As businesses throughout the country look for areas to grow and expand, the St. Joseph Economic Development Partnership is working to put the city on their radar.
The group has launched a newly redesigned website highlighting the information businesses and site selectors need to know when considering St. Joseph in their growth plans. Whether a new company is looking to come to St. Joseph or a current national business is looking to expand, the goal of the website is to provide insights about possible locations, incentives, workforce and more to ensure the business considers the city.
Brad Lau, vice president of economic development for the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, said the new website is key in attracting businesses to the city.
“It’s important to keep our online presence appealing and functional to be competitive with other cities,” Lau said. “Most research is done online now and communities are eliminated from potential lists if site selectors can’t find the information they need quickly.”
Most recently, St. Joseph has seen success in the area of attraction from Cereal Ingredients, O’Neal Steel and Vertical Enterprises, which all have located in the area since the beginning of 2020. The three businesses expect to employ an estimated 115 people and include roughly $30 million in capital investments.
“It’s an important marketing tool to get them the information they need as they look through and narrow down communities they may want to live in,” Lau said.
The chamber has been working on an email marketing strategy, as well as digital advertising campaigns that are set to begin next month. This will work to drive site selectors and those in target industries to the website to see how they would fit in the community.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, there were 322 new jobs created throughout St. Joseph in 2021, compared to the 115 added in 2020. The economic development partnership expects numbers to continue trending upward.