Your Business Resource for Greenville Metro and Upstate South Carolina

It's an exciting time for the Upstate of South Carolina. From an economic development standpoint, more and more companies that had delayed capital investment will begin to loosen the purse strings to fund future growth. And while the same is true for many of the regions across the country and around the world against which the Upstate competes to attract economic investment projects, we are already ahead of the curve in executing a strategic recruiting effort.

Throughout the current recession, our region has garnered more than its share of investment dollars thanks to the collaborative efforts of the South Carolina Department of Commerce, Upstate SC Alliance and various local economic development entities. In 2010 alone, more than $1.85 billion in capital investment was secured and over 6,600 new jobs were recruited to our region.

But Upstate SC Alliance, the marketing engine behind the region's collective economic development efforts, and its economic development partners are not resting on yesterday's successes. We're already hard at work to make 2011 a banner year for the region. So far Upstate SC Alliance has delivered more than 60 presentations — 27 in the month of March alone — to prospective domestic and foreign interests seeking relocation or expansion opportunities in the Upstate region. Those efforts are already paying off, with more than $140 million in capital investment and over 700 jobs recruited to the Upstate through the first quarter of 2011.

To stay ahead of the curve, the Alliance recently began a one-of-a-kind branding and recruitment campaign aimed at showcasing the region. This program pairs traditional marketing techniques with newer methods to blanket our region's message.

Traditionally, economic development organizations send postcards, flyers or pick up the phone to help draw attention to available properties. Last year Upstate SC Alliance call program conducted over 3,000 phone calls to land four projects. We believe 2011 is the perfect opportunity to catalyze economic growth in this region and laser-focuses our recruitment message while targeting the most appropriate industries for relocation to the Upstate.

To that end, the Alliance has designed four microsites on its website dedicated to its target markets — advanced materials, automotive, biosciences and energy — that showcase not only individual properties but the region as a whole. These microsites contain information specific to the industry, along with properties selected by the Alliance's member counties that matched the targeted category.

What makes this program unique is its multi-faceted approach to reaching company decision makers. It targets industry-specific needs where we can capture their attention by showing we understand their needs and by demonstrating the Upstate possesses the assets that fulfill those needs. Through this program, the Alliance will call more than 500 companies, send more than 500 direct mail pieces and generate more than one million web impressions. We can track the program's results plus we can trace the impression to see how many hits on the microsites.

Along with the microsite and direct mail strategies, the Alliance is conducting an Internet advertising program to drive traffic to the microsites. These efforts are shining the spotlight on the business advantages in Upstate South Carolina and showcasing "best fit" properties for those target industries.

Whether it's the Clinton Park Corporate Center III targeting automotive business in Laurens County, the 18 Mile Road site in Pickens County pointed at the energy sector, the Betsy Tucker site aimed at attracting advanced materials companies to Anderson County or positioning Greenville's Matrix Park as a prime site for biosciences, the Alliance's property promotion campaign will highlight that particular product, from infrastructure and workforce to tax rates, with the goal of securing capital investment and adding jobs. Toss in an aggressive timeline, and this new property promotion campaign is going to keep attention laser focused on the Upstate.

To complement this program, Upstate SC Alliance also reorganized its staff to better align individual skillsets with the demands and challenges of marketing the Upstate. The Alliance's marketing efforts have always been focused on relationships, meaning face-to-face time with key decision makers and presenting the business case on why Upstate South Carolina is the location of choice. This realignment will allow key individuals to build broader and deeper relationships within our four target industries for mining economic investment opportunities.

In today's world, with fierce competition for jobs, a community must differentiate itself among the rest. The Alliance is doing just that by keeping our area front and center with those that have influence over a company's expansion or relocation plans. Upstate SC Alliance's marketing calendar is filled up through the second quarter with tradeshows, conferences and events. At the time of this publication, representatives will attend Expansion Management Magazine's roundtable conference in Hilton Head and make a company recruiting trip to the New York City area, while Upstate SC Alliance president and CEO Hal Johnson will have traveled to Atlanta for a panel discussion featuring several site location consultants.

The Upstate is home to some of the world's most forward-thinking companies, including world leaders in the development and application of cutting-edge technologies in a multitude of industries. We feel the time is right, and so is the Upstate, to apply the same ingenuity to ramping up and streamlining the recruiting process to lure economic opportunities to the region. Creating and executing a more effective marketing and branding campaign is helping us tell the Upstate story to the rest of the world.