Coos County Survey Results and Recommendations

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Coos County Survey Results and Recommendations

• A presentation by
• Katie Delahaye Paine
• CEO
• KDPaine Partners LLC
• May 11, 2007

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Coos County Awareness/Perception Audit
Methodology

• Sent out 5,500 surveys to a random sampling of
  Coos County residents (340 undeliverable)
• Received nearly 1,500 completed surveys
• 29 response rate
• Many wrote thank you for asking and attached
  lengthy comments, and ideas
• Open-ended questions were categorized and coded
  for quantitative analysis

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Who responded to our survey

• 53 male, 47 female
• 69 are married
• 88 own their own home
• 94 have a high school diploma, 50 have a degree
• Three-quarters have lived in Coos County for 20
  years
• 77 are 45 or older
• 50 make less than 40K a year

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What we learned

• Coos County residents are engaged in the future
  of the county
• Residents value the county for what it is
  beautiful, clean, safe, with great outdoor
  recreation
• We love our communities
• We feel safe
• Coos County is a good place to raise kids
• Residents in Berlin and Groveton are less
  satisfied than those in other communities.

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Berlin/Gorham/Lancaster generated the most
response
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Nearly half of all Coos County residents rated
the community in which they live favorably
Berlin (2.50) and Groveton (2.51) residents rated
their towns significantly lower than did all
other Coos County residents
Its an area where your house isn't locked and
the pleasant attitude of the people and their
desire to help when you have problems.
My hometown is the place for me. I know my
friends and they know me.
Mean score 3.12
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Low crime, small town are the advantages
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Lack of jobs, taxes and shopping are the
disadvantages
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Outdoor activities are the attraction
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Coos County offers the best scenery and outdoor
recreation on the planet
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Two-thirds of residents outside of Berlin and
Groveton rated their community good or
excellent
Ive lived/been to many states Maine,
Minnesota, Florida, Texas and Illinois and Ive
always come home.
N56
N15
N149
I love living here. I grew up here, went away
to college and traveled all over the world. I
could never imagine living anywhere else.
N62
N21
N140
N44
N16
Ive lived here all my life. I love the area
because there is always something to see or do!
N11
N13
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Only about one-in-five residents in Berlin and
Groveton rated their community good or
excellent
Its truly sad to have a town with so many
opportunities turn to prisons for growth!
N64
Having lived in two other areas in NH over 20
years, this area is lacking in quality shopping,
dining and entertainment. It is also much more
expensive to live here.
N46
N27
N26
N7
Economy, healthcare, school funding, employment
opportunities and teen recreation are poor. Not
many job opportunities for people to advance in
financially.
N75
N525
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Residents feel that Coos County is a place for
outdoor recreation and a place to bring up a
family
Coos County residents do not feel that their
community is a place for employment or commerce.
Life is good here. We came back here from
Florida to raise our family. I wish stores were
closer but you get used to that. Safety is a huge
issue.
This is a great place to live but I do believe
we need to aggressively work on attracting
industry to the area. The loss of the mills and
poor winter weather has been a blow to the area.
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Coos County employment opportunities were rated
very low on various attributes across all towns
Need more jobs!
Unfortunately, due to low job opportunities,
kids leave.
Theres nothing here for the young. My family
all moved out of town for work.
The quality of life is good if you are
financially independent. Hard to earn a decent
living here.
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Residents outside of Berlin rate the
environment(lack of pollution) in Coos County
favorably..
Berlin residents rated the environment (3.08)
significantly lower than all other Coos County
residents.
I live in Berlin and I feel Coos County offers a
great peace of life and is really Gods country.
Its a great place to raise families as well as
to retire.
Great wildlife conservation. Visible stars at
night. Low noise, clean air. Great sleeping, no
need of air conditioning. Good soil for
gardening. Great fairs in summer.
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..but dont feel that there is much culture or
availability or social activity in the county
It is a very hard area to get a decent living.
It is also a long way to travel for special
doctors.
Bring in some industry and culture in the area.
We need to have our youth feel that there are
opportunities right in their own backyards so
they dont continue to exit this county!
We need un-interrupted cell phone service from
Whitefield north to the Canadian border and from
Dalton east to Berlin. High speed internet
country wide, broadband, DSL and wireless.
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Coos County residents rated all of the countys
outdoor activities favorably
I enjoy this area for its lack of malls. I dont
like to shop. I enjoy the outdoors. We have
enjoyed the camping, hiking, swimming, cross
country skiing, sledding. This area best suits
our interests.
Please help keep the wilderness as it is while
allowing recreational use. X-C skiing with dogs.
ATVs, snow machines and hiking trails make Coos
County what it is.
If you like peace and quiet great mountains and
landscape and have sufficient money this is a
good place to live. If you like hunting, fishing,
snow machining and skiing.
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Coos County received mediocre grades from
residents regarding the countys business
potential
Would like to see more bus services and taxi
services (public transportation) we need more job
training opportunities.
More work needs to be done on improving
infrastructure in better major routes. East, west
as well as north, south. Also looking into new
technology business, not relying on forests
only.
Many years ago it was a great place to
live-economy was good-stores lined Main Street in
Berlin-Nownothing! The entire area needs major
upgrading!
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Coos County received mediocre grades from
residents as a place of commerce
It would be better if more business and tourist
attractions came in. Instead of being place to
attract low-income families.
Ive lived in Groveton since 1947 and have seen
nothing in the past few years but businesses
leaving. We have no real good restaurants and
have to travel 10-miles to get a McDonalds
Hamburger.
There needs to be more hotels and restaurants in
Berlin to accommodate visitors and give them a
reason to stay in town for other activities
besides outdoor action. We also need more variety
for shopping.
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Local governments in Coos County rated below
average with regard to taking action and use of
funds
Coos County Needs more jobs, more help for
needy, government money, grants and cheaper
prices.
I want my family to grow up in clean environment
but town government is out of control. Stupid
people are doing stupid things and no one is
watching the wallet.
Local government in Berlin is detached from what
the people want. We dont want to live or be like
the Southern Cities or States. We live here and
accept lower wage earnings so we can enjoy this
area for what it is Friendly, clean,
conservative, slow-paced and easy to live.
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How do we stack up against the competition?

• Were better .

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Our strengths

• Unparalleled mountains/views
• Close-knit community
• Safer
• Cleaner water 1
• Cleaner air 1
• Better balance between work and play
• More airports
• 1 www.scorecard.org

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Our weaknesses

• Highway access
• Range of educational facilities
• Lack of incubator space and furniture
• Communications/technology
• Dwindling employment pool
• PR/Marketing

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What do the countrys best cities for business
have that we dont?
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What do we need to do?
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Marketing Recommendations

• Dont separate tourism and business
• 11 of tourists are business people who end up
  living/moving/locating a business where they
  vacation
• Target entrepreneurs with ties to the county
• Graduates
• Hikers
• Children and grandchildren
• Target high growth areas that play to our
  strengths

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Business Recruitment Opportunities
Strength
Ex-pats and entrepreeurs with ties to Coos County
Bio-fuels/renewable energy
Extreme sports
Canadian entrepreneurs
Ecotourism
Women entrepreneurs
Manufacturing
Call centers/telemarketing
High demand/growth area
Low growth
Healthcare
Education/Training
Transportation/Warehousing
Distribution facilities
Weakness
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Policy Recommendations

• Every Economic Development Director and
  Government Official needs to stress the
  advantages of Northsourcing over Outsourcing
• Local decisions makers should give preference to
  companies that Northsource
• Create Coos Cash a county wide buy local
  discount program that encourages people to buy
  from North Country businesss

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Communications Recommendations

• Speak with one voice
• Berlin is the solution not the problem
• Without Berlin, Coos County doesnt have the
  buildings, workforce and infrastructure to
  attract business
• Tell the world that we are not your fathers
  North Country
• It doesnt smell
• You can see the mountains, paddle in the rivers
• Theres a lot more to the North Country than you
  think
• Celebrate what Coos County is/has
• The weather
• The woods
• The water
• The wildlife
• The people

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Message recommendations

• Were better better than we were AND a better
  place to start a business
• MessageNorthsource dont Outsource
• Were closer-
• Message Play where you work, work where you
  play. If you work in Berlin you can be on a ski
  slope 30 minutes after leaving work. You can fish
  before breakfast, kayak at lunch. Boston is less
  than a tank away from the best outdoor experience
  in New England.
• Were balanced
• Message No where else will you find 3 Grand
  Resort Hotels and some of the most extreme
  camping on earth. We have rivers AND mountains,
  towns and wilderness, airports and hiking trails,
  amusements parks and national parks. Looking for
  balance in your life? Youll find it here.
• Were extreme
• Message We have the worst weather on earth and
  were proud of it! Also the most challenging
  rapids, steepest climbs, most rugged terrain.
  Extreme sportsmen be warned, you will never be
  bored in Coos County.
• Were real
• Message We have real food, real people, real
  politics, real country we are the real NH
• Were pure
• Message Coos is a great place to raise a family.
  Its safe, the water and air are clean, your
  neighbors are nice, and it smells good
• Were the future
• Soon to be the states first energy
  self-sufficient county
• Virtual companies are the new reality, where
  better to start one

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Marketing Recommendations Create events to
generate buzz and bring back the ex-pats

• Outreach to 2500 High School graduates on
  Classmates that graduated between 1965-1995- get
  them back for reunions, motivate them to return
  and start business
• Incentives to producers/sponsors of road races,
  bike races and other events that bring people up
  here to smell the air
• Head of the Androscoggin race for kayaks, canoes
  and rowing shells
• Leverage the airports for airshows, fly-ins,
  smoke-jumping training, flight schools
• Leverage presidential candidates as celebs to
  engage youth
• Leverage media attention from primary to promote
  Coos County

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Next steps Start a conversation

• On-line
• www.coosconversations.com
• Web sites
• VisitNH
• Chamber sites
• NorthNH
• Let the residents do the talking
• Flickr/YouTube contest

• In Tradtional Media -- Pitch the Northsourcing
  story to
• Business press
• NPR/Marketplace
• Small business
• Home business
• Lifestyle

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How will we know were successful?

• Measures of success

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Activity measures

• Web site traffic
• To www.coosconversations.com
• To VisitNH North Country specific pages
• To Chamber web sites
• To Berlin and other locale specific sites
• NHWorks
• Phone calls to
• Economic Development Directors
• Chambers
• AVER
• NCIC
• NHWorks

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Outcome measures

• of new jobs
• Increase/decrease in of 18-24 age group
• Room meals tax revenue
• improvement in satisfaction scores

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Thank You!

• For more information email me at
  kdpaine_at_kdpaine.com
• Or go to http//www.measuresofsuccess.com
• Or call me at 1-603-682-0735
• Or skype me at kdpaine
• Visit my blog http//kdpaine.blogs.com or
  www.coosconversations.com