August 30, 2004
The Pine Tree pitch | The state begins marketing its economic incentive program
By Sara Donnelly
Since Gov. John Baldacci announced his Pine Tree Zone incentive program in March, the initiative designed to attract businesses to economically depressed areas of the state has picked up a respectable bit of steam. According to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, 18 companies from Maine and beyond have been certified to receive the various tax breaks and economic incentives associated with the program, and more than 70 are looking into certification.
State officials are pleased with the progress thus far, saying their long-term goal is simply increasing business activity in the Pine Tree Zones. But to do so, they've got to let businesses in Maine and across the country ˆ even across the border ˆ know that the zones, and the incentives that go along with them, exist.
That's why on Sept. 1, the DECD officially will launch a new marketing campaign designed by Augusta-based Nancy Marshall Communications to draw media attention to the Pine Tree Zone program. DECD Marketing Director Elaine Scott, who oversees the PTZ project, says getting word out about the zone incentives will help paint Maine as a good place to do business. "We want businesses to say, 'Hey, we want to come to Maine,'" says Scott. "We want businesses to expand [into the state]."
However, getting that message out isn't as simple as it may appear. First, there's the matter of funding: Nancy Marshall Communications has been allocated just $100,000 for the marketing campaign, which aims to get coverage in the regional and national media. On top of that, economic incentives such as the program's five-year, 100% state corporate income tax credit, while appealing to businesses, don't exactly make for exciting headlines. And, perhaps more significantly, the firm must distinguish the incentives available in Maine from those offered in dozens of other states, at a time when Maine's business climate has been the subject of much criticism. (See "Red alert," April 12.)
Nancy Marshall believes the way around those challenges is not in the zones themselves ˆ on their own, she says, they can seem pretty bland. Instead, she's focusing her promotional efforts on success stories of businesses that moved into the areas and are taking advantage of the incentives. "I've been doing this long enough to know you can't just call a newspaper and say, 'Hey, do you want to do a story on our Pine Tree Zones?'" says Marshall. "There has to be a story."
And she believes narrative gold can be found in the business profiles included in her media kit, which she updates regularly via e-mail, about companies like video game manufacturer HoloDek Gaming Inc., which recently moved from Hampton, N.H., to Sanford to take advantage of the PTZ initiatives. One of Marshall's pet goals is to figure out a way to plug a successful PTZ business into the opening paragraph of a Wall Street Journal story. If such a company can be used to exemplify a positive national trend, Marshall believes the initiative might then register on the national business radar.
In addition, given the proliferation of rival programs in other states, Scott says the PTZ marketing campaign is distinguishing itself in part by wooing businesses in industries, such as aquaculture and forestry, that might feel especially at home in Maine. "We're not trying to be everything to everybody," she says.
Quality, not quantity
Nancy Marshall has been in the business of marketing Maine for more than a decade. Her company has held contracts with the Office of Tourism since 1993 and the Office of Business Development since 1996. (To increase efficiency, those contracts were combined this year into one, which Marshall Communications was awarded for a one-year period in mid-August.)
Traditionally, Marshall relies heavily on public relations through the media ˆ her agency disseminates press releases, coordinates press conferences and generally works its media contacts to get Maine stories into the public eye. While New York-based Warren Kremer Paino markets the state tourism industry primarily via paid advertising, Marshall's contract focuses almost solely on obtaining free media exposure. Marshall says this approach is both cost-effective and smart: People are more likely to pay attention to articles that are perceived as impartial than to ads, which are necessarily slanted, she says.
Her attitude toward the Pine Tree Zone campaign, which she began preparing in January, is no different. She conducted a competitive analysis of the 40-odd other states with similar initiatives ˆ including New York, New Hampshire and California ˆ and decided to avoid advertising given her limited funding. "With the budget we had, we could have advertised like three times in the Wall Street Journal and called it good," says Marshall.
Instead, she created a hefty media kit that includes maps of the Pine Tree Zones, press releases on the project, descriptions of the zones and a CD including images and descriptions of company success stories. In late July, she sent the kit to her target publications, including newspapers such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and national magazines such as Fast Company and Forbes.
Much of her effort was focused on New England dailies, as the DECD expects most businesses interested in the PTZ initiatives will originate from neighboring states. To date, though, none of the publications have followed up on the media kit. Marshall's next step is to send publicists to meet with journalists in Boston and New York, a face-to-face method she hopes will be more successful than the mailings.
David Swardlick of Swardlick Marketing Group in Portland has managed numerous marketing campaigns over the past 20 years for both the state Office of Tourism and the Office of Business Development. Media relations, he says, can be effective ˆ the trouble is convincing an editor your story is worth telling. "The challenge in any media relations campaign is to find something newsworthy or something that is considered to be new or innovative or of special interest to the readers of the publication in question," says Swardlick. "It requires unique packaging."
Marshall will track her progress through a monthly update to the DECD that will list the number of media segments promoting Maine as a business or travel destination, the number of media interviews arranged, the number of journalist visits to the state and the calculated advertising equivalency of this free press. The PTZ marketing leg of the contract will be reassessed next June. Scott says its success will be judged not by the number of businesses that respond but by the depth of their understanding of the program. "This is quality, not quantity," she says. "The key thing is to make businesses and people aware that the program is available."
In the meantime, Marshall says the campaign is all about promoting fiscal opportunity. If the Pine Tree Zone incentives make a difference for a company, then executives will think about relocating. "It all has to do with the dollars and cents," she says.
State officials are pleased with the progress thus far, saying their long-term goal is simply increasing business activity in the Pine Tree Zones. But to do so, they've got to let businesses in Maine and across the country ˆ even across the border ˆ know that the zones, and the incentives that go along with them, exist.
That's why on Sept. 1, the DECD officially will launch a new marketing campaign designed by Augusta-based Nancy Marshall Communications to draw media attention to the Pine Tree Zone program. DECD Marketing Director Elaine Scott, who oversees the PTZ project, says getting word out about the zone incentives will help paint Maine as a good place to do business. "We want businesses to say, 'Hey, we want to come to Maine,'" says Scott. "We want businesses to expand [into the state]."
However, getting that message out isn't as simple as it may appear. First, there's the matter of funding: Nancy Marshall Communications has been allocated just $100,000 for the marketing campaign, which aims to get coverage in the regional and national media. On top of that, economic incentives such as the program's five-year, 100% state corporate income tax credit, while appealing to businesses, don't exactly make for exciting headlines. And, perhaps more significantly, the firm must distinguish the incentives available in Maine from those offered in dozens of other states, at a time when Maine's business climate has been the subject of much criticism. (See "Red alert," April 12.)
Nancy Marshall believes the way around those challenges is not in the zones themselves ˆ on their own, she says, they can seem pretty bland. Instead, she's focusing her promotional efforts on success stories of businesses that moved into the areas and are taking advantage of the incentives. "I've been doing this long enough to know you can't just call a newspaper and say, 'Hey, do you want to do a story on our Pine Tree Zones?'" says Marshall. "There has to be a story."
And she believes narrative gold can be found in the business profiles included in her media kit, which she updates regularly via e-mail, about companies like video game manufacturer HoloDek Gaming Inc., which recently moved from Hampton, N.H., to Sanford to take advantage of the PTZ initiatives. One of Marshall's pet goals is to figure out a way to plug a successful PTZ business into the opening paragraph of a Wall Street Journal story. If such a company can be used to exemplify a positive national trend, Marshall believes the initiative might then register on the national business radar.
In addition, given the proliferation of rival programs in other states, Scott says the PTZ marketing campaign is distinguishing itself in part by wooing businesses in industries, such as aquaculture and forestry, that might feel especially at home in Maine. "We're not trying to be everything to everybody," she says.
Quality, not quantity
Nancy Marshall has been in the business of marketing Maine for more than a decade. Her company has held contracts with the Office of Tourism since 1993 and the Office of Business Development since 1996. (To increase efficiency, those contracts were combined this year into one, which Marshall Communications was awarded for a one-year period in mid-August.)
Traditionally, Marshall relies heavily on public relations through the media ˆ her agency disseminates press releases, coordinates press conferences and generally works its media contacts to get Maine stories into the public eye. While New York-based Warren Kremer Paino markets the state tourism industry primarily via paid advertising, Marshall's contract focuses almost solely on obtaining free media exposure. Marshall says this approach is both cost-effective and smart: People are more likely to pay attention to articles that are perceived as impartial than to ads, which are necessarily slanted, she says.
Her attitude toward the Pine Tree Zone campaign, which she began preparing in January, is no different. She conducted a competitive analysis of the 40-odd other states with similar initiatives ˆ including New York, New Hampshire and California ˆ and decided to avoid advertising given her limited funding. "With the budget we had, we could have advertised like three times in the Wall Street Journal and called it good," says Marshall.
Instead, she created a hefty media kit that includes maps of the Pine Tree Zones, press releases on the project, descriptions of the zones and a CD including images and descriptions of company success stories. In late July, she sent the kit to her target publications, including newspapers such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and national magazines such as Fast Company and Forbes.
Much of her effort was focused on New England dailies, as the DECD expects most businesses interested in the PTZ initiatives will originate from neighboring states. To date, though, none of the publications have followed up on the media kit. Marshall's next step is to send publicists to meet with journalists in Boston and New York, a face-to-face method she hopes will be more successful than the mailings.
David Swardlick of Swardlick Marketing Group in Portland has managed numerous marketing campaigns over the past 20 years for both the state Office of Tourism and the Office of Business Development. Media relations, he says, can be effective ˆ the trouble is convincing an editor your story is worth telling. "The challenge in any media relations campaign is to find something newsworthy or something that is considered to be new or innovative or of special interest to the readers of the publication in question," says Swardlick. "It requires unique packaging."
Marshall will track her progress through a monthly update to the DECD that will list the number of media segments promoting Maine as a business or travel destination, the number of media interviews arranged, the number of journalist visits to the state and the calculated advertising equivalency of this free press. The PTZ marketing leg of the contract will be reassessed next June. Scott says its success will be judged not by the number of businesses that respond but by the depth of their understanding of the program. "This is quality, not quantity," she says. "The key thing is to make businesses and people aware that the program is available."
In the meantime, Marshall says the campaign is all about promoting fiscal opportunity. If the Pine Tree Zone incentives make a difference for a company, then executives will think about relocating. "It all has to do with the dollars and cents," she says.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments