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Getting ready for retirees
November 11th, 2010 by Mike Knutson
South Dakota is a great place to retire. So the folks at MoneyRates.com tell us. In a “top 10″ list published a couple weeks ago, the online magazine ranked South Dakota as the third best place to live – just behind New Hampshire and Hawaii, and just ahead of North Dakota. (source: “10 Best States to Retire,” Richard Barrington, MoneyRates.com)
Cory Heidelberger at the Madville Times identified the list in a blog post yesterday, and raised the idea of rural communities developing initiatives to recruit retirees as a part of their economic development strategy. An idea that definitely has merit.
What’s the reality?
Lists like this are fun. But the question is, “Are they based on reality?” I doubt many Money-Rates editors or writers would consider moving to South Dakota when they retire, let alone a small, rural community in South Dakota. What gives? Is the opportunity to recruit retirees real?
I believe it is, and I believe there is research to back it up. For instance, John Cromartie and Peter Nelson note the potential of a baby boom migration to rural places in an article they produced for USDA last year. In other research Minnesota sociologist Ben Winchester identified a somewhat younger population movement (age 30-45) already in action in rural Minnesota.
But to tap into this potential and fully develop it, rural communities need to get serious and develop intentional initiatives. One part of this effort should be improved branding.
What do you mean, branding?
Most people will interpret my call for improved branding to mean improved marketing. Although there’s plenty of work to be done here too, branding starts with what’s on the inside of the community. It starts with improving the product so that it matches the desires of the target audience (i.e. – retirees).
For instance, Cromartie and Nelson note the existence of lower housing costs as a key attractor for retirees to rural communities. The reality is that if the rest of the community looks like a junk yard, boasting of lower housing costs means little. The way your community looks is part of its brand; judgments are made quickly, and often are hard to change.
After product development comes the equally difficult job of discerning what is it that your community should hang its hat on? Some communities build their brand around being a safe place to live. Other communities try to be known for something unusual (i.e. – Home of the largest pheasant statue). Safety might be an important part of a brand, but it’s probably not central to it. And quirky mottos may get you noticed, but they probably won’t attract retirees looking for a new home. Branding must be deeper than that.
Does rural South Dakota have an opportunity to attract retirees? Yes. But first, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Photo credit: Chapendra, Flickr
Tags: baby boomers, branding, marketing, South Dakota
Posted in Economic Development, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (
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November 19th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
[...] that South Dakota is a wonderful place to retire. The people at MoneyRates.com know that too (via Reimagine Rural). They recently published a list of the 10 best retirement states and SD ranked third best in the [...]