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The Messenger, Athens, Ohio
Sunday, June 1, 1997
Students create marketing plan for county
MARKETING STUDY - Present when a marketing study was
presented to Wellston and Jackson County officials are, from
left, seated, Sherrie Lanier, county economic development director;
Melissa Fitch of the mayor's office; and City Auditor Doug Glass;
and standing, student Hafizah Alman, teacher Daniel Innis, and
students Abigail Buller, Heather Sawyer, Rob Weber, Andrew Thomas
and Lori Touretz
WELLSTON — Ohio University business
students have completed a marketing plan to help Wellston
and Jackson County attract new companies.
The plan recommends marketing the area’s quality workforce,
its strategic location and accessibility to transportation,
its affordability and the community support for new enterprise.
When Kuppenheimer Men’s Clothiers closed its Wellston
plant last fall, laying off 150 workers, local officials led
by State Rep. John Carey and Jackson County Economic Development
Director Sherrie Lanier contacted OU’s Institute for
Local Government Administration and Rural Development for
assistance in developing a plan to promote the area’s
available industrial space
Daniel Innis, associate professor of marketing, assigned
six senior undergraduate students to the project. They met
with officials earlier this year and then researched what
promotional efforts other areas of the country use to attract
business and what criteria companies look for when relocating.
"They tried to understand what is important to companies
when they select a site, what other cities and states are
doing to attract development and how Wellston fits into that,’’
Innis said.
The marketing plan included potential uses for Wellston’s
available industrial sites and ways to promote the community,
including trade journals, site-selection magazines and publishing
a brochure about the area’s attributes.
"This project is part of the city and county’s
proactive efforts to attract employers offering good-wage
jobs to the area," said Lanier.
The Jackson County Development Board committee will obtain
a list of companies potentially suitable for the industrial
sites and approach them about coming to the area. Suggestions
for possible companies included telemarketing or packaging,
among others.
The OU institute will help Wellston and the county meet their
marketing goals and also will work with the city to develop
a World Wide Web site on the Internet, according to project
coordinator Marsha Lewis.
"We get a lot from the region and we should give a lot
back," Lewis said.
This collaborative model of university-community participation
typifies the institute’s approach to community problem
solving, Lewis said.
It recently completed a comprehensive development plan for
Jackson County.
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