How Can Your Community Be Better If It's Not Different?

Ways to Community Success

Residents, workers, businesses, public officials, property owners, and investors want our communities—cities, towns, business areas, neighborhoods to be successful in growing jobs, sales, population, property values, and tax revenues.

How well they sell determines success.

Some places' success is from a great location. But an inferior location can be overcome by marketing.

Communities win in the marketplace by offering a competitive advantage. But many have neither figured out what that difference is nor sold it.

So places are not achieving the success they could, finds John L. Gann, Jr., because of deficiencies of knowledge, experience, or ambition. These are

 deficiencies he’s worked as government staff, consultant, trainer, and writer to reduce.

An entrepreneur of ideas like John looks for Hidden Economic Value for growth. Since he’s done it for special places like college towns, rural hamlets, and urban neighborhoods, he may help do it for you.

A Different Approach

But uncovering Hidden Economic Value means improving upon instead of just following what others do. “If you can’t do it better,” he asks, “why do it at all?” So he moved beyond his training in city planning with a broader approach that does more.

1. Economic Health Is Number One

Economic health makes everything else possible. What makes a successful business makes a successful city.

 2. Practical Help Is of Highest Value

In work with Cornell University, as Local Services Director at the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, and in consulting, he's stressed
action-oriented help over planners' broad-brush generalities, colored maps, and glitzy renderings.

3. Local Works Best

John prefers local action over central planning, as shown by NIPC Area Offices he headed. He’s never worked for a state or federal agency.

4. Marketing Solves Problems Better

John favors marketing over compulsion. In regulation, he seeks win-win approaches. But John's is not the marketing of logos, cute slogans, or big media buys. His marketing is a high-level function involving thought.

For more on John, click here.