Back in January of 2011 the Town of Ahoskie, Hertford County and the Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce joined forces with the Buxton Group of Ft. Worth, Texas to develop a sustainable marketing program that will target and hopefully attract new business to our area.

The Buxton Group is a marketing firm that possesses the world’s largest database of retail information and is nationally renowned for helping small towns such as ours bring in new businesses. Its goal is to match Ahoskie with retailers, restaurants, and businesses that best fit the local economy.

All the marketing strategies, data and analytics that The Buxton Group provided was quite impressive, but most of all I have been impressed with the way the Hertford County and Town of Ahoskie governments along with the Ahoskie Chamber of Commerce all worked hand in hand to secure funding and the coordination for this project. A town and county government working in concert these days can be hard to find. It seems a lot of localities have giant egos and many suffer from the “what’s in it for me” syndrome.

As a town, county and community we only get only one shot at a first impression, and this cohesiveness between the town, our county government and our chamber may just be the very part of equation that sets us apart of similar locations and help us land the “big fish.”

It appears The Buxton Group was able to match Ahoskie with some great prospective businesses. The list consists of sit-down restaurants, clothing store, department stores, and others.  Ahoskie and Hertford County needs these types of new businesses. These businesses will help to promote our community, the new softball/baseball fields and tourism and give a boost to tourism and our local economy. Most important they will increase local tax revenues and provide new employment opportunities.

This is only the beginning of opportunities for our area. When we recruit new business here, traditionally others will follow, creating a mushroom effect. The hard work and commitment of our town, county and chamber officials is to be commended.

Here’s hoping that everyone in this wonderful community will get behind this effort and do their part to bring new businesses to our area.  Remember that every journey begins with a first step and this is only the beginning for Ahoskie and Hertford County.

 

Joe Cowart is Publisher of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. He can be contacted at joe.cowart@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7218.