Fixing Hickory - A Demographics and Marketing Discussion Panel

Relocation/Marketing Campaign: Increasing Population Growth

Houston Harris, President of Pixelspace
Andy Wells, President, Prism Development
J.D. Ross, Bank of Granite, President of Hickory Young Professionals
Shuford Abernethy, President at Abingdon Senior Housing Services, Inc.
Nancy Yount, Office Manager & Information Services at Catawba County Chamber Of Commerce

Danny Hearn opened this presentation. This subject of relocation and marketing; what are we doing to attract people to the area. Are websites tied in together? How do we Brand the community. What attracts people here?

Danny stated that this issue was literally discussed to death.

It all comes back to the population matter. the City has been asking, "How do we go after retirees?" There is a good debate going on about how we grow our population. There is a certain mindset that the retirees come in and they are the ones that don't particularly like change. They don't like to vote on bond issues or other things that will create growth. Danny stated that he wouldn't be to picky and he wouldn't take that off of the table.

The Chamber gets no money for relocation marketing and Bebe Leitch of the Hickory Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau only gets money from local government to run the convention center and a little money for regional visitor information. There is no money directed towards getting people to move here. This is an enormous void and we are trying to figure out what we do.

Houston Harris was the first member of the panel to speak. Houston stated that most of his company's work is not done locally. There work is done all over the U.S. and frankly they ignore their backyard. They have started to pick up some of that (local) work, because they see the need for it, but he doesn't like putting all of his eggs in one basket.

The trouble that he sees, in serving on l;oval boards and committees, is that they seem to have the same needs and desires, and they are trying to fight that fight with limited resources. Frankly, it makes him mad that we can't get our egos out of the way and sit down and fight the same monster at the same time and bundle our resources so that we can take care of our resources, as opposed to running over here and doing this and running over here and doing that and not really having a plan. Long Term, he would like to see a strategy that has specific goals and the goals should be reasonable and achievable. We shouldn't focus on more than 3 to 5 (goals). We attach some metrics to them (goals), so that we can track them and put the tactics in place so that we can achieve those goals.

We need to track the goals and if we aren't on a path that is getting us towards the goal, then we need to change paths. If the right plan is in place, then the right things will be built into the system so that we can make minor forced corrections without having to turn the boat in a whole other direction. Right now, we are being forced to turn our boat in a whole other direction and enough of us in this room are finally feeling enough pain to do something about it. Pain causes change. We need to move as a whole towards the goal.

Can we agree on what the goal is? I (Houston) heard one of the presentations. How do we keep manufacturing in this area. I feel that we can't. It will be a small subset. How do we fill in the gaps? What are some of the things we can do? If we are going to run around chasing manufacturing, then frankly I don't want to be a part of it. But, if we can have that as a component and diversify and be resilient. We will increase our capacity in multiple areas, not just silos, but interrelate those and connect them, then I believe we will be stronger in the long run.

Andy Wells next addressed the group. He stated that he read a book a numebr of years ago titled the The Path of Least Resistance. It stated that the first thing you do is establish what your current reality is. You can't move towards your goal til you know where you are. He went through this with his company and it has been helpful in going through what we have gone through since the year 2000. He hasn't seen the community do that.

We can't come to grips with where we are at relating to growth. we have lost 21% of our jobs since 2000. There is a correlation between job growth and population growth. Some guy in Raleigh is saying that we are going to gain 16.3% (population). We know from 2000 that they can miss bu 15%, so it is safe to assume that we can miss by 20%. What if they say we are going to gain 16% and we lose 2%. there could be $100 million of public funds spent for growth that may not be coming. You will have spent this money for nothing and then you have to maintain it and you won't be able to afford that, if you lose the population base.

A lot of our money has come from the past. There is a reservoir of capital in this community that we have been living on for the last 10 years. We aren't earning what we are spending. we are consuming what we have saved. Thankfully this was a very thrifty area. people have been able to stay here after losing jobs, because they have savings and reserves.

But, if the public sector pulls $100 million out of the private sector in the next ten years to spend money for infrastructure on growth that doesn't happen, then we are going to be hurt. We have to make a decision about where we are and are we growing or are we not growing?

We need to decide if we are going to spend money on growth or spend money on marketing to try to get some growth. We are in a great position to market this area with Bebe Leitch of the Hickory Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau is a great person to lead this marketing effort in this community.

If we come to grips with the fact that we are not growing, then some of the money that has been spent on infrastructure can be spent on marketing. Andy stated that in his world not much is happening. His company is still doing deals, but they are just moving people around, not bringing new pieces in. they are getting people from somebody else, because apparently they're a little hungrier. That is not fun and that is not long term sustainable. Andy stated that it is his belief that we are not growing and there is no better place than the Catawba Valley to live.

J.D. Ross next made a presentation. He is from Lenoir, went to NC State, and came back to the area to work for the Bank of Granite. He started working there in college and they offered him a job when he graduated. He was offered jobs in Raleigh, but he didn't like those places as much as the Bank of Granite so he came back here. He has bought a house here and plans to be here for a long time. He believes a lot of young people have that mindset.

J.D.'s position with the Hickory Young Professionals is really his first effort at being involved with boards and serving the community. It is something he wants to do more of. The group targets people 21 to 40 years old. He would like to see Young Professionals become the highest demographic of growth over the next 20 years, because they are going to be the ones buying houses, getting jobs, paying taxes, raising families, supporting the school systems, supporting area retail and industry, and everything in Hickory. That is an important thing to target.

What they (HYP) have found out, in talking to young people in schools and universities is that this area has a horrible Brain Drain. People from here go off to college and never come back. If I am planning on going to college, then I am looking for a higher paying job that is not here. College students are looking for a job in Charlotte, Raleigh, or out of state somewhere. If kids aren't planning on going to college, then they would start looking for a job in this area, because that is what this area was. That is changing somewhat now, but we can accelerate that change.

Something their group has talked about is that younger people today will not necessarily move to an area for a job. That has changed somewhat. People don't mind commuting 30 minutes or an hour to a job. They will move to Hickory and work in Charlotte, so they can have everything that Hickory has. This is one of the best places in the state to start a family and raise a family and have all of the amenities we have here, but you are within an hour of Charlotte and Asheville and everything is within reach. Our schools are some of the best around.

Job Growth isn't happening here, but we are poised to see that in the next ten years. That is something that is important to young people starting right now. Something they try to do in recruiting new members is to express that if they are looking for a place to settle, then everything is within reach. We want to get away from the Brain Drain and get people from this area to come back here or attract people from the local area Universities.

Nancy Yount was the next person to address the forum. She discussed the people that are locating to the area. She stated that she has been contacted by people from all over the United States. They call, e-mail, and sometimes they just walk in through the front door. They may be traveling somewhere for a weekend or may be visiting an area in the region.

Young families ask about schools, middle couples want to know about our continuing education, and older couples want to know about area medical (hospitals and doctors). They love the location and seasons. They have friends here. She has a newcomers package and she arranges for people to meet real estate people.

Shuford Abernethy explained what he does. He originally worked for United Church Homes and Services for 14 years. They have continuing care retirement communities. One is located here in Catawba County, one in Davidson County, and one in Suffolk, Virginia. Continuing care includes nursing homes, assisted living, and independent living. They offer a broad range of services. He worked in marketing the operations in Newton and Thomasville. He kept hearing that these facilities were great, but the people weren't ready for this yet. That was a fairly typical comment.

The average age of move in in continuing care retirement communities, is late 70s and early 80s. There was a market for a younger group, who prefer one level townhome living and need help with exterior maintenance, and Hickory looked like a wonderful place to do this type of development for adults 55 and up. Abingdon Glenn Village was started in the late 90s, property was purchased in 2000.

They were looking for some specifics. Shopping, public transportation routes, inside the city limits, and convenience for driving to things close by so tenants don't have to get out onto main thoroughfares. This eliminates barriers and allows people to stay independently at home longer than they could in a conventional house. He then gave specifics on the amenities that the homes offer.

Shuford called this type of a devlopment an Enhanced Services Townhome Community. These types of developments have developed in Arizona and Florida. It is also called an Active Adult Community by some people. Shuford stated that he didn't have a lot of money for marketing and much of the marketing work came from reading and figuring out what seemed to work and what didn't.

Some of the things they have tried. They started out with a program called File of Life from out of Massachusetts. They went around to church groups, civic groups, and various other organizations to speak about the File of Life Program. A lot of Grass Roots marketing. They used regular news releases. Ran ads in Retirement Magazines. Developed a website. Held monthly open houses. Ran radio ads for a year. Participated as a sponsor on the chamber of Commerce website. Yellow page ads and website. ran ads in the real estate books. The most successful tool has been Mature Living Choices magazine.

85 houses have been built so far out of a projected 93 and 76 of those homes are occupied. Abingdon Glen has a population exceeding 120 people. The average age of move-in is 71. The people have come from 13 states. 58% of the people are from the Hickory Metro, 18% have come from other parts of the state, and 5% of the homes are owned by former Floridians.

The Forum was opened and Danny asked Nancy about how people have found Hickory. She talked about several people utilizing a website called findyourspot.com. She answered a question stating that 25% of the people have some sort of attachment to the area. Last year they spoke to 1,300 to 1,400 people.

There was a lady in the audience who originally was from Pennsylvania. She stated that originally she wanted to move to Charlotte, but she was drawn to Hickory, because of the small town feel, yet we have the same things and opportunities that are available in larger cities.

A statement was made that we should start inputting information to marketing websites, because we are trusting websites to do this. Houston stated that that troubled him, because that is one of hundreds of sites that do this. We don't have activities or a plan in place, we can't input our own information, but we can ask them if they would mind adding this. There is no activity like that taking place and that is not hard to do. It is simply putting a CD together, getting an intern from a local college, and getting them to do this. We just need to start talking and build a relationship. This is not a lot of money we're talking about. Suddenly, we could bump that number one or two points and what would that mean? If we do that to 25 websites, then what does that mean? Suddenly, the bucket starts filling. That is Guerrilla Marketing and that is what I (Houston) would like to see.

Andy stated that what they saw is that it isn't hard to do this stuff. There is just no consensus in the community that we need to do this stuff and who is going to do it. Andy states that his company knows how to get seen. He wants people, when they look for a place to live in the Carolinas, they hit Hickory. We are fractured. We are geasring the thing around legislation or what we did 20n years ago. We aren't focusing on what we need today.

Houston stated that we are being investigated whether we know it or not. We get looked at every day whether we want to be or not. If they are looking are we there to be seen. pieces of us are, but not all of us. We have tried to develop a Metro Portal that attaches silos (Live, Play, Work). Make the process simple.

Alan Jackson, President of the Jackson Group stated that what worries him is that it seems that the successes we are seeing are all happenstance. We are at the mercy of reputation, word of mouth, or whatever connections are out there beyond us. You don't run a business that way. You figure out what you want and you go after them. It is a question of what we want. It doesn't have to be just one group. We can pick and choose a mixture of a bunch of them.

Houston said he describes it as a Creative Persona. An individual and what defines them. Age, income, what they want, and what they care about - There thing. here is a different persona. Once you have the persona, it becomes an individual and it is about what they want and not about what my agenda is. Now we are addressing there needs and not mine. Once we figure out the personas, then we need to figure out which one is going to get us, as a community, to the goal, If we have four personas, then we don't have to weight them equally. We can weight the scales of marketing effort towards that direction. If it turns out to not be viable, then we can change it and refocus.

Nancy answered a question about the Chamber's information packet and what people ask her about and how are they making decisions. She stated that she coordinates with area schools and other entities to change the packet every year. She then talked about some specific cases.

Houston stated that this bothered him. Nancy is doing her job wonderfully, but people have to come to her. Why is this information not on the web? How expensive would it be to put this on the web and have a form to fill out that requests an interview with the various schools in the area that your child may attend?

Bebe Leitch stated that numbers have gone down because of the decrease in travel. Nancy stated that numbers at the Chamber are also down. Much of this is because they are currently closed on the weekend. Bebe stated that a lot of people have found the CVB on the web and she just imagines how much more traffic we would see, if we start focusing on a marketing strategy. Shuford stated that he would like to see an online brochure that focuses on Hickory as a place to live. We see that for furniture, but not as a place to live.

Steve Ivester asked about what we are marketing? Hickory, Catawba County, or the whole Metro region? he sees an advantage in marketing the whole metro. Andy stated that the only name that matters, when marketing the area is Hickory. The other names don't mean anything to the people from out of state. We have had a fractured marketing strategy. We all do these little blips and we need to all get together. Ivester asked if we are talking about the Hickory Metro, then why is it only Hickory and Catawba County here (at this event).

Andy stated that we need to define who our target is. We have talked a lot about retirees, but what he would like to see is educated people with money. And he doesn't care if it is a 25 year old with money potential or a 60 year old with a 401-k. Andy stated that that is what we are getting, because they certainly aren't moving here to get jobs. Houston stated that that also focuses on relocation to live here. He wants start-ups. He wants an environment that is sensitive to small start-up businesses and find the next Google. If we can get better bandwidth and infrastructure and have an incubator and a Brand to get the first year's rent covered. this can take the burden off of their shoulders and the can focus their energy on doing things like writing applications for i-phones. A good application can be sold in the millions and that can be done in a 100 sq foot office.

Barbara Beatty said that Hickory needs to be targeting people in the Southeastern part of the county. She doesn't know how we will do that, but those people are going to Mooresville. How many people that live out towards Vale go to Lincoln County and don't know anything about Catawba County? Houston stated that this is also a perception of value issue. These people look at Mooresville as progressive, changing, and alive; and we're still 1985.

David Moore stated that they've also got a road to (Hwy 150 to Mooresville). Barbara stated that these people can come up Hwy 16 and hit I-40, so it's not that bad. She believes it is a matter of lack of knowledge and information. She suggested, we need to go down there (they are starved for information down there) and talk with them about some things.

Danny Hearn asked if we understod the frustration in all of this. We have the stuff and it's ready to go. Danny said the budget on this is about $50,000 and Houston was going to volunteer his time. David Moore said you have to get business to buy in. they have to understand how they are going to benefit from it. They have to pony up. I (Thom Shell) stated that you have to worry about the people moving here, is their perception that they're going to benefit from it. Not only are we going to benefit from it, but people on the other end, are they going to benefit from it. And if you give them that value, then they will come.

Houston stated that the part of the model he looked at was frustrating, because he was looking at how to get this thing off the ground. He thought about doing it himself and nobody would be able to tell him how to do it, but then he had to figure out how to sustain it after the first two years and then he was going to have to make it an ad based revenue generating site and that cheapens the whole thing and that defeats the purpose. It will start to collapse after two years. That is the only way to get a business to support it, unless their are funds set up front. He believes their has got to be grant money available for this, to sustain this long term.

The Hound believes that this was truly an integral discussion and Alan's Focus Group event the following day was just as important. We have to sell Hickory and get people to look at what Hickory can be, not what it is or has been.

There were very few statements that can be challenged, that were made during this Panel discussion. I think that all of these people are doing their jobs well. I know what Houston Harris brings to the table from the discussions during the Future Economy Council meetings and conversations I have had with him in private. If he tells you this is the thing to do, then I would do it, because this guy has character. He isn't selling you a load. He knows where he is going in life and so does Alan Jackson. These are the creative Generation X leaders of this community and they have great ideas about how to get us headed back in the right direction.

JD Ross and the Young Professional group also need to be supported. These people have worked hard to get this group off the ground in the last two years. Listen to what he said during this panel discussion. I can tell you that what he said here is very much representative of what the HYP stands for. Successful recruitment of this demo is the key to successful, long-term, viable, and sustainable growth in this area. If Charlotte can host this demo, then by god Hickory can too!!!

I appreciate what Shuford Abernethy brought to the table. We have seen successful marketing to retirees in this area. You can see why, when you listen to his strategy and how well thought out and articulate he espouses his mission. I know people that live in Abingdon Glen and it is a nice community. I believe that if we see that kind of strategy in other demographic areas of this region, then we will move back towards balance and prosperity.

Andy Wells is obviously passionate and he made some excellent points about growth and finance in Hickory. If we don't readdress our priorities, then we are not going to grow and it is going to be terribly hard on those left behind holding the pieces. I fully understand what he is addressing when he talks about the path of least resistance and understanding where you are at and how you got here. I have espoused that same philosophy myself over the last year on this blog.

I really don't understand why this type of marketing strategy hasn't already happened. We are the 138th largest MSA in the United States. We have seen the route that technology and information are leading us to. The amount of money we are talking about is a pittance compared to the benefits this region would receive. $50,000 or $100,000 is nothing when spread amongst the 360,000 people that live in this region. 30-cents a year, per person, for a real investment that has a high likelihood of return. I know that people like Alan and Houston would do a top-notch job. It is time to get it done!!!