Comments on: Indy: Good Economic Development – Internet Marketing Cluster

By: indyjrob

indyjrob — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:18:40 +0000

Thanks for this post Urb. I am a marketer who uses the incredible products put out by these companies and I've long thought about how lucky we are to have this valuable cluster in our backyard. In my job I have to promote the merits of our city and it says a lot for leading edge companies to be planting roots here. The tree that seems to ne spawning from Exact Target is very encouraging and I hope it is a trend that sustains.

By: best internet marketing strategies

best internet marketing strategies — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:12:20 +0000

Nice post. I learned many more about internal marketing strategies with this post. thanks for posting.

By: JG

JG — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:17:25 +0000

I did not hear any mention of Indiana or Purdue's business schools in these articles. I am curious to what extent they have played in this phenomenon – other than merely graduating some the owners and employees of these firms.

By: Jefferey

Jefferey — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:30:37 +0000

True, the favored quareter phenomenon would lead to de-facto clustering, but that wouldn't be driven by the desire of firms to be close to each-other.

By: The Urbanophile

The Urbanophile — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:01:42 +0000

Thanks for the comments.

Doug, it's pretty shocking that they'd deny you without even talking to you.

Jefferey, I do not believe the companies are geographically clustered. But that is very over-rated in a city like Indianapolis where you are 20-30 minutes from anywhere. Clustering makes much more sense in larger cities where distances are greater and traffic much worse. In the time it takes me to make my 5 1/2 mile Chicago commute via L from Lakeview to downtown - about 40 minutes - I could literally get almost anywhere in the Indianapolis region from downtown. This is even easier when you consider that like most places Indy has a "favored quarter" development pattern, meaning you would rarely have to go from far south to far north or something.

By: thundermutt

thundermutt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:30:31 +0000

Exact Target is in downtown Indy. Angie's List is just outside downtown. I'm not sure where the other companies in the cluster have located.

By: Jefferey

Jefferey — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:25:14 +0000

Im curious if these firms are geographically clustered in metro Indy. Do they prefer a certain suburban area or set of office parks or are they scattered around the metro area?

By: Kruse Internet Marketing

Kruse Internet Marketing — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:55:15 +0000

I note where the guy says he couldn't get funding despite his having a successful history in startups. This is where attitudes have to change, I believe, as even though money is tight local monies may be best leveraged by putting them in a state-owned bank and using the multiplier (fractional reserve banking) to greatly increase their worth. The example of North Dakota, frequently written about by Ellen Brown, is perhaps the best example of this in current terms. People, plain folk, need to have a far greater understanding of the issues that stop money from being freely available as it's needed. Here's some further reading;
North Dakota Banking example

If you read her stuff in general it's clear and easy to read and right now everyone needs to know more on this subject.

BB

By: ardecila

ardecila — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:13:14 +0000

Good points. I will say, though, that the scatter-shot approach that VC takes on the coasts allows a lot more ideas to be proven in the marketplace, with the downside of a high failure rate, whereas your observed Midwestern requirement for a solid business plan leads to a greater success rate among startups, but much fewer startups in the first place.

The coastal model would seem to attract the creative class in greater numbers than the Midwestern model, which, as you said, tends to play off of Midwestern strengths in "traditional" business skills like sales and management. There, now I related your post to Richard Florida.. I think my job is done.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:24:11 +0000

I wonder how much IUPUI/Purdue and even Ball State has to do with the success of a lot of these companies here in town. Speaking from the talent these companies need to write the code/design the sites etc. As as grad from there working locally in a high tech area, I am somewhat biased. But none the less I have worked at several agencies, and a lot of household name national clients are serviced from here in Indianapolis.

We have a cluster of schools here in the hinterland that pump out a lot of quality grads tailored for these types of businesses.