Challenges yield opportunities. The global economy is certainly facing multiple difficulties right now, and as any successful investor can tell you, that makes this a good time to prepare for the inevitable turnaround.
The South Carolina I-77 Alliance is doing just that. Our job is to collaborate with public and private stakeholders to help recruit new and existing companies to establish or expand operations here in the five counties from Charlotte to Columbia.
We do that by adding value in some very fundamental ways to the recruitment process. That includes sourcing, identifying, and targeting specific companies considering corporate expansion. We also focus on data-driven marketing and branding of our region as an ideal location for economic growth.
Those strategies underpin what we do and they don’t change as we move through economic cycles. The tactics vary depending on conditions – such as pandemic-induced travel shutdowns – yet our approach remains consistent.
We also have specific goals for each of our three primary strategies for the year:
- A 15% increase in leads sourced by the Alliance.
- A 10% increase in projects supported by the Alliance.
- A 10% increase in social media engagement and website traffic.
How will we achieve these? We detail our tactics in the annual plan our board adopted last fall – you can view it here. They include using the best people and the best technology to get the job done. The former includes engagement with both our local private sector ambassador network and with the robust Southeast commercial real estate and site selection network, as well as third-party lead generation experts.
The technology? We use B2B sales intelligence platforms, our own trove of market data, and sophisticated analytics tools to create and target audiences as effectively and efficiently as possible through multiple digital channels.
In addition, we plan to ramp up face-to-face activity through trips and visits this year. We look forward to sharing with you in the months ahead how our holistic approach to lead generation and economic development has helped our five counties – Richland, Fairfield, Chester, Lancaster, and York – add to our region’s impressive list of announcements.
Those announcements are from companies who have taken the long view of their market opportunities and our community’s ability to help deliver on that promise. Invest locally, compete globally. That’s a motto for us, and now is a great time to show why the I-77 corridor is a great place to commit time, money, and people for future growth.
