What are the marketing opportunities in 2.5 hrs of Roanoke?
June 7th, 2007 by Biz2Biz
MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES GALORE in VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA! That's what those attending the Biz2Biz Leaders "Forum Creating a Regional Presence" learned at the Wednesday event.
Matt Martin, Economist, Federal Reserve Bank in Charlotte, NC and Carl Mitchell, CEO, Virginia Economic Bridge shared facts and figures supporting the opportunities that Roanoke area businesses can tap into.
Matt Martin outlined the characteristics that made North Carolina an attractive area for Roanoke businesses to expand to. He presented some impressive charts showing the growth of North Carolina cities compared to that of Roanoke. Roanoke was behind in the population and employment growth, however, homeownership in Roanoke was among the highest in the metro cites he compared which shows the stability of Roanoke residents. I found it interesting that the percentage of Roanoke adults 25+ with BA degrees was the lowest of the cities. I have uploaded Matt's presentation for those who would like to review his facts and figures.
Carl Mitchell showed how the Virginia Economic Bridge has developed resources to help businesses in southwest Virginia create a regional presence. He outlined many tools that are available to Virginia businesses. One website, www.SWVAonline.org shows statistical data for each southwest Virginia region. Carl noted how new businesses to southwest Virginia are using this site to attract and recruit employees. Virginia Business Pipeline is also a great marketing tool for area businesses. It is an online business directory for Virginia businesses to market products and services throughout The Commonwealth. To see other tools and resources available through the Virginia Economic Bridge see Carl Mitchell's complete presentation.
I will continue this post later with some additional tools and presentations from other speakers at the event, including marketing and branding solutions when expanding to a new market area.