By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Out of the eight counties in Tammy Whaley’s territory, Rowan County is drawing more interest from companies than nearly any other, said the economic development manager for Duke Energy.
“Rowan County is one of the top most active counties,” said Whaley, who helps companies find places to expand or relocate.
Whaley’s assessment came as welcome news to business and nonprofit leaders gathered Wednesday for a strategic planning event hosted by RowanWorks Economic Development.
But to help seal the deal and lure those potential job-creators and tax-base boosters, local organizations need to do a better job of marketing the Salisbury-Rowan area, participants said.
Salisbury-Rowan’s quality of life — from the cost of living to a vibrant downtown to the fastest Internet in the state — can make the difference when a company is choosing between two equal locations, said Robert Van Geons, executive director for RowanWorks.
“We need to pull in all those differentiating things and sell the heck out of them,” Van Geons said during the meeting at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Ideas included:
• Push Fibrant, the city’s new high-speed broadband utility.
Randy Hemann, executive director for Downtown Salisbury Inc., said he’s still convinced Fibrant is an important economic development tool, and leaders should work together to determine how best to use the service to draw new businesses.
“It’s something other people don’t have,” Hemann said.
Several people mentioned Fibrant as an untapped marketing tool, saying the community hasn’t spread the word about the $33 million fiber optic network available inside Salisbury city limits.
Dr. Carol Spalding proved the point when she looked up Salisbury on Wikipedia and found no mention of Fibrant but repeated references to the Civil War.
• Put up a sign on Interstate 85 to advertise the county’s stalled Summit Corporate Center.
• Upgrade Summit and other sites to make them more attractive to potential industry, including building access roads and grading lots.
• Launch a business incubator.
Salisbury Mayor Paul Woodson pitched his pet project, where entrepreneurs and start-up companies would share space and office equipment at little or no cost for a year.
Van Geons has identified potential grant money to get an incubator up and running but said there are still unresolved issues, such as where to put it and who would manage it.
• Hire a marketing manager. The EDC plans to bring one on this year, the agency’s fourth full-time employee.
Van Geons, who is accepting resumes at info@rowanworks.com, said he can fund the position for two years using fund balance and increased contributions from Rowan County, Salisbury and some municipalities. Beyond that, Van Geons said he needs to find more money to keep the marketing manager on staff.
• Work more closely with regional real estate brokers who often have inside information about upcoming company moves, as well as connections to the hotel industry.
• Better market the Rowan County Airport, including promoting space for hangers and opportunity for aerospace companies.
• Inventory and list all land for sale in Salisbury and Rowan County.
“We need to make sure that as part of this retail push that every available parcel is listed everywhere,” Van Geons said.
• Better distribute data.
The EDC has “a ton of good data on demographics and retail sales, but we need to proactively share that with stakeholders,” Van Geons said.
• Identify signature community events and work together to make them successful.
Greg Edds, chairman of the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce, said the Biker Blues & BBQ Rally at Tilley Harley-Davidson Sept. 20-22 has “tremendous potential to turn out 20,000 to 30,000 people.”
• Take advantage of location.
Salisbury has the most population within an hour’s drive of any place in North Carolina, Hemann said. The area is ideally suited as a location for sales people who need access to Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Greensboro.
“We have got to capitalize on that,” he said.
• Offer social media training to existing businesses so they can use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other websites as low-cost and effective marketing tools.
“There is a desire and hunger to do more,” said James Meacham, executive director for the Salisbury-Rowan Convention and Visitors Bureau, who offered to help make the business community more social media savvy.
While Whaley wouldn’t divulge the names of companies considering Salisbury-Rowan, she urged leaders to continue focusing on the community as a product. She commended Van Geons for aggressively pursuing new industries.
“Counties willing to work and think proactively are the counties that are getting activity,” Whaley said.
In a post-recession environment where competition for new jobs is fierce, positive relationships between stakeholders and local government are critical, she said.
Companies that pick up on “anything negative” will cross Salisbury-Rowan off their list, she said.
“They’ve got too much to do and too many places they could go,” Whaley said. “They’re not going to stop and look at you.”
All the more reason to work together, said Jackie Harris, marketing director at Rowan County United Way, who lauded partnerships as “the only way to go.”
Salisbury-Rowan needs to collaborate “instead of being more like kingdoms, and sometimes we are,” Harris said. “We can do a whole lot more together than we can apart.”
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.