Inc. Magazine's top ranking draws attention of media

How valuable is that Inc.Magazine report that Reno is the best place in America to do business? Try $636,000 and that's just for the space that the business magazine devoted to Reno.

The value will go up quickly because newspapers around the country picked up on the story most of them reporting how their hometown economies stacked up and Reno's top rating was mentioned in nearly all of them.

The Economic Development Authority of Northern Nevada is measuring that positive publicity, figuring how much it would cost if it were paid advertising and calculating the value.

"We really caught the attention of the media nationwide," said Julie Ardito, EDAWN's director of public relations.

Calls came from reporters in Florida.

New Jersey.

Boise.

San Bernardino.

The Wall Street Journal, working on an article about the region's efforts to weather the competition of Indian gaming, called back after the Inc.

Magazine report came out.

The Sacramento Bee sent a reporter to the region for two days last week as the newspaper prepared to run an in-depth story about Reno's economic successes.

Media outlets in Muncie, Ind., which finished dead last in the Inc.Magazine study, spotlighted Reno's firstplace finish.

So did the Los Angeles Daily News.

Even the Las Vegas Review Journal published an article noting that Reno won this round in the mostly friendly competition between the two cities.

Las Vegas ranked 14th in the study.

"It's very hard for us to stay on their radar in Las Vegas,"Ardito said.

While the immediate burst of news coverage is dying off, EDAWN isn't about to let the No.

1 ranking escape the minds of executives scouting new locations for company facilities.

The economic development agency's staff last week was making sure that its prospects had heard the news, paying particular attention to the California companies that have been targeted by EDAWN and other jobdevelopment agencies throughout Nevada.

"We absolutely use these national rankings," Ardito said."They're hard-earned."

It's one thing, she noted, when northern Nevada officials sing the praises of the region as a location for business.

But the endorsement of a third party such as a business magazine is more powerful.

"When a national magazine comes out with something like this, it's like a seal of approval for us,"Ardito said."It really lends credibility to our efforts."

EDAWN has had plenty of experience milking good publicity.

Just last month, for instance,Men's Journal ranked Reno third among the nation's best places to live.And a national economic research firm in December ranked the region's economic strength in the top tier nationwide.

Inc.Magazine primarily relied on jobgrowth data in its comparison of 274 metropolitan areas.

It looked at current-year job growth, average annual growth during the past three years and job growth during the first half and second half of the last decade.

The Reno area averaged 3 percent annual job growth from 1994 through 2004.

Last year, it reported a 4.2 percent increase in employment compared with a national figure of 1.1 percent.

Beyond raw numbers, the researchers looked at how much of the new employment was in high-wage sectors and whether that growth had been sustained.

Other factors examined by the magazine's researchers included the tax and regulatory climate.