atlas iedc online economic development fundamentals
TRANSCRIPT
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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
www.Atlas-Advertising.com
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