SCEDC launches innovative web service

By ANDREA GIBSON, SCEDC

FREMONT – The Sandusky County Economic Development Corp. is launching “SizeUp Sandusky County” on its website, making powerful market research and business intelligence available to local businesses to help them succeed.

Local businesses can now access industry-specific and hyperlocal information to help them grow and make smarter decisions using big data analysis. The research is individually customized for each company.

By using the website service, local businesses are able to:

Rank their business performance compared to industry competitors

Discover potential customers, suppliers and better understand their competitive landscape

Optimize advertising to target ideal customer segments

SizeUp helps to level the competitive business playing field by providing small businesses with similar market research that typically only large corporations can afford to access by contracting multinational management consulting companies or hiring internal research analysts.

“In today’s information economy, if you don’t have access to information your business is at a significant disadvantage. With the launch of SizeUp on the Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation’s website, we are empowering our small businesses in Sandusky County to be able to make more data-driven decisions to better operate, succeed, and grow,” said Beth Hannam, Executive Director of the SCEDC.

In the USA, over 99% of all companies are small businesses and small businesses create the majority of all net new private sector jobs (Source: US Small Business Administration and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). From 1993 to 2015, small businesses created 425% more net new jobs than large companies (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). In addition, locally owned businesses create a larger economic impact on the local economy because more money spent with them is re-spent locally.

“The SCEDC is committed to helping our local businesses succeed. They are the foundation of our local economy, employ our residents, create new jobs, and make our community a more prosperous place. Providing SizeUp business assistance service on our website is another way in which we are partnering with our local businesses for their success,” said Hannam

SizeUp uses big data, cloud computing and computer algorithms to deliver custom analysis for local businesses. The data comes from hundreds of public and proprietary data sources covering firmographic, demographic, geographic, labor, wage, cost, consumer spending, transportation and more. The SizeUp platform will also be used by the SCEDC staff to locate suppliers for new companies who are interested in starting or relocating their business to Sandusky County.

“SizeUp Sandusky County has been made available thanks to a grant received by the U.S. Bank Foundation” added Hannam. “Through the U.S. Bank Foundation grant we were also able to purchase new lobby furniture. We are extremely grateful to U.S. Bank Foundation for giving us the opportunity to upgrade our office lobby and provide this wonderful service to our local small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

This new service provided by the SCEDC is completely free to local businesses and available anytime through the SCEDC website at sanduskycountyedc.net or directly at https://sizeup.info/sanduskycounty. A training webinar is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 1 and all Sandusky County small- and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs are encouraged to attend. Reservations can be made by emailing Andrea at communications@sanduskycountyedc.org or through the direct link on the SCEDC’s social media pages.

Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation is a non-profit organization that focuses on workforce development, business retention and expansion, and business recruitment for Sandusky County.

SizeUp is a Fintech (Financial Technology) internet service company dedicated to providing powerful business intelligence. SizeUp helps its clients better serve their small business customers by providing high-quality market research and business insights. SizeUp enables small businesses to make better decisions through big data. As a result of SizeUp’s disruptive model of small business intelligence, it has established itself as a leading Fintech company winning awards, being profiled in the media, and being invited to present at conferences around the world. SizeUp won the first place award from the US Department of Commerce for a business app that helps American businesses be more competitive, improve their success, foster prosperity and create more jobs.