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In West Texas, the environment is distinct. The mountain ranges are small and the sky is colossal.
The people are tough and the dust is a constant. Running for 39,800 square miles, the zone stretches over farmland and metropolis. But while most of its counties are united in geography, there’s one region that stands apart.
The Region
To the west is the Chihuahuan Desert. To the east is the Edwards Plateau. Look north and you’ll find the North Concho River. Turn south and you’ll see its South Fork intersect.
Home to a population of 99,112, the City of San Angelo makes up just a fraction of West Texas. But with its comparatively central location and confluence of natural resources (including three reservoirs, a lake, and the expansive Concho River), it has something that its westward counterparts don’t.
Water – Water to combat the droughts and bolster the businesses. Water to propel the industries and assure the people. Nicknamed everything from “The Pearl of West Texas” to “The River City,” that water has clearly earned the region a reputation among its neighbors.
But as a city fuelled by far greater ambitions, the attention of its neighbors hasn’t been enough.
The Entity
For the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce, the commercial potential running deep inside its region is indisputable. But for those outside the zone of WestTexas, that potential isn’t as immediately obvious.
Which is where the Chamber’s economic development office enters the picture.
Responsible for showcasing the value of the full San Angelo MSA – including its city and surrounding county districts – the office is fuelled by the need to make its region recognizable. Not just as a member of the renowned stretch of WestTexas, but as a fully equipped landscape of its own.
For Vice President of Economic Development Michael Looney and Economic Development Manager Mike Berry, that quest for recognition has required the right exposure – but it’s also required the right pitch.
“Most folks who aren’t from this area, they haven’t heard of San Angelo,” Berry says.“So we’re in the business of marketing our assets.”
The Why
Water. Location. Lifestyle.
For Looney and Berry, the value that San Angelo brings to the table is that simple – but it’s also that transforming. Which is exactly what their three -tiered why pitch seeks to convey.
First up, there’s water. The key differentiator between the MSA and the larger expanse of West Texas, water has been part of San Angelo’s story since it was founded in 1867. But while the Concho River, Lake Nasworthy, and three reservoirs work together to uphold the region’s activity, the water’s real value isn’t in what it can do today.
It’s in what it will do tomorrow.
With three projects underway to secure new water resources, the region is hyper-focused on its plans for long-term expansion. “Right now, we use about 12 million gallons a day,” Berry explains. “These projects are going to allow us to double that capacity.”
But where water makes growth in population and industry possible, San Angelo’s geographic locus is what makes it probable. And that’s where the location tier comes into play.
A few hours away from the Permian Basin – “a huge hub for oil & gas” –and under six hours away from major distribution centers and metropolitan areas(like Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and El Paso), the region beckons to industrial manufacturing and oil & gas support industries alike. And that appeal is further augmented by its infrastructure: with quality state highways, a local airport, and two newly designated interstates, it’s not merely close to the action. It’s set to advance it.
Which takes us to lifestyle.
The final tier of San Angelo’s narrative, lifestyle proves that the region is more than just an advantageous site for industry, but a desirable home for people.Violent crime and living costs are low. Disposable income and recreation options are high. The downtown core is walkable. The “place-making” programming is innovative.
From the historic Fort Concho to the oldest Civic Theater in Texas, the San AngeloState Park to the persistently welcoming ambience, the region has something for everyone. And that’s a claim that’s been backed up by global analytics firm Moody’s: “We actually hold the highest quality of life rating,” Berry proclaims, “in the entire state.”
The Hook
To business leaders, that why pitch is alluring on its own – but combine it with the venture that the Chamber’s office has been working on since 2019, and it’s downright unignorable.
Introducing: San Angelo’s 183-acre, privately-owned community rail port.
A striking addition to the region’s narrative, the rail port runs from San Angelo to Dallas-Fort Worth in one direction and San Angelo to Presidio in the other.The result is a privatized transportation system that can move just about any commodity, just about anywhere. And that possibility hasn’t been lost on businesses around the world.
“It’s been huge in acting as an attractant,” Berry says. “It’s driven a lot of interest and helped us become known on an international scale.”
The Strategy
With such distinct value, San Angelo’s economic development office might be expected to target the widest audience possible. Only: that’s not the strategy it’s honed in on.
Subscribing to the concept of “economic gardening,” the MSA’s first priority has been to grow the businesses inside its region. That means thinking critically about the organizations it pursues – and ensuring that, if it does bring them in, they won’t detract from the ones that’ve already put down roots.
“We can’t afford to focus on home run hits with 500-employee job creation,” Berry explains. With limited regional unemployment, that kind of ‘opportunity’ would end up cannibalizing – not complementing – the ecosystem. So rather than chasing headlines, Looney and Berry have stayed dialled into the details.
“We try to get that capital investment to grow and expand first,” he says. “And then wherever we need to fill in the gaps for our economy, that’s where we focus.”
The How
But when they are focused on filling in those gaps, they know that it’s not as simple as flashing a “We’re Open!” sign and waiting for business leaders to come running in. As a smaller region, they have to earn the attention of their target audience.
And that means communicating their pitch in a way that stands out.
Enter: data storytelling. The tactic they’ve leaned on across mediums, data storytelling ensures that Looney and Berry aren’t simply inundating decision-makers with facts – but providing them with a captivating on-ramp to understanding.
“There’s a lot of economic reporting that goes on,” Berry says, “but at this MSA level, not a lot of entities understand how to make that data meaningful.”
With business leaders frequently overloaded with pitches and attention spans shorter than they’ve ever been, complex, disjointed data won’t pull focus. But vivid, relevant data will. And that’s where Localintel technology entered San Angelo’s game-plan.
“It started with Localintel’s Quality of Life Advantages tool,” Berry recalls. A map-based widget embedded on the economic development office’s home page, it allowed site visitors to browse data according to their needs – and get visual breakdowns tailored to their journey.
“It was a great way to pull people in,” he explains. “Then once they were in, they’d go to the destination marketing website– Discover San Angelo – and start digging more, because they’d already figured out what they were interested in.”
With its utility proven after a year of increases in traffic and reach – “people allover the world were starting to touch it” – Berry’s office went all in and integrated more of Localintel’s award-winning marketing tools into their website, including: Logistics Advantages, Talent Pipeline Advantages and CommunityProfile. With a diverse, user-friendly suite and enough data to paint a personalized picture for any decision-maker, the audience was left impressed.But so was San Angelo’s leadership.
“Our city and county officials loved having that kind of live data at their fingertips,” Berry says. “It was a turnkey solution.”
The Future
With dry heat and rugged land, San Angelo is an unmistakable part of West Texas. But it’s also a region with ambitions of its own.
Ambitions to compete. Ambitions to expand. Ambitions to raise the ceiling of its potential – without overriding the value of what’s already inside.
“We’re not trying to turn into Austin,” Berry says, referring to that city’s explosive growth. “Our role is to grow strategically, in small, steady increments.”
Todo that, the Chamber’s economic development office has been focused on building a blueprint that champions clear-cut goals. Goals like maintaining its diversified economy – which has kept it largely insulated from recessions.Goals like bolstering its local networks of industry – so it can wholly regionalize its supply chain.
But even with its growth-oriented projects (ranging from water to rail-port) and its proven industry advantages, San Angelo still has to fight for its audience’s attention. That means staying innovative in an arena chock-full of larger competitors, and staying grounded in an industry where storytelling is king.
Asked for the piece of advice he’d give to other economic developers looking to help their region stand out, Berry offers a single W. Edwards Deming quote: “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
The story of San Angelo would be nothing without the facts that underpin it – but those facts have been chosen with care. For the Chamber’s office of economic development, it was never about including every possible data point.
It was about turning key facts into meaning, and letting that meaning set its region apart.
