Economically speaking Metro Detroit has been going through some tough growing pains. The last year brought negative headlines concerning scandalous accusations concerning city Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an Federal automotive bailout. Then when you tack on a failing public school system and a flopping housing market and low employment rate it just gets worse. In fact, the sudden notion of leaving the state entirely sounds like a good idea.
Metro Detroit is going through some rough changes but in all that confusion lies a real gem. There are many opportunities that exist here that are tough to get in other cities. Detroit has a rising art movement, a growing film industry, alternative energy, green companies which puts a unique spin on things. When you combine this with a traditional media collapse you have the ingredients for a revolution. Newspapers and magazines are not getting the job done. The Ann Arbor News has forever shut its doors and popular niche publications like Phenomenews have closed for good as well.
With limited places to advertise Metro Detroit merchants are running to the web. Search engines are getting the job done in Metro Detroit. The search engines have grown up in the last 18 months and now retailers can get their specials and promotions listed on the web in less than one hour and appear on page 1 of Google. This has changed the PR game quite a bit. Now even a mom and pop retail store can compete with Macys or Best Buy and that has a lot of retailers jumping for joy.
“The idea to do a video web directory and offer coupons was elementary. The newspapers are folding up in Metro Detroit and the print media world is expensive. Worse, popular city directories like Time Out Magazine skipped Detroit altogether. We wanted to showcase the best of what this area offers and showcase the personalities that make up our city – no matter what.” Says online marketer Ted Cantu.
Its working well. In the last 3 months Cantu and the crew from Hot Metro Finds have documented the Russell Art Gallery, showcased personalities like Ken Brown, Yamaha atv parts dealers and even featured rock and roll acts with web video. Their media presence has been picked up in USA Today, Wall Street Hour, CBS Media, DBusiness Magazine and that high profile list is growing daily.
“The original tech wave skipped metro Detroit. The dot com movement did too. Now that search engines are becoming the new wave of the future the time is right for the Motor City to get on the web. Their investments are protected, visibility is guaranteed and there are no real good reasons for any of our Metro Detroit business owners to have to deal with Yellow Pages or pay per click ads” says Cantu.
