It’s been a little over six months since packed it all in and up and moved back to Seattle. And it’s been a little bit more than six months since I started by job with the state.
So, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about what I do, a “state of the union,” so to speak. Given that voters here are deciding who my new boss will be on Tuesday, it seems like a good idea to show what a typical state employee does.
Me, I landed the best job in the world. I am the Marketing, Communications & Outreach Manager for the Business Services Division of the Washington State Department of Commerce. Or, in office parlance, I’m the state’s marketing guy.
I have a very specific job. I market the state to businesses. For businesses in the state, I sell them on expanding or even staying in Washington – states can be highly competitive for businesses, often trying to lure them to move from the state they are in to a new state. In economic development jargon, it’s known as smokestack chasing.
For businesses outside the state, my job is to publicize and market our state, demonstrating why it’s a great place to do business in and with. This can include businesses looking for new partners, new investment opportunities, new sites… any number of things. These businesses can be across the country or halfway across the world. Some may not even know there is another Washington, one that doesn’t have D.C. behind it.
It’s a real challenge, making our state stand out against places like New York state, which has $50 million to play with and Robert DeNiro directing their spots. We don’t have that kind of money in Washington, and while I’m not going to tell you my budget (write me and ask if you want to know, more than happy to tell ya fellow Washington taxpayers), it’s a lot smaller than Bob’s budget. If New York’s budget is a an elephant, then mine is the flea perched on the end of its trunk.
No matter. As I said, I have a great job and as we know, I’m a pretty resourceful kind of guy, one who finds it just another challenge to do amazing things with very little money. I’m pretty good at it, largely because I really want to spend the taxpayer’s money wisely. After all, some of my own money is in the mix here. I helped contribute to my own budget, so I treat it like I do my personal budget – think twice about every dollar before I spend it.
I know that may come as a surprise to some people. Everyone in my department watches your dollars very carefully. Everything has to have a solid return on the investment, largely because we all come from business backgrounds. We understand the importance of ROI and coming in or under budget.
As you know, I used to sit at home, make stuff up and people sent me checks. Now I sit in an office on the 26th floor of a high rise in Seattle, making stuff up and the state not only gives me a check, but some benefits.
In return, they are getting an amazing return on their investment in me. The “Choose Washington” campaign is well under way with a cool new logo, some great messaging and soon, a new website that up to this moment, has cost taxpayers exactly $11.97. No, I didn’t misplace a decimal point. As I said, at least in the Business Services Division, we’re pretty stingy with tax dollars.
It should be up in about two or three weeks. No, that’s not another clerical error. While the impression is that government moves at a snail’s pace, it doesn’t in my world. We are encouraged to tackle problems with new ideas and new ways of doing things. And believe me, that can be a real challenge because we have a lot of rules to follow, rules the private sector never has to give a second thought about.
If you want to see what I do, you can visit our Facebook page. There, you’ll find posts about all the cool things Washington State businesses are doing, some that may surprise you. Go ahead and “Like” it if you like.
Look for our new website a little before Thanksgiving. It will be at ChooseWashington.com; if you’re a glutton for punishment, check out the existing site. It’s pretty dark and sinister, but don’t worry, I’m changing all that. The new site really makes our state shine, and the stories of our businesses and our state, are pretty heroic and inspiring.
I do other fun things, too, like work on trade missions for the Governor and I am even back to designing exhibits, the most recent one for the Paris Airshow next year. No, it doesn’t have a giant space shuttle in it – but it is pretty edgy. You know me.
Yes, I get to write cool stories about the state, just like I did for clients all over the world when I was running CommuniCreations. As I said, I’m one lucky guy, getting to do what I do best and being given the latitude to take state business marketing by the horns and run with it.
I guess this “old” guy still has some tricks up his sleeve. Even as the weather turns a bit crappy here, I still get up every morning and head off to work with zeal. Always something new and interesting to do and I work with really, really smart people, as I’ve noted before. Thankfully, they think I’m pretty good at what I do, so hopefully I will get to turn the marketing temperature on this state up a couple more degrees, making it red hot in the minds of companies that want to do business in and with the state of Washington.
In the Emerald City, visions of new campaigns dancing in my head,
– Robb