News Release
Website promotes business in Fredericton
April 15, 2010
Fredericton is fast becoming known as a premier destination for doing business and with its innovative website, www.investfredericton.com, Enterprise Fredericton is doing its part to bring that message to the world.
Doug Mottie, the CEO of Enterprise Fredericton, is a vocal advocate of the strengths to doing business in Fredericton.
"Enterprise Fredericton launched this site four years ago and in that time we have made many positive changes that enabled us to grow exponentially, seeing traffic grow approximately 10 per cent year-over-year," said Mottie.
"Not only can potential investors and stakeholders from outside the region get to quickly access information such as tax rates, demographic and population figures, contact numbers, real estate costs and space availability, but it also provides local businesses the opportunity to promote their business."
When the site was unveiled in 2006 it was hailed as being cutting edge by industry insiders, as evidenced by the honourable mention award that the site garnered from the International Economic Development Council that same year.
The site was praised for its uniqueness and its ability to produce comprehensive business reports for its visitors, something Mottie and his communications officer, Lucas Roze, have strove to maintain.
"With Google Analytics we are able to monitor the traffic flow to the site and proactively respond to what the response or need is from our target audience - North American and international business interests," said Roze.
"For instance when Doug went to China a couple years ago and Mayor (Brad) Woodside went this past year, we saw a spike in traffic from China to our site and the increase in traffic flow has been pretty steady and constant and additionally we're also seeing more properties added to the database on the site by local business and especially by local developers."
Mark LeBlanc and Mike Joyce are local businessmen who frequent the site.
"We're a commercial brokerage company so we're in the business of buying, selling and leasing commercial property and we look at it as a good place to publish our listings, and I have found it to be very advantageous to my work," said LeBlanc, founding partner of JamesMark Commercial Realty.
"We do business all over the province and I have used it while I am in other municipalities and it has proven to be valuable for us because it allows prospective clients to do their preliminary investigation into our business through the site, see the marketplace and get a thumbnail sketch of what they need to make good business decisions and accelerates the process of potential investing."
But according to LeBlanc, as valuable as the time savings and convenience are, it is the conciseness of the reports that makes the site invaluable.
"The site uses a Turner Drake report that provides a survey of vacancy rates and this is a new thing that they just added and it is really a great planning tool."
Joyce agrees.
"We're a big supporter of the simplicity of the site and we use it to highlight the properties we have for sale and lease," said Joyce, a sales associate specializing in commercial real estate for Barwise Realty. "It's a one-stop shopping experience where you can get a great capture of all the relevant information one would need to understand the Fredericton business market and economic climate, and it is especially beneficial for the commercial real estate sector.
Frank Flanagan agrees that Enterprise Fredericton is a catalyst for local business development. As director of development services for the City of Fredericton, he has a vested interest in the value the website provides.
"Primarily it allows people quick access to important information regarding properties, vacancy and especially the ability to allow potential investors to customize reports in specific areas of interest - whether that be labour force figures, real estate information, taxation or facility and space availability, it's very informative - both in accentuating our local market and in attracting foreign investors."
Mottie and his team look to the future and the potential for improvement and growth.
"We're always working with our partners to update and improve the service the site provides and that includes the needs of all of our stakeholders and trying to stay current with technology and the market," said Mottie.
"It makes our job easy that we have such a wonderful story to tell here in Fredericton - with the universities, the strong school system, the multicultural association for newcomers, a vibrant immigrant population, strong business community and community organizations, strong R&D, IT and manufacturing sectors, it all contributes to our continued growth.
"The Fredericton package," says Mottie with a chuckle, "altogether, is not too shabby."