Thinking Through It
Attracting investment interest into existing and start-up businesses helps support local economic growth. While the town is rural and many people still have homespun skills such as hunting, trapping and fishing it is nevertheless still dependent on the wider market (We have high tech and skilled labor as well). We are just a little less dependent than many other places. 😀 While Escanaba might be unique one could also consider some of the parallels with other small towns across the U.P. (lumberjacks unite!)
Writing about investment in area and the U.P can have an impact on development in a digital world where anyone can see those topical articles. Good content attracts webpage hits and meaningful content attracts the right kind of visitors (The one's that will act...i.e. investors, vacationers, entrepreneurs). The goal is to attract people who want that information and are willing to create opportunities.
The beauty of the online world is that one can pull metrics from online visits that could influence real life economic growth. In essence, if online conversation about local businesses increases there will likely be an increase in investment (Sounds like a good economic study. If you want to explore that option leave me a message and I can share some thoughts on that.). How to Measure Marketing Content Success Generally the more buzz and conversation, the more likely the right information will reach the right people and lead to a positive action (there is research on how media buzz works and on investment decision making.)
Exploring Stock Strategy
If you have been following along for a while I created an investment portfolio to test out different stocks strategies. This study caugh my interest. According to some research stocks have a lot of emotional triggers associated with them. Psychological Health of Investors and Stock Market Linked, Ball State University Study Finds If I'm going to invest I should feel happy about it. I have heard in other places mood impacts choice and consumer choice.
Where is my experimental stock portfolio? It is at about 77% which is down from its high about 90% during an upswing but higher than the 70% I had last time I reported. That could be a good indication of a hedge because stocks went down on recent news over the past few days and my portfolion went down less than a percent which is what I would consider in the normal fluctuating range. Dow Rebounds I think that if one were to offer more information on local companies that one can invest in, it might make sense to include a few companies within this portfolio to hedge.
It would be interesting for the local newspaper to write a column about "Invest in Escanaba Companies" or "Company of the Month" or "Start-ups that Sizzle" or something like those. 🤔 It may help raise some exposure, create a historical piece, and inform the comunity to give a good start. It could snap some global interest. No promises but if poeple searching online for those topics don't find the inforation they are unlikely to randomly pick the place for investment.
To answer the question of whether business content can improve economic activity? Yes, if the articles are neutral, factual, informative, talks about entrepreneurial experience,etc. there is a way to create great local news that introduces local businesses to locals as well as possibly attract investment interest. That is a win-win for the business owner, the customer, and available organic information available for vacationers and investors. Inform would be a word more beneficial than sell. The same can often be said for government websites that could provide a landing page for information investors need.
Highlighting investable businesses gets a shingle out globally. Just a few thoughts.