by Eric Ginsburg

1. It’s unremarkable 

I cringe every time someone says they love living in Greensboro because it’s halfway between the mountains and the beach. High Point, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and plenty of other nearby cities can make the same claim, and we’re still hours from either end. You are roughly aware of the geography of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the US, right? An astounding number of people in the country live near the mountains and shore, whether they live in Seattle or Boston. I’m not impressed.

2. It’s unoriginal

People who reiterate this phrase probably heard it somewhere else — like a horrifically embarrassing promotional video for Greensboro that’s still on the internet — and don’t even mean it. There should be a diversity of answers to the question, “Why do you love it here?” that is based on the breadth of our positive experiences.

 

3. It’s misleading

If you go to the beach more than a few times a summer, you either own a second home or are allotted a lot more vacation time than the rest of us. How often do you actually go to the mountains and beach? Chances are, you end up heading in one direction more than the other. So if that’s Greensboro’s biggest selling point, why not just move to either end of the state? I hear Wilmington is nice this time of year….

 

4. It suggests there’s nothing here

So you’re an outdoors person. That’s great. Hopefully then you’ve noticed that Greensboro contains a pretty impressive network of parks and greenways. Talk about that instead. We live in a culturally rich region of a gorgeous state with more than enough positive things to talk about instead of emphasizing places that are hours away. Why would a friend or business feel compelled to move here when they hear a non-answer like this mantra?

 

5. We have plenty to lift up

Sure, sometimes the phrase is said in tandem with a list of other boilerplate answers, but even then it should never be part of our elevator speech about what makes us special or unique. No, we’ll never beat the Outer Banks at their own game or match the Blue Ridge Parkway, but we need to learn to talk about what we love in our backyard. Don’t worry if you’re having trouble coming up with answers — it’s just time to start reading our content more carefully and getting out more.

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