Best Practices

Lesson #4: Soak Up All the Articles and Webinars You Can

One of my biggest regrets is that while a BRE manager, I so infrequently stopped to read helpful articles and sit in on webinars. Many would call this a millennial mindset (even though I would argue fully against it), but … Read More

Lesson #3: Social Media Is Your Friend

This one is very straight forward but not well utilized. Social media can help you promote your community and various business activities. Have you gone on Twitter and searched #EconDev lately? If you do, you’ll find interesting economic development news … Read More

Lesson #2: Keep Your Data and Website Current

I can’t stress this enough: in the world of economic development data and statistics change fast. Really fast. In fact, by the time you update your website, you have probably received new info and need to change it again. I … Read More

Lesson #1: Regionalism

The benefit in supporting your neighboring communities is something that I picked up on as an economic developer. However, I truly did not understand the real value until I turned to consulting. It is easy to get caught up in … Read More

The Top 6 Lessons I've Learned in the First 6 Months of ED Consulting

Six months ago I made a big move: I left my position as an economic developer for a community that I had invested my heart and soul in for three years to become an economic development consultant at Impact DataSource. … Read More

Economic Developer’s Guide to Pokemon Go

If you’ve ventured out from behind your desk over the past week, you’ve noticed how the new Pokemon Go app has taken over. We’ve all seen those posts on social media of different Pokemon with a backdrop of our real … Read More

Confessions from an Economic Development Economist

In the spirit of Economic Development Secrets, I’m going to get real real right now. I’m going to give you some insight you might not expect to hear from me. It’s okay if you don’t prepare a full impact analysis … Read More

Questions and Answers on the New IEDC EDRP Data Standards

Last month IEDC’s Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP) published a great new document for economic developers called “A New Standard: Achieving Data Excellence in Economic Development”. The document builds on the 2002 Site Selection Data Standards that were developed when … Read More

Business Retention & Expansion X-Ray

Evaluating Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) projects can be confusing. How does an economic developer illustrate the value of a BRE project without shortchanging or overstating the impact? This is why we developed the BRE X-Ray tool that allows economic … Read More

Webinar: Economic Development Metrics for Success

We all know the general facts about our community – largest employers, tax rates, utilities, occupancy rates – but when a major project gives you an RFP that really gets into the weeds and very little time to submit it … Read More