cooperation. And once momentum is created, ensure it is maintained. Make regional economic cooperation a priority long-term initiative – and stick to it.

Remember what the economy looked like on May 13, 2006? That was the date of the last Canadian census for which we have published results... before a very significant decline in North American and Canadian manufacturing... before the auto manufacturing crisis, bailout, restructuring and subsequent recovery... before the collapse of the forestry sector... when gold hitting $700/ounce had pundits predicting a collapse in gold prices - ha!

So what relevance does 2006 data have as a descriptor of your current local economy? Not much, but yet the majority of economic development websites and profiles provide 2006 data!

Small wonder site selectors listed stale data as their top frustration when you think about the magnitude of changes in every economy since 2006!

But wait, the 2011 census data is coming - yes, it will slowly dribble out in 2012, and already a year old and in the "stale" category in terms of site selector needs for current year data.

So what is the solution? Reliable data estimates from reputable data mining companies. And how do you pick a reputable data mining company? Look for:

• Data specialists: their only business is data, and their reputation and repeat business depends on it;
• Depth of data mining: how many sources of data are utilized in the preparation of data values? How they mine the "gold” trends, correlations, nonlinearities in data to improve accuracy?
• Scope of data variables: Are you getting all the data you need for economic development and site selection purposes, or a small sub-set?
• Qualifications of the "data master”: What are the educational and experience qualifications of the person(s) behind the data modelling? What is the sophistication and cross-reliability of data modelling? Whether their methodologies are related to your business objectives?

Fortunately, in our quest to offer only the highest quality services and recommendations to you, we have completed this research and are pleased to share our conclusions with you. Yes, current year data estimates requires an investment - but it pales in comparison to the cost of one site selector taking a pass because of frustrating stale data, circa 2006.

This is the first of a series of blogs on Economic Development Marketing. Our experience working with Eric and the McSweeney team has introduced us to numerous communities – many of whom seem to face a similar challenge: ‘How do we attract new investment, while retaining our existing businesses?' At least a part of the answer: a good marketing plan.

An economic development marketing plan involves three components:

1. An assessment of your community's marketing preparedness
2. The development of marketing tools, tactics and timing
3. Evaluation and refinement

Marketing preparedness is when you compare your current marketing efforts with where you want to be, and confirm the target audiences identified in your economic development strategy. It's also a chance to assess whether your community's brand reflects your new future direction – or whether it needs to be enhanced or refined.

With your marketing preparedness assessment complete, strategies can be developed, tailored to each specific audience. The strategies will outline the ‘tools, tactics and timing' necessary to reach your marketing goals. They'll include identifying the right tools and knowing how and when to use them. Of course, tools will include tangible materials and well as media strategies, events and face-to-face selling. Ongoing evaluation and refinement on a regular basis keeps the plan dynamic and fresh.

The finished plan ought to be a fairly dynamic ‘road map', identifying what makes your community a unique place to live, work, play and invest in. It serves to guide the actions of staff and allows for measured results. An effective marketing plan is key to directing the effort that will help attract the right investment to your community.

Tom Graham – Principal + Creative Director of TD Graham + Associates Marketing Communications. http://www.tdgraham.com/. Contact tdgraham@tdgraham.com.

Ontario is generally considered to be the most advanced jurisdiction in Canada - and perhaps including the United States - in Municipal Cultural Planning. Part of the reason for this goes to the Municipal Cultural Planning Inc. (a unique conglomerate of private and public interests that supports and promotes cultural planning and research) and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The Ministry has been very supportive of cultural planning, and understands the economic benefits it can bring to local communities. In a unique program, the Ontario Ministry has been providing grants to towns, cities and counties, as well as First Nations and support groups, to undertake cultural planning projects, ranging from mapping to comprehensive community cultural plans. The program is called the Creative Communities Prosperity Fund (CCPF) and is a tremendous success. It is always over-subscribed. The program generally provides up to 80% of the cost for smaller municipalities, and up to 50% of the cost for larger communities.

This program offers brilliant leadership by a government ministry, and to the best of my knowledge is absolutely unique in North America. It is not surprising, therefore, that Ontario is such a leader in municipal cultural planning. This is a program and a concept that other provinces should be considering to assist their own towns and cities to undertake a municipal cultural plan.

GORD HUME. Author of "The Local Food Revolution” and other books. www.gordhume.com or email gord@gordhume.com

How do you know when it is time for a new community or economic development strategy? Here are a few telltale signs - any one of these should trigger the development of a new strategy.

1. Your last strategy was completed when faxing was the hot new technology. Or if the strategy is stored in archives, if nobody knows you have one, if you never have had one, or it is around here somewhere.
2. When the majority of action plans have been implemented or addressed – this typically takes 3-4 years.
3. When there are significant new opportunities and/or challenges presented in the broader economy, or in your community. For example, what new economic opportunities emerge as a result of newly installed broadband coverage for your entire rural community?
4. There is a lack of focus or lack of consensus on what the economic or community development priorities are. Perhaps the current strategy has far too many strategic themes and strategies – perhaps it is not strategic at all.
5. There is confusion, duplication, or worse, competition over who does what amongst your community and/or economic development partners.

My observation over the years is that the single greatest challenge to successful economic development is the lack of focus on a very limited number of opportunities. The process of developing a new strategy should solve all of the above issues and build community momentum and stakeholder support for action-oriented implementation over the next few years.

I am often asked by economic developers why a dedicated economic development site is so much better than a few pages on a municipal website. Here are 6 good reasons…

1. Get found! It is much easier to find your community and site selection information on a dedicated ED website than on sub-pages of a municipal website. Consider:
   1. A URL that says "InvestInMyTown.ca” or "MyCityForBusiness.ca” versus "MyTown/business/planninganddevelopment/index.php?page=152”.
   2. Search engines are better able to deep index all pages of a dedicated ED website with appropriate page URLs, page titles, page descriptions and meta-information. This means that individual pages of your dedicated ED website will show up in search results where the query is related to page content rather than general economic development. So if a potential investor searches "YourTown available properties”, the available properties page of a dedicated ED site will appear at the top of the search results. Pages of local residential real estate brokers are usually the top search results for queries on economic development pages within a municipal website.
2. Over 90% of site searches begin on the web. Site selectors may tap into a content rich website 7-9 times as they move through the search and due diligence phases of locating a project.
3. Messaging: Your investment is important to us. A dedicated website says that economic development is important to your community. What message is sent if economic development is buried three levels down in a municipal website, compared to your competitor's dedicated ED website?
4. Ease of navigation, content organization. In today's world of site selection, it is really an exercise in site elimination, which can occur in seconds by the way! Top site selector frustrations include poorly organized content, and navigation that is not simple, quick and intuitive. These objectives are extremely difficult to achieve when ED content is part of a much larger website, over which you have little control.
5. Flexibility and control of content, branding, and updates. When a clerk can't access the local network, and you want to provide an important property availability update on your portion of the municipal website, who will get the priority from the always over-worked IT staff? A dedicated ED website gives you control over content, when and how often it gets updated, and the branding to complement your marketing plan. A dedicated ED website encourages you to prepare appropriate content that is properly organized, more than a simple municipal economic development web page does.
6. Integration of social media. Social media, an integral part of your marketing strategy, should be driving people to your ED website, and not be hampered by the corporate IT rules and regulations.

This is the first blog for what will be regular blogs on Cultural Planning, Creative Cities and Economic Development—including Cultural and Culinary Tourism, the Local Food Revolution, and the CRINK Economy (Creative, Innovative, Knowledge-based).

I've been working on projects with Eric and his great team at McSweeney & Associates for a while now, and we share a very similar philosophy—that strong, prosperous communities are at the core of culturally advanced communities that offer a high quality of life. So a Municipal Cultural Plan has to understand and help lead the economic development and prosperity agenda for that municipality.

This is something that some consultants don't seem to get. Cultural Planning isn't about trying to build new arts edifices or promote some exclusive agenda—it is about a holistic approach to the community's needs, recognizing the strength of building and re-building neighbourhooods, advancing an agenda of change and progress, and ensuring that culture—in the broadest definition—becomes one of the four pillars of sustainability for Canadian towns and cities.

The process must also be driven from the ground up, not imposed from the top down. In other words, a broad, open and positive community engagement process must take place, and it must be an honest and responsive process.

The end result will be a solidly-grounded, community-based vision and plan that can aid the municipal council in its strategic, economic and community efforts. It's an exciting opportunity for towns and cities, and we'll explore some of the unique benefits, procedures and things to watch out for in this blog in the months ahead.

GORD HUME.   Author of "Cultural Planning for Creative Communities” and other books.  www.gordhume.com    or email gord@gordhume.com

• The need for up to date and complete data and information related to location and investment decision-making.
• The need for a comprehensive asset inventory – a documentation of a community's "resources and product offering” to support business investment.

The Community Profile is the embodiment of these two foundational elements of investment readiness. It is your "go-to” document for responding to all investment inquiries and responses. It is also the first point of reference in the decision maker or influencer's due diligence process of investment/site location decisions. It needs to be available in hard copy, as well as PDF format on your website and for emailing.

A good community profile is fact-packed, and should contain the following at minimum, as well as contact information for verification and follow up purposes:

• An attractive cover: the cover should convey a great first impression of your community – but the fluff ends here – after the cover, just the facts please.
• Contact information on the inside cover/second page and/or last or back page of community profile.
• Introduction: a concise introduction to your community's economic history, key competitive advantages, and other general information such as climate data.
• Maps: a location map displaying your community's location in relation to major markets, a transportation map indicating transportation links to/from your community, and a labour shed map.
• Demographics: current year demographic, education, and income data. Site selectors consider data older than one year to be useless - we can help you source this data.
• Labour force: current year labour force indicators, including labour force by occupation and industry, as well as labour force commuting patterns and the most recent wage rates by occupation.
• Key industries: top 10 private and public sector employers and number of employees.
• Transportation: a list of all major transportation assets and linkages.
• Taxes and utilities: current tax rates (personal, payroll, municipal, provincial, federal), current utility rates and connection fees.
• Building, planning, and development related processes, process times, and fees.
• Availability of business accommodations and property, with a link to where the most current information may be found.
• Business support programs and services such as employment and hiring services, labour force development institutions, government assistance, financial services, and incentives. Include other key assets (ie. research facilities).
• Quality of life: housing, health and social services, educational institutions, protective services, local media, and recreation, tourism, and cultural facilities/events.

If you would like to review examples of a well-designed community profile, please contact McSweeney & Associates.

Last week I was lending a hand during the Sudbury portion of the Think North ll Summit and was fortunate to catch the opening remarks by New Zealand speaker Stuart Trundle, as well as Ireland's John Gallagher. I was literally captivated by their enthusiastic and straight forward approach to regional and community economic development. Their messages were more than just moving, but extremely powerful, to say the least.

Stuart Trundle, Venture Taranaki Trust's chief executive, is responsible for leading the New Zealand regional economic development agency. During Stuart's presentation, he positioned Venture Taranaki Trust as a very progressive and aggressive economic development agency that focuses on getting only the best individuals to be part of the team – there are no compromises in terms of the best talent.

Speaking to a diverse crowd of Northern Ontario economic development stakeholders, the one aspect of Stuart's commentary that really hit home were his observations on Isolation being a Matter of Perspective. Often, one thinks of Northern Ontario communities as being isolated or distant from their markets, but compared to Taranaki, New Zealand (where cows outnumber residents 7 to 1 and whose closest neighbor is Antarctica), Northern Ontario is relatively strategic and only a short hop to most major North American markets.

What is investment readiness and why is there so much "buzz” around it?

Part of the reason is that there are many perceptions (and in some cases, misconceptions) as to what being investment ready means. Let's take a brief look at investment readiness (sometimes referred to as community competitiveness), and in future blogs, we will probe the various aspects of becoming more investment ready.

In a nutshell, "investment readiness” is the state of community preparedness and competitiveness to retain, grow, and attract business investment. Simple, right? What is difficult, however, is actually being investment ready. Having assessed dozens of communities, it is safe to say that all communities could be more investment ready. This was also the conclusion of a landmark report on Ontario's Local Economies in Transition Initiative.

So what are the 7 elements that contribute to investment readiness?

• Up to date, and complete data and information related to location and investment decision-making.
• A comprehensive asset inventory – a documentation of a community's "resources and product offering” (in the broadest of terms) that supports business relocations and expansions. Items could include natural resources, post-secondary institutions and research establishments.
• An understanding of the community's strengths, weaknesses, competitive advantages and disadvantages – generally, as well as for specific target sectors.
• Continued community improvements to increase overall quality of life and strengthen your community's "resources and product offering”.
• Communication tools, such as an economic development website, that make it easy to find data and information on your community and its assets – and that is easily accessible in different formats.
• The ability to understand, interpret and to respond comprehensively to investment inquiries (almost instantly!).
• The ability and willingness to orchestrate site visits, to "read” the client, to follow through on commitments, and to move the deal to a close.

Becoming investment ready is not a one-time effort – it requires constant and consistent time and attention, although there are tools available to save you time and effort. Maintaining your community's investment readiness supports strategy development and implementation, and is a foundation for any form of investment attraction program or activities. And, hence, that is why there is a "buzz” around investment readiness.

No matter the year or the decade, success boils down to LEADERSHIP – the ability to partner effectively for positive change. As communities across the globe are experiencing phenomenal game-changing circumstances affecting the economic, social, and environmental conditions we live in, the call for such leadership has never been greater…

Perhaps one of the more prolific game-changers has been the growing dispersion and adoption of information and communications technologies. This great global connector is enabling people and companies to locate just about anywhere in the world. And while communities once competed on cost for becoming a community of choice, today they compete on "quality of place” considerations. However, such considerations are not community-based but regional in nature. Therefore, a community's "globility” – that is, the ability to survive and thrive in the global marketplace – depends upon the ability to think, act, and compete regionally.

In recognition of this, the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario 2011 aims to foster exciting and groundbreaking partnerships among northern community and business leaders as they engage in regional strategic planning for economic development. In support of these endeavors, McSweeney & Associates reviewed 24 examples of regional programs from Canada as well as Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. A review of these examples and others reveals a myriad of value propositions for undertaking a regional approach to economic development, including but not limited to:

• Fosters a unified regional voice, identity, and brand.
• Enables communities to play in a world economy where regions (not individual communities) compete effectively.
• Strengthens existing industry competitiveness through access to other industry members and regional resources.
• Facilitates high-performance regions based on leveraging the collective regional strengths and assets where local communities share in the regional wealth and prosperity.
• Creates a sustainable partnership framework for working together and acting strategically…
• Enables communities to build their relationship capital with people beyond their borders…critical for surviving in a world where such relationships are only growing in importance.
• Develops a "neutral ground” for sharing knowledge and making joint decisions to address regional and local matters.
• Infuses local decision making with timely, relevant, and intelligence-based information affecting the region.
• Provides additive (as opposed to subtractive) value as it does not require local communities to give up their individuality, identity, or plans.
• Empowers communities to "do more with less” and to undertake previously impossible efforts, or those they could not do on their own.
• Fosters more efficient allocation of efforts, programs, deployment of resources, etc. and less duplication and associated unnecessary costs.
• Creates a stronger "sense of community” among people throughout the region…which fosters "staying power” among residents and businesses and is attractive to future investors.

Every community – no matter the size – has the potential to grow new firms, support existing industries, and attract new investment dollars. However, the fundamental truth is that their ability to be competitive for economic activities depends upon the partnerships and relationships they build regionally.

____________

Joy Wilkins is a frequent advisor, speaker, instructor, and author on economic development, strategic planning, and quality management topics. Currently, she is serving as a Senior Fellow with The University of Georgia's Fanning Institute when she contributes to the organization's efforts in leadership development and community capacity building. Previously, she served as Group Manager for Community Innovation Services at Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute. A Certified Economic Developer, Joy serves as a member of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Board of Directors and has served in the economic development profession since 1994.

Joy is collaborator and contributor to various McSweeney & Associates projects, and recently provided a significant contribution to a report prepared for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry on best practices in regional economic strategic planning.

• Between 2001 and 2008:

• The unemployment rate in PEC decreased while it increased in Ontario
• The employment rate increased in PEC while it declined in Ontario
• The rate of job creation (9.4%) in PEC was higher than in Ontario (6%)

• The annual value of issued commercial building permits climbed from $0.8 M to $7.0 M in five years
• 36% of the jobs created in PEC in a five year period were in culture, compared to only 4.6% in Ontario, and 11% nationally
• The 230 PEC jobs created between 2001 and 2006 in culture represents an increase of 96% in cultural employment, compared to an increase in cultural employment in Ontario of only 4%
• Tourism and cultural are intrinsically linked in PEC: person visits to PEC increased 93% in 6 years, while Ontario visits declined 4.6% in the same period
• PEC Tourism employment grew 13.5% in a five year period while declining 11.7% in Ontario over the same period.