Tapping into Alumni’s Fond Remembrances

I found it! I finally found it! For years I have been preaching to economic development groups that they had a HUGE untapped resource that no one was tapping into. But various groups, all protecting their turf (I call it “silo mentality”), prevented towns from exploiting it. I hoped to find an example of someone who was mining this fantastic database, but searched in vain. Until today!

I was in Spokane, WA for the Inland Northwest Partners, a regional ED group in NE WA and Northern ID. Maury Forman, renowned author of numerous economic development books, coordinates the group. The theme of the conference was “Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit & Reaping the Benefits”. One of the great benefits of traveling all over the country giving talks on my book, is being able to attend conferences like this and meeting some very passionate, dedicated economic development pros.

Spokane has figured it out and worked thru various egos to market their city to alumni of area universities. They are doing funky post cards that various ED groups in the city can use in this campaign (www.movetospokane.com). They also are attending alumni events, profiling recent returnees in alumni magazines and promoting the city at sporting events around the country.

They sent a “With over one billion dollars invested in the Spokane region you may not recognize it…Relax, Dick’s Drive-In is still here” large post card to 300 local alumni in Washington, DC. They had 50 attend a reception, have already had one move back to Spokane and two others contemplating a move back.

A “Sure, 76 surrounding lakes may be a bit excessive, but you’ll have to take that one up with mother nature” post card aimed at Southern California had a firm with 4 partners in the financial services industry move to Seattle.

Their most popular post card is one that says, “I love traffic” on the front and points out that the average commute time in most major cities is about 45 minutes compared to 20 minutes in Spokane.

Ritzville, WA, a small town of 2,000 that is 60 miles west of Spokane, is doing a similar campaign with their high school grads. They have 3 former grads that are today Fortune 500 CEOs and hope to tap into them and other former grads fond memories of their hometown.

Why doesn’t every ED group in America do this?