If we’re going to sell our area as tech-savvy and welcoming to
out-of-area business, then developing a website for the Economic
Development Corp. should have been a top priority long ago and it
deserves a more urgent level of attention today.
If we’re going to sell our area as tech-savvy and welcoming to out-of-area business, then developing a website for the Economic Development Corp. should have been a top priority long ago and it deserves a more urgent level of attention today.
The local EDC has been busy the past two years revamping the office under President Nancy Martin, who joined the nonprofit organization – which primarily acts as the lead recruiter for new business – in the fall of 2008.
One of the first stated priorities under the new leadership at the time was to update the EDC website – which seems like a no-brainer considering the ever-increasing use of the Internet to market businesses and, for places like San Benito County, areas where companies can expand. Two years later, the website still remains on the To-Do List, and that’s a problem.
Martin when questioned about the lacking online presence acknowledged that it is an important tool but she attributed the delay to lacking funds and said a competitive website would cost $30,000, a gross exaggeration. At the same time, however, the EDC recently spent $25,000 on a paper brochure with relatively limited reach – which markets attributes such as the county’s cattle ranching and agricultural heritage while highlighting the existing business parks that house bio-technology and research firms.
After the EDC finished the brochure, Martin earlier this month touted how it is the first of its kind for San Benito County. Unfortunately, that mentality fits in line with the generalization that this area continues to lag behind the times. Compare the two investments, a brochure or website, and there is little doubt that one provides a far more expansive and long-term marketing opportunity and more potential as a living base for recruitment. Brochures are nice, and the EDC’s has a highly professional quality to it, but they do little to reach the seemingly infinite realm of interstate and overseas industry.
Jumping at the chance at over-spending on a paper brochure with little shelf life – and all but ignoring the website development – is kind of like getting excited about buying an expensive typewriter when everyone else is using Wi-Fi on their laptops.
The absurdity as a whole comes back to the logic that in today’s global economy, as electronic communications are off and running as the preferred and most convenient form of commerce, San Benito County stands little chance against a tough slate of competition as local economies are racing furiously to get a leg up on other areas. Imagine a company in Omaha, or Japan for that matter, having ideas to move to this region and considering a cursory list of initial choices by way of the Internet.
Launching a website soon must be a priority for the EDC – and by extension, the Hollister and San Benito County governments who fund a large portion of the organization’s annual budget – or else this area will just fall further behind the competition.
