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IEDC Marketing & Attraction: Online

Economic Development Fundamentals

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Outline

1. Historical perspective on digital in ED

2. Trends in ED Websites

3. Eight components of a world class Economic Development website

4. Best practices in each component

5. Today’s opportunities online

6. Wrap up

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Historical perspective

Started with my first ED website in 1995

Have seen tremendous change. Since 1995, the following have happened:

•Google was founded

•Facebook became the fastest adopted technology in history

•Software industry has been turned upside down

•Marketing industry has been turned upside down

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Trends in ED websites1. Content is becoming ever more important

2. Content is also diversifying, including:– Pages– Property data– Demographic data– Business data– Downloads– Video

3. Social media is making all of what we do more transparent

4. The conversation is moving from back rooms and private meetings to be online

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What new media advancements have you seen that you think are valuable to your profession?

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The future, according to one site selector

“Young companies are all about social media. Their whole concept is open source everything. They rely on an online community. They’re building enthusiasts for their product online. I have a current client in the auto manufacturing space that loves social media. These guys are choosing their locations based on what their online community says they want.

“If you can find companies on social media, you can reach them. Big corporations not using it this way, but small guys are for sure.

“As people who live in the community find these great companies, they could connect ED with companies. Blog with your citizens about what they like and what they know about. Tips are good. Fear is how do you know you have the good information in these channels? I am just learning myself.”

-A Site Selector, early October 2009

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How to sum this up?

Think of your website as a platform. A platform you use to publish, communicate, organize, and serve your many varied customers.

Today, there is very little in economic development that can’t be facilitated or made more efficient by treating your website as a platform.

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Eight components of a world-class ED online marketing platform

• Authenticity of place branding and messaging• Clarity of navigation • Depth and quality of content• Use of search marketing approaches• Use of email marketing and news sections• Frequent performance tracking• Use of Maps and GIS technology• Use of social media

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Authenticity in place branding is…

• Communicating a true positioning of the region

• Utilizing recognizable national elements

• Capturing users’ attention to inspire them to use the site

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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Branding

Item Do: Don’t:

Communicating a true positioning of the region

Stick to the facts – how is your

community really better?

Use overly puffy language, or stretch

the truth

Utilizing recognizable national elements

Pick the thing that the nation thinks of you, often not the

sexy thing

Try to steal someone else’s brand (Silicon

what?)

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Best online branding is…

World Business Chicago• Pays off the positioning

of Chicago as a global business city

• Uses recognizable imagery authentic to the brand (and corporate ecosystem) of the place

• Incorporates service brand effectively

www.worldbusinesschigago.com

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Honorable mention:

Tucson, AZ• Uses desert

imagery and color palette

• Connects the region with useful business messaging

• Backs up the positioning with fact based information

• Invites users to click on a variety of useful links

www.treoaz.org

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Clarity of navigation in websites is. . .

• A prospect-specific section placed prominently

• Utilizing IEDC data standards

• Providing the top ten most requested pages

• Keeping all valuable content three clicks or less from the homepage

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Top 10 pages requested nationally on ED websites

1.About Us (about the organization) 2.Programs (that the organization offers) 3.Data Center4.News 5.Relocate and Expand6.Find Property 7.Site Selection Services 8.Workforce data and Information 9.Database of Companies or Largest Employers 10.Maps of the Area

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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Navigation

Item Do: Don’t:A prospect-specific section placed prominently

Make it abundantly clear where your data,

sites/buildings, and contact information are

Try to serve too many audiences with the same navigation

Utilizing IEDC data standards

Get as close as you can to these standards

Abandon them completely because

they are onerous

Providing the top ten most requested pages

Use the list in this presentation and make

sure all pages are within 1 click

Turn your navigation into something that is

other than utility

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Best navigation is…

Indianapolis, IN• Site selector specific

section• Tremendous

amounts of data in downloadable and GIS formats

• All of the top ten pages within one click

www.indypartnership.com

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Great content is…

• Making content scannable

• Using a content management system that enables publishing of pages, downloadable documents, and data

• Weekly updates• Offering prominent

contact info

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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Content

Item Do: Don’t:

Weekly updates Spend 50 percent of an FTE staff person’s time

Let updates slip to less than weekly

Using a content management system

that enables publishing of pages, downloadable

documents, and data

Use one that allows for easy editing. Open

source and Microsoft (both offered by Atlas)

are best

Use a home grown, overly basic system

Scan-able & relevant content

Use a mix of links, bullet points and downloads to

limit scrolling

Pretend your pages are 8.5 x 11 word documents

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Best content is…

Kansas City Area EDC• Outstanding data

center • Downloadable

documents• First class

community/ regional profiles

• Updated multiple times weekly

www.thinkkc.com

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Effective use of search marketing is…

• Ranking #1 organically for “your geography economic development”

• Ranking #1 organically for “your organization name”

• Utilizing paid search (PPC) to drive additional traffic

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Top 10 search terms that drive traffic to ED websites

1. Your organization name2. Your city/region name “economic development”3. Incentive type offered in your region (depends on

community)4. Resident company name (i.e. Boeing)5. Region name (if different from city)6. Organizational url (without .com/.net.org)7. Campaign name (initiative or fundraising)8. City/region name “maps”9. City/region name “counties”10.City/region name “industries”

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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Search Engine Marketing

Item Do: Don’t:

#1 organically for “your geography economic development”

Use these terms between 7 and 11 times

on your home page

Vary the usage or ordering

#1 organically for “your organizational name”

Leverage your name if it includes your region’s

name

Use coined organizational names

that don’t tie to geography

Utilizing paid search (PPC) to drive additional traffic

Spend at least $500 per month this way

Dismiss this as too expensive but still use

advertising or PR

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Best search engine marketing is…

Location Georgia• Optimize their website

around top terms• Use PPC to broaden

search terms “Georgia Demographics”

• Over half of their traffic comes from search engines

• 500% traffic increase by using Search

www.locationgeorgia.com

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Effective use of email and news is…• Monthly email

newsletter to investors, prospects

• Tracking performance of those newsletters

• Posting newsletters and news items to your website weekly or monthly

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Do’s and don’ts of Outstanding Email Marketing

Item Do: Don’t:

Monthly email newsletter to investors,

prospects

Send email consistently, with a yearlong calendar

Rush to send email “just to stay in front of

folks”

Track performance of newsletters

Track open rates, click-through rates, and who

opens email

Keep sending email if your open rate is below

5 percent

Post newsletters and news items to your

website

Post items relevant to your key audiences

Post news just because you feel you have to

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Best email marketing is…

Los Angeles EDC

e-Edge• Send weekly e-

newsletters highlighting economic trends in the area

• They use their economist as a “Rock Star.”

• It is their most effective marketing tool

• All newsletters are posted back to the website

www.laedc.org

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Effective performance tracking is…

• Receiving a report once per month

• Tracking unique visits, referrers and downloads

• Benchmarking your performance against other ED’s

• Integrated tracking of advertising, web and PR effectiveness

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Do’s and Don’ts of effective performance tracking

Item Do: Don’t:

Receiving a report once per month

Review just the basic metrics – visits, referrers, pages,

contacts

Ignore your statistics for a quarter or more

Tracking unique visits, referrers, and

downloads

Track a funnel of activity Use “hits”

Benchmarking your web statistics versus your

peers in ED

Look quarterly at how your performance stacks

up against national averages

Simply think that because your stats are “up” that they are good

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Some examples of standard benchmarks for quantitative goals

Goal Small City Benchmark

Region Benchmark

State Benchmark

Deals/Jobs in the pipeline Varies Varies VariesRFI requests per month Varies Varies VariesWebsite visits per month 1000 5,000 20,000

Incoming email and phone inquiries per month 10 50 200

Property searches on my website per month 250 2,500 5,000

Social media followers/ connections 200 500 1,000

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Best performance tracking is…

Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership• Look at Google Analytics Monthly• Track visits, not hits• Benchmark their data against like organizations

using Development Results

www.chooseneindiana.com

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Effective use of Maps and GIS technology is…

• Using maps with various layers (transportation, education, etc.)

• Using integrated real estate searches/GIS mapping software

• Generating dynamic demographic and business reports

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Do’s and Don’ts of effective maps and GIS technology

Item Do: Don’t:

Using maps with various layers (transportation, education, etc.)

Place a simple map on your home page that

places your city inside your region

Forget that a national audience does not know your area the

way you do

Using integrated real estate searches/GIS

mapping software

Integrate these features fully into your website

and content management

Require users or staff to visit or log into a separate system

Generating dynamic demographic and business reports

Make reports available in as few clicks as

possible

Use interfaces that are too complicated or

clunky

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Best use of Maps and GIS technology is…

Amazing Alabama• GIS fully integrated into

their website, improving usage and experience

• Fully integrated property search and community comparison

• Best printable property details

• Best use of both Google street view and Bing Birdseye imagery

www.amazingalabama.com

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Effective use of social media is…• Linking between

your website and your LinkedIn profile

• Keeping an active Twitter account

• Maintaining a blog or posting frequently on your website

• Incorporating Share It features on your site

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Do’s and Don’ts of effective social mediaItem Do: Don’t:

Linking between your website and your LinkedIn profile

Set up a Linked In profile for each

member of your team

Think that LinkedIn is a fad. The research does not support that

conclusion.

Maintaining a blog or posting frequently on

your website

Post small (even paragraphs) that show

your perspective multiple times a week

“Over process” your posts

Keeping an active Twitter account

Encourage your investors,

stakeholders, workforce, and others

to follow you

Dismiss Twitter as something “the kids

do”

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Best use of Social Media is…

Metro Denver EDC• Outstanding use of

Twitter – more than 4,600 followers

• Outstanding blog, mostly written by their Executive VP

• “Insider” tone

http://www.metrodenver.org/blog

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Continue the dialogue with Atlas

• Continue the Conversation: – Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AtlasAd

• Join the community of innovative economic development marketers– Join our Next Gen Economic Development

Marketers LinkedIn Group

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Contact Atlas

Contact information:

2601 Blake Street, Suite 301

Denver, CO 80205

Contact: Ben Wright

t: 303.292.3300 x 210

benw@Atlas-Advertising.com

www.Atlas-Advertising.com

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