Winning Mindshare: The PR Advantage to Securing Site Selection Deals

In today’s hyper-competitive market for business attraction and expansion, perception often shapes reality. How do site selectors, executives, and investors view your
community—and how can you influence those impressions?
This session will explore how economic development organizations can use strategic
public relations campaigns to get on, and stay on, decision-makers’ radars. We’ll
discuss practical tactics like positioning your region as “project-ready,” placing thought
leadership pieces in targeted industry news outlets, and hosting in-market media visits
in the vein of site selector tours. You’ll also learn how to align messaging with current
industry trends and use earned media as a tool to highlight your community’s assets.
Importantly, we’ll cover the latest approaches to monitoring and analyzing how your
place is being perceived—so you can adjust public relations strategies in real time. Walk
away with actionable insights on how storytelling and smart media engagement can
shape market perceptions and strengthen your economic development competitive
edge.
Learning Objectives:

• Understand how PR strategies can directly support site selection and business attraction by influencing perceptions of a community.
• Learn practical tactics to position your region as “project-ready,” from thought leadership placements to in-market media visits.
• Gain insights into monitoring and analyzing how your community is perceived in the media and among decision-makers, and how to adjust strategies accordingly.
• Develop actionable ideas to align messaging with current industry trends and strengthen your region’s competitive edge.