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The economic development shift from B2B to B2C requires a new kind of storytelling
The rise of entrepreneurship-led development has led to greater collaboration between economic development and tourism efforts. With fewer people moving, regions must make and market their communities more appealing.
That means regional economic development has mostly shifted from attracting businesses (through infrastructure, tax incentives, etc.) to focusing on attracting and retaining people.
This necessitates a related shift from a business-focused approach to a consumer-focused model, using digital platforms and narrative-driven strategies. Telling real stories about local innovators is more effective than old-school corporate marketing.
Every US state’s population grew in the 20th century. Birth rates were high. Immigration was important. Life expectancies were rising.
All those people needed jobs. So economic development practice developed to shape where and how everyone worked. To pursue manufacturing expansions and corporate office relocations, leaders boasted of transportation links, reliable energy and competitive tax policy. Industry-focused marketing followed.
That has changed — as was prominently demonstrated in 2017 and 2018. That’s when the spectacle of the Amazon HQ2 open bidding process shocked buttoned-up local leaders into highly collaborative pitches that relied on workforce strengths and cultural amenities.
No question, business fundamentals and infrastructure still matter. Reshoring semiconductors and advancing quantum computing requires costly investments. But a shift has happened. Rather than physical capital alone, local leaders chase human capital. Rather than attracting companies first, attract people. This “grow your own” economic development strategy has widespread impact.
With a pandemic boom, entrepreneurship-led economic development strategies have flourished, superpowering the so-called “ecosystem building” discipline. In 2025, nearly two dozen conferences in North America will feature “ecosystem building” tracks — the highest ever by Technical.ly’s count. Business-chasing economic development types are collaborating with their tourism and hospitality peers across town. Most entrepreneurs seek community more than a particular tax policy.
Once exclusively a business selling to other businesses, economic development is shifting to primarily being a business selling to consumers. In the sales jargon, it’s a pivot from B2B to B2C, and too few economic development strategies have updated their strategies.
A people-centric approach to economic growth
Across the rich world, birth rates are declining. Immigration to the United States may decline too, if the first Trump administration is any indication. (During that tenure, legal migration fell, though undocumented migration did not.) Plus, and somewhat shockingly, life expectancies for many Americans have fallen in recent years.
Fewer young people mean fewer moving for college, and, in contrast to the pandemic, Americans are relocating less than ever before.
That leaves local economic development leaders with two leading tools: Luring away what few residents do move from other states and regions, and boosting the economic performance of existing residents. That industry calls that attraction and retention, a phrase tellingly brought to economic development from human resources.
To sell people on a place, improve quality of life, and ensure more residents, visitors and friends know about it. Billboards and conference activations help attract “eyeballs,” as the advertising industry dispassionately puts it.
To thrive today, though, states and regions don’t only need more eyeballs, they need relationships. That happens with an ongoing strategy that makes celebrity out of breakthrough research, that reinforces accessible workforce pathways and that generally shapes an understanding of innovation coming from a place.
One obvious and proven way to do this is storytelling.
The playbook first codified foundational principles for the emerging practice of ecosystem building, including fostering human connections, elevating local role models, and, of course, crafting authentic narratives. Traditional economic development organizations, built around corporate dealmaking, aren’t always equipped to, as the Kauffman playbook puts it, “create stories out of strengths.”
Instead, even as economic leaders adopt the “storytelling” nomenclature, their strategies look like tweaks of a B2B playbook: booths at trade conferences, one-pager documents, good stickers.
Economic development orgs hire expensive consultants to help them develop Very Pretty Websites, with clever copy and striking photographs.Then storytelling is misapplied to newsletters no one reads, social media posting no one wants and panel discussions no one listens to. They’ll hire a PR firm to send emails to an ever-shrinking list of journalists, and perhaps co-opt locals with social media accounts. For some reason these are called “campaigns,” invoking a farcical war they are not winning.
Storytelling requires persistence, authenticity and honesty. Marketing is something you control, storytelling is something you share. It can have a strategy, but it takes time and love.
Tell the stories of the people — the scientists and entrepreneurs, the technologists and the organizers — who already love where they live. Probe the problems, and extol the virtue. Do it over and over and over again. Bring these people together, and invite their friends. If 20th century economic development was on an industrial scale, then the interconnectedness of the web allows this 21st strategy to be on a human scale. Trust your own experience.
What would more likely make you move someplace: learning about low marginal tax rates in a place you’ve never visited, or meeting friends from a place with a story that inspires you?
Why this matters for economic development professionals
In the 21st century, most U.S. states will experience population loss. Already more than a third have. Once, commerce brought the people. Now the people bring commerce.
Economic development professionals must rethink their marketing strategies. Instead of just pitching businesses, they need to engage people directly. That means embracing digital marketing strategies, producing compelling narratives with partners who have enough independence to tell stories that resonate. Yes, we at Technical.ly do that work, and I’d love to talk to you about it, but there are other ways to make it happen too.
As more cities and states recognize the importance of a B2C strategy, the role of storytelling will only grow. Economic development is no longer just about policy; it’s about community identity, local pride and the ability to make a compelling case for why someone should live, work and build a business in a given place.
The shift from B2B to B2C is underway. The winners will be those who understand that economic development is no longer just about numbers — it’s about narratives.
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