Economic Development Marketing That Actually Attracts Investment
Your city has competitive tax incentives. Your talent pipeline is solid. Your infrastructure is ready. And companies keep locating somewhere else, often somewhere with fewer advantages.
Here's the blind spot: The Investment Values Alignment Framework. It reveals that site selection isn't the rational process everyone pretends it is. Decision-makers are human, with human values. Appeal to those values, and you stop competing on incentives.
The Incentive Race
Economic development organizations compete fiercely for tax incentives, grants, and packages. The assumption is that businesses make location decisions based on financial optimization.
But if that were true, every business would locate in the same handful of places with the best incentives. They don't. Companies often locate all over, choosing places with worse packages because something else drew them.
That something else is what economic development marketing consistently ignores.
What Actually Drives Location Decisions
The Valuegraphics Database tracks 56 values that drive human behavior across a million surveys globally. When we examine business location decisions, human values influence outcomes far more than spreadsheet analysis.
Family (ranked 1st at 84%) affects where executives are willing to move. The decision-maker's family has to thrive in this location. Good schools, quality of life, and cultural amenities—these aren't nice-to-haves. They're often deciding factors.
Security (ranked 20th at 28%) makes risk-averse executives hesitant about unfamiliar places. The known location feels safer than the unknown one, regardless of incentive packages.
Belonging (ranked 4th at 56%) determines whether the company can integrate. Will they fit into the business community? Will they be welcomed? Does the culture align?
Relationships (ranked 2nd at 79%) create stickiness that financial analysis misses. Existing relationships in a location with suppliers, talent, and networks often outweigh better packages elsewhere.
The Investment Values Alignment Framework
Four dimensions to address in economic development marketing:
Dimension 1: The Executive Family Test
The site selection committee creates spreadsheets. The executives make decisions. And executives have families.
Address explicitly:
- Schools that executives' children would actually attend
- Cultural and recreational amenities for families
- Professional opportunities for spouses
- Quality of life that makes relocation attractive
The marketing shift: Stop leading with business statistics. Start with "Here's where your family will thrive."
If the executive can't picture their family happy here, the spreadsheet doesn't matter.
Dimension 2: Risk Reduction for Security-Conscious Decisions
Every location decision carries career risk. What if it fails? The person who championed the location will be blamed.
Address explicitly:
- Companies that already succeeded here (social proof)
- Support systems that reduce execution risk
- Track record of successful relocations
- Failure rate (if it's low) or honest acknowledgment of challenges
The marketing shift: Stop selling opportunity. Start selling safety. "Here's why companies that locate here succeed and what we do to ensure it."
Risk reduction is more compelling than upside potential for most decision-makers.
Dimension 3: Community Integration for Belonging Needs
Companies don't just locate; they have to operate in a community. Will they fit? Will they be welcomed?
Address explicitly:
- Business community culture and how newcomers integrate
- Leadership networks that new executives can join
- Civic engagement opportunities
- Existing companies, they'll be colleagues with
The marketing shift: Stop describing the business environment abstractly. Start showing what it means to be part of this business community.
"You won't just operate here. You'll belong here."
Dimension 4: Relationship Infrastructure
Some locations have relationship networks that create business value. Others don't.
Address explicitly:
- Existing supplier networks they can tap into
- Talent networks and connections to universities
- Industry clusters with collaboration opportunities
- Introductions you'll make
The marketing shift: Stop listing assets. Start promising relationships. "Within six months, you'll know the key people who can help your business thrive—because we'll introduce you."
Implementing Values-Based Economic Development
This approach requires changing how you engage with prospects.
Before the pitch, understand the person.
Who are the decision-makers? What are their family situations? Where do they live now? What would need to be true for them to move here?
The site visit should include family-relevant experiences, not just business meetings. Show them the neighborhood they'd live in. The school that their kids would attend. The restaurant they'd take their spouse to.
Address risk explicitly.
Most economic development marketing emphasizes upside. "Look at the opportunity!" This triggers risk sensitivity in decision-makers.
Instead, lead with risk mitigation. "Here's how we ensure companies succeed. Here's our track record. Here's the support structure."
The opportunity can follow. But safety comes first.
Create belonging touchpoints.
Before any decision, connect prospects to the business community.
Dinners with existing business leaders. Introductions to industry peers. Invitations to community events.
They should feel like members before they decide to join.
Why This Works
The spreadsheet analysis will always find a place with better incentives. You cannot win a pure financial competition; someone will always offer more.
But you can win on values. Because there's only one place where this executive's family will be happy, where the risk feels manageable, where the company will truly belong, and where relationships already wait.
That place might be yours if you stop selling incentives and start selling what decision-makers actually need.
The Strategic Question
Before your next investment attraction campaign, ask this: What would make a decision-maker's family excited to move here?
The answer to that question is your real competitive advantage.
Incentives are table stakes. Values alignment wins the deal.
Remember: if you know what people value, you can change what happens next.
Download free tools, data, and reports at www.davidallisoninc.com/resources
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