How digital solutions are helping economic developers do more with less

Last week, we had the pleasure of returning to the Economic Developers Council of Ontario Annual Conference 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. We reunited with many long-term clients and formed new connections with economic developers that will carry us into the future. We also had the opportunity to gain a few key insights into the hurdles many are currently facing. 

If you’re an economic development officer, you understand the challenge that comes with managing your economic development online presence. Especially if you’re doing the job solo. 

During the 2-day conference, our team engaged in many in-depth discussions with economic developers to gain a better understanding of how they are leveraging their online presence, opportunities they may be missing, and how they can fully optimize their digital efforts. We also learned of some of the day-to-day challenges they are facing, such as: 

• How to keep website content current without relying on third party providers 
• How to promote portfolios and offerings with limited budget and resources 
• How to encourage other online users to share ecdev initiatives across channels  
• How to increase online visibility to make the top of search engine results 
• How to support existing local businesses with accessible and secure tools 

Economic developers clearly understand the importance of being online. However, most struggle to keep up with the constantly evolving digital requirements of a robust online presence.  Some of their challenges have been mentioned above, but the biggest challenge is that most officers are stretched too thin with many other competing projects. 

So how can economic developers start doing more with less? 

We shared some useful tips in our Knowledge Pod Presentation on “Driving Economic Growth with Web Design and Digital Tools”. We talked about using a platform that empowers economic development officers to control their web content – from adding alert banners to editing content. We talked about how they can promote initiatives through a calendar and how they can leverage design layouts to showcase their ecdev offerings. We also shared with them how using a secure, accessible platform can greatly enhance their economic development efforts. 

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