Article: Perception is a Critical Factor in Cities' Efforts to Attract New Businesses

Public Relations is all about influencing perception. It is about managing your organization's reputation and ensuring that key people and groups hold an accurate, favorable view of you. With that in mind, I thought this article from ExpansionManagement.com might interest you: 2007 AMERICA’S 50 HOTTEST CITIES: Perception Is a Critical Factor in Attracting Expanding Companies.


A few key points from the article:

- Companies that are contemplating an expansion or relocation of their manufacturing facility, headquarters or back office operations have a certain set of criteria they use to make the most informed decision possible.

- As the list of potential sites narrows to the final two or three, you’ll likely find that each one ranks very highly in your criteria — the tangible. So, how do you choose the very best site based on your company’s expansion needs?

- At this point it comes down to perception — the intangible. How does a particular city feel to the executive who ultimately has to make the decision of where to expand or relocate?

- Nobody knows better than the cities themselves that perception is an important site location consideration to business executives. Cities also know it is important to have good relationship with the consultants who often represent these executives.