Gem State Prospector
Creating Better Visibility for Idaho Properties
The internet is affecting the process of economic development, community marketing and business attraction.
A 2006 survey of economic developers by Angelou Economics showed that the internet is the number one most effective marketing tool. If a community does not have a website presence with accurate and up-to-date information, site selectors will move to communities that do. Communities may never even know they were eliminated during this first step.
A survey conducted by UC Berkeley in 2008 again showed that websites were reported by site selectors to be the first point of contact during the site selection process.
Quality property and site selection information is critical as new information shows over ninety percent of the initial site selection screening is done using the Internet Virtually all site selection searches conducted by expert intermediaries begin with a web site search before a contact of any other kind.
GSP technology allows site locators to collect information in real time, run robust reports in minutes, compared to the old way that took days making contacts and gathering needed data. Business and marketing intelligence including demographics, industry and geographic data used to take months to collect when leafing through reams of Census Bureau reports.
Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping as an effective economic development tool to showcase the unique characteristics of both large and small communities and strengthens the ability to connect communities with companies or investors.
GSP goes beyond a simple database of available sites and buildings. It provides needed site selection analysis information that businesses require to identify the unique geographic advantages and business opportunities in an area.
GSP dramatically speeds up the process of finding the optimal location for businesses by efficiently answering core questions that businesses have when making site selection decisions:
- What buildings and land are available in the community?
- What are the market characteristics (demographics, workforce, spending patterns, etc.)?
The website features a user-friendly interface that allows users to view Idaho properties using industry standards like Google Earth and Google Maps Street View, and to calculate demographic reports around available properties based on specifics such as distance and drive time. Users can now share any of the available reports about the community with their entire online network, across a whole host of social networking environments, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace. This feature is available for all property, demographic, consumer expenditure, business, and labor force and community profile reports on the site.
Businesses no longer have to research Census Bureau reports for demographic information or contact multiple city departments for basic data and documents.
For businesses, the site answers four questions:
- Is there available property?
- Is there a market for my business to succeed?
- What is the competition or synergy for my business at the specific site?
- What are the geographic advantages?