A little about the SBA Blog

Ed BurghardThe Strengthening Brand America blog category is to be a forum where economic development professionals and marketing professionals can share their experience with and thoughts on place branding so as a community we have a better appreciation for how to successfully apply the principles for job growth and economic prosperity.

The From the CEO category is to be a forum where I can share thoughts on successful reapplication of private sector product and corporate branding principles in place branding.

Correlation and Causation Explained

March 18, 2021 at 2:59 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on Correlation and Causation Explained | Tags: | Category: Measures

How many times have you been asked to be data driven in your decision making?  Often this leads to the collection of a lot of data through market research or observational studies with the hope a pattern will emerge to explain what is happening. In my experience, one of the favorite analytical approaches used by […]

Read more →

Brand Building During COVID-19

January 19, 2021 at 2:03 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on Brand Building During COVID-19 | Tags: ,,,, | Category: Strategy

How to think about branding in a pandemic.

Read more →

COVID-19 IMPACT ON THE AMERICAN DREAM

November 21, 2020 at 12:03 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on COVID-19 IMPACT ON THE AMERICAN DREAM | Tags: | Category: Measures, Place Brand Building, Strategy

Recently, Dr. Philip Kotler (widely acknowledged as the father of modern marketing) authored a blog post entitled “What is the American Dream? Do we need a new one with Covid-19?”.  In the post, Dr. Kotler referenced some of my work with Xavier University on the quantification of the American Dream.  He also raised some important […]

Read more →

The Real Definition Of Place Branding

October 15, 2020 at 11:38 am, by Edward | 2 Comments | Tags: | Category: Place Brand Building, Strategy

  I thought I’d share this article authored by Simon Anholt who is generally recognized globally as an expert in Nation Branding. The article was published by the City/Nation/Place website. I am sharing because I believe Simon has missed the point of what place branding actually is.  This is a point of difference I have […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

Can We Achieve The American Dream In a COVID-19 World?

August 1, 2020 at 1:19 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on Can We Achieve The American Dream In a COVID-19 World? | Tags: ,,, | Category: FDI

The Hill decided to address this question in their article “Can we keep the American Dream alive during COVID-19?”. It is an opinion article, and like most opinions needs to be read with a cautious eye. The basic conclusion of the article is “Every American deserves the chance and opportunity to experience the American Dream, […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

Better Enabling The American Dream

July 27, 2020 at 11:51 am, by Edward | Comments Off on Better Enabling The American Dream | Tags: ,,,,,, | Category: FDI

The American Enterprise Institute has published a report titled “The American Dream in 2020: How to Strengthen It”. It is definitely a good read. The report focuses on ways to leverage public policy to create increased economic opportunity. It shares a wide range of ideas, but focuses on local level policies and community initiatives. In […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

What Students Say About the American Dream

July 19, 2020 at 7:35 am, by Edward | Comments Off on What Students Say About the American Dream | Tags: ,,,, | Category: FDI

I was doing some online research into the American Dream to better understand how different demographics perceive it. I have done a reasonable amount of studying the Dream, but find it is always good to proactively seek diverse thoughts on the subject. My passion for continuing to learn about the American Dream stems from my […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

Searching For The American Dream in a COVID-19 World

July 13, 2020 at 1:54 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on Searching For The American Dream in a COVID-19 World | Tags: | Category: FDI

My sister recently forwarded me an NPR article written by Claire Harbage titled “Searching For The American Dream On Paradise Road”. It was an article about the work of photographer Eliot Dudik. The article has some great pictures if you enjoy photography. But, I want to focus on Claire’s interpretation of the American Dream. Here […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (1)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

COVID-19 Time To Review Your Strategic Plan

July 10, 2020 at 5:14 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on COVID-19 Time To Review Your Strategic Plan | Tags: | Category: FDI

Sometimes the unexpected happens and it has a material impact on the strategic plan your Company is operating against. Failure to do so can be disastrous. When Netflix entered the market they upended the existing pricing model for watching movies. Netflix introduced the monthly price with unlimited access to their portfolio of titles. Blockbuster, the […]

What do you think of this post?
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (1)
  • Useful (0)
  • Boring (0)
  • Sucks (0)

Read more →

Leadership In A Post COVID-19 Period

May 8, 2020 at 5:07 pm, by Edward | Comments Off on Leadership In A Post COVID-19 Period | Tags: ,,,, | Category: FDI

As the Nation begins to reopen for business, many Organizations are discovering business as usual is simply not an option.  The threat of a COVID-19 epidemic restart is very real and the safety of both employees and customers is on the mind of every CEO/Owner.  In addition, there are a number of new local, state and federal […]

Read more →

SBA Blog