Real-time flyovers part of new marketing approach for Minnehaha, Lincoln county communities

May 8, 2019

This paid piece is sponsored by the Minnehaha County and Lincoln County Economic Development Associations.

A business or site selector anywhere soon will be able to virtually fly over a development park in Minnehaha or Lincoln counties and envision a project located on that site.

It’s part of a new marketing visualization package being offered for six development parks throughout the two counties from the Minnehaha County and Lincoln County Economic Development Associations.

“It’s a real-time look at what those sites actually are,” executive director Nick Fosheim said. “It’s easy for marketing materials to get out of date, and this approach allows us to capture footage every few years and drop things in to reflect changes in the property in a much easier and more efficient way.”

The live flyover software also allows modeling, so for instance “if a company is considering a 30,000-square-foot building, we can create that and virtually drop it on the site,” Fosheim said.

“There’s a lot of available land still, and this will highlight the diversity of available property.”

The association worked with ISG to put together packages for development parks in Brandon, Canton, Dell Rapids, Garretson, Lennox and Worthing.

Along with the drone footage and corresponding marketing materials, the packages include current and proposed engineering plans for the industrial parks, infrastructure capabilities at the site and in the communities, and a review of surrounding land uses, including zoning.

“We’re going to use the data we collect through that process to provide recommendations on prospective uses or development opportunities,” said Steve Watson, ISG development strategist.

“These assessments are going to allow our community partners to look introspectively into their capabilities, and then we can help those communities identify deficiencies or opportunities to lead.”

The approach is a unique one regionally, Watson said.

“In the multistate region, MCEDA/LCEDA is definitely leading the way with this. It’s increasingly important to be unique and disruptive and stand out from the crowd with your marketing approach,” he said.

“This is giving the communities an opportunity to raise their profile and be even more strategic in their business-recruitment efforts.”

The packages will be released in phases beginning this summer, and additional sites and communities can be added, Fosheim said.

“And because we have the real-time flyovers done and we have the data from the assessments, we have the homework done up front, and it’s going to allow us to be more nimble and responsive to projects, whether they’re new inquiries or existing employers wanting to expand,” he said.

Likewise, communities wishing to attract certain industries will be able to see how to become more attractive.

“For instance, we might communicate to them that based on their current wastewater capacity, if they make certain changes it will make them more competitive for a certain industry,” Fosheim said.

“As a regional entity, we want to help build pipelines of industries that make sense for our region, build activity in those areas and have the partnerships at a local level so we can pass those opportunities on and capture them.”

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Real-time flyovers part of new marketing approach for Minnehaha, Lincoln county communities

A business or site selector anywhere soon will be able to virtually fly over a development park in Minnehaha or Lincoln counties and envision a project located on that site. It’s part of a new community marketing approach coming soon.

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