Valitics. Web Strategies, Net Results

My sentiments exactly. Import dollars, grow the economy.

I was hoping that the concept I presented would serve as an example and lead people to this exact conclusion. How awesome is that? I'm only sorry it took me a month to find this blog post. A lot of the "buy local" movement is marketing - in fact it's all marketing. But there is a bit of myth to it - as you point out. If we just keep trading with one another in the Treasure Valley then our economy just will not grow.

I love this. You nailed it!

I recently have been learning about Facebook and agree that it is a way to communicate with people and as you said.......................we are leaving the one-way spewing of "stuff".

A belated thank you for your observations.
Within the construction industry, many contractors "rely" on word of mouth and referrals for business -- I put that in quotes because they don't proactively manage the process. So when things dry up in the recession they get desperate, and suddenly decide they need to "market" and "advertise".
Alas, many are not very sophisticated about the processes here and they can be victimized by sales reps and badly thought out advertising/media purchases. The challenge is to guide them into less expensive and risky options
Contractors who advertise in good times and have solid metrics of course don't have these problems; they can simply adjust/modify their spending to suit the current conditions.
Obviously, we share a common perspctive on the smartest form of marketing: Making sure your client experience/service is so good that existing clients won't leave or seek alternatives. I think that strategic association membership/participation is the best way to find the dissatisfied clients who are looking for options.