Every business needs an elevator pitch – that short, to-the-point, rock-solid and insightful 100 or so words that explain what the company does and why it is important. Creating a good one is not as easy as it should seem, and often takes a lot of refining.
So, if a business needs an elevator pitch, why not a business community? Which begs the question: What is Greenville’s business pitch as we head into 2016? What is that identity that sets us apart from other places when it comes to doing business?
The reason this comes up now is because I was part of a group of 80-plus business leaders who attended the Greenville Chamber’s trip to Austin in November. We went there to see what that city is doing to lure talent, jobs and all of those little things that our economic engines love. While we saw a lot of successes and heard about solutions on a lot of the same issues that Greenville also faces (think: infrastructure, affordable housing, entrepreneurs, etc.), one of the interesting takeaways was identity.
Austin has been hailed as “the Music Capital of the World” and “Weird.” But our group saw and learned that those monikers may not seem all they appear. The music scene is struggling in Austin. The weird really wasn’t there. But the identity for Austin is rock-solid, which is why we went.
And that leads to a question: Does Greenville have a clear identity?
Going back in time, Greenville was known as the “Textile Capital of the World.” It may not have been true, but that was the identity. When I moved here in 2000, the phrase was “Detroit of the South” because of BMW, Michelin and the hope that more and more big wheels of the auto industry would come. I also heard we had more engineers per capita than anyplace else in the world. So when I travelled north, back to the places my family called home, I could explain to them exactly where I lived and why it was important.
But what is our identity now? When we explain Greenville to outsiders, what is the pitch?
Well, hey, you say, we don’t need no stinkin’ pitches because everything is cruising along just fine. We have downtown Greenville and we just saw National Geographic highlight how awesome we are. That comes on top of numerous stories in numerous outlets. Ben Stein loves us. We win awards for downtown. People come here to see what we are doing right.
That is where “Yeah, that Greenville” comes from – a great tagline, sure, but it is a tourism tagline. It says what we are, but not really who we are. Greenville needs more than a tagline. We actually need an elevator pitch. What can we say that makes us different from other communities across the nation, that is immediately recognizable and will draw people here to experience and help our growth?
That is what can set us apart. This pitch is not about parks and weather and smiling faces. Everyone does that. Greenville is unique and our pitch needs to show that uniqueness.
What can that be? Is that becoming the Beer Capital of the South? The Transportation Hub of the Future? The Home of the Laser? The Cycling Capital of America? America’s Art City? America’s Downtown? Home of America’s Best Downtowns?
The plural for “downtowns” in that previous sentence is not a typo. Greenville County has some amazing downtowns right now that are just humming along.
The pitch possibilities are all there – now we have to find them.
