Friday, May 8, 2009 9:12 PM CDT
ECIDC arms region with competitive tool
EFFINGHAM — In December 2008, the East Central Illinois Development Corporation (ECIDC) purchased GIS (Geographic Information System) applications to gain the ability of performing detailed market analysis for their membership.
Since then, ECIDC has formed a strong partnership with Lake Land College and the Crossroads Workforce Investment Board to gain access to even more detailed information, according to a press release. ECIDC now has access to the maps and data that are often used by major consulting agencies and producing them for members at only a fraction of the cost in order to give each community and business the opportunity to have access to the same tools of those in the urban areas.
“By obtaining this technology, this organization is giving businesses, nonprofits, and communities the ability to access the information necessary to make educated decisions that previously cost more than their organizations could afford,” said ECIDC President Bill Steichmann. “This a step in the right direction toward becoming a more competitive and innovative region.”
ECIDC is able to provide detailed demographic reports, maps, market potential information, health care information, customer profiling, and gap analysis reports to their membership, arming them with the hard facts for a small investment. Those interested in starting a new business venture can utilize ECIDC services to understand the local market potential and study spending patterns, to identify their best market and target their marketing dollars and efforts.
Current businesses can use these services to discover how to expand their current product or service offerings, how to effectively spend their marketing dollars, find new customers and study their current ones, and make a more educated relocation decision. Economic development groups and communities can learn which retail and service businesses will the market support, gather detailed demographic and consumer data for grant writing or feasibility studies, revise marketing materials to include market information for business recruitment, or compare their community to another competing for the same project. Nonprofits can analyze their market and expand their outreach, discover new areas of focus, and find data and information supporting their cause to present when applying for funds.
“With ECIDC’s market analysis services, we are now able to present up-to-date data in a professional format to those commercial businesses we would like to attract at a cost that is well within our marketing budget,” said Julie Bounds, economic development director for the City of Marshall.
ECIDC is a membership-driven nonprofit organization with a 25-year history of fostering regional economic development in East Central Illinois. ECIDC covers the 11-county region of Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Jasper, Moultrie, and Shelby, and actively promotes this region globally with the goal of attraction and retention of businesses, industry, residents, and tourism while providing professional development and training opportunities to its membership, its governmental units, and its residents.
For more information on ECIDC’s Market Analysis Services, contact Trisha Borgic-Mason at (217) 540-3517 or visit the ECIDC Web site at www.ecidc.com.
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