You have to admire the pluckiness of Truro, Nova Scotia. They’re on a bit of growth curve and they have been running billboard advertisments in Moncton for quite some time. The first round of ads talked about Colchester County as “Where Business Moves” and this new round is about Colchester County as “Where People Move to”.
I haven’t worked with the folks at CORDA in a while but I was impressed when I did a few years ago.
They are doing a few smart things:
1. They have integrated business attraction and people attraction into their marketing. This is the approach now taken by leading economic development organizations.
2. They have integrated business attraction and people attraction into their ED efforts. If they can show business a demonstrated ability to attract people, it will be far easier to attract business.
3. They are leveraging their hub status at the centre of the Halifax-Moncton Corridor.
It’s easy for smaller, rural regions to sit back and wait for the province or feds to drop a few fat plums in their laps. But that is happening less and less these days. Even small communities need to take more control over their economic development and I applaud Truro and Colchester County for their efforts.