How Fort Bend, Texas uses visualizations to promote its location advantages to the world

Fort Bend County is 25 minutes from Houston's central business district and is the tenth largest county in Texas. The Fort Bend Economic Development Council (FBEDC) is dedicated to business development and retention, corporate relocation and expansion, innovation and technology, and entrepreneurship in Fort Bend County, Texas.?

?What the Fort Bend team needed

The team at FBEDC set out to create a next-generation website to promote the merits, amenities, and pro-business culture of Fort Bend County to business owners, site selectors, and consultants around the world.

The website was created by EDsuite and includes a suite of tools from Localintel Economic Development (www.ecdev.org ). These tools are specifically designed to engage website visitors, spark their curiosity, and promote a location’s advantages. The remainder of this article demonstrates how it was done in Fort Bend.

Promoting Infrastructure and Transportation Advantage

Access to markets and suppliers is one of the most important factors during the site selection process. By embedding Localintel’s Logistics and Accessibility Advantages tool, Fort Bend’s website engages visitors and makes it easy to appreciate the County’s close proximity to air, road, port and rail networks.

The interactive Logistics and Accessibility Advantages tool allows the user to uncover a range of positive insights about Fort Bend County, including:

• The County is less than an hour away from George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport which has 68 international connections and 101 domestic connections.?
• The County is centrally located and in close proximity to Houston (40 minutes), Austin (2.5 hours), Beaumont (2 hours) and San Antonio (less than 3 hours).
• The County has excellent access to multiple seaports including Port of Freeport (1 hour), Port of Texas City (1 hour) and Port of Galveston (1 hour 20 minutes).
• The County contains a rich rail network with lines operated by BNSF, UP and KCS as well as a the Kendleton intermodal operated by KCS.

Link: https://fortbendcounty.com/data-and-research/infrastructure-and-transportation

Promoting the Workforce

The team at FBEDC know the number one reason why companies move to, or expand within the county is their talented workforce.

The Workforce Pipeline page includes Localintel’s Workforce Advantages tool to showcase the County’s workforce in an interactive way. Users can quickly see:

• The County’s workforce is highly educated, with nearly 30% of residents having a bachelors degree and 18% having a masters degree or higher.
• The top 3 occupations in the County are: Sales and Office Administration; Management; Education, Legal, Commerce , Arts and Media
• The top 3 largest industries are Healthcare, Retail Trade and Educational Services.

?To encourage site selectors to explore the County’s workforce further, the tool also provides three beautiful interactive maps.

Link: https://fortbendcounty.com/data-and-research/workforce-pipeline

Promoting the Economy

Fort Bend County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the US for many years. FBEDC’s website uses Localintel’s Economic Advantages dashboard to help showcase this.

Link: https://fortbendcounty.com/why-ft-bend/economic-forecast

Promoting Opportunities

New business and investment opportunities are constantly arising as a consequence of growth and development. FBEDC’s website uses Localintel’s Growth and Opportunities tool to showcase where opportunity-generating activity is occurring or planned to occur in the County.

Link: https://fortbendcounty.com/data-and-research/zones-districts-map

Promoting Communities

The team at FBEDC have ensured that its website includes a Community Profile for each of the county’s 18 communities.

Each profile provides key economic and demographic indicators about each community’s economy, residents, households, dwellings, construction activity, workforce and livability.

Link: https://fortbendcounty.com/data-and-research/demographics

Market Analysis Tool

Once site selectors and investors are sufficiently engaged and curious, they will want to start digging deeper into what the County has to offer them. FBEDC’s new website is ready to assist by including a one-stop-shop using a suite of Localintel’s tools.

Link: ?https://fortbendcounty.com/data-and-research/market-analysis-tools

Awards and Recognition

While FBEDC’s website has only just launched, it is already attracting plaudits and awards, including an Excellence in Economic Development Awards from the International Economic Development Council.

Learn more

Here’s some places you can learn more about Localintel’s Location Advantage Marketing tools:

1. Schedule a call with one of the Localintel team?by clicking here .
2. Go to Localintel’s Website:?www.ecdev.org
3. Check out our Community Profile product page?by clicking here
4. Read this LinkedIn article:?Why economic developers should begin with WHY

About Localintel Economic Development

Localintel provides location marketing tools that hundreds of economic developers have added to their website to promote their community's advantages and assist businesses.?The tools are accurate, automated and affordable.

Our clients:

Our clients range from small rural villages through to?Texas?Economic Development Corporation, Enterprise?Florida,?Washington DC?Economic Partnership,?Indy?Chamber,?New Orleans?Business Alliance, Greater?Oklahoma?City Chamber and the cities of?Seattle,?Cleveland,?Fort Lauderdale?and?Tulsa. In Canada, our clients span the Village of Hazelton to the Government of?British Columbia, Invest?Alberta, Invest?Ottawa, Invest?Hamilton?and the economic development corporations of?Calgary,?Winnipeg,?London?and?Kingston.