Atlas IEDC Marketing Using the Web

IEDC Marketing &

Attraction: Marketing

Using the Web

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Agenda

• Some advice • Formative ideas about online marketing• What the research says • Goal setting for online marketing • Employing specific online tactics

– Web self-service and online RFI responses– Using LinkedIn– Using slideshare– Use of search engine marketing approaches– Use of email marketing– Use of mobile marketing– Marketing specific sites (next!)

• What you can stop doing to make room…

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Advice from someone who just began the

second half of his career in economic development

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Every community has a different definition of

economic development.

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There are just as many definitions of what it

means to be an economic development

marketer.

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So what do you do?

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Get to know what is expected of your boss,

or your boss’s boss

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Gravitate toward activities that will help

your organization reach these goals.

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Invest your time where the most important

interactions are

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Invest your time where the most important

interactions are

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What I remember from my time on staff, 13 years later1. Putting together original research that was distributed to 450,000 people each

month.

2. Speaking to business leaders about how my community’s economy would help or

challenge their business

3. Working to recruit Level3 (Success) and the NCAA Hall of Fame (Not a a success)

4. Building my first economic development website

5. Getting a stadium approved and funded

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The best marketers in economic development took the initiative to define their role themselves. They are engaged and successful as

a result.

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How much of your time do you spend on the things that you will

remember?

Formative Ideas About Online Marketing

Your community will get ten times the interaction online as it will in person.

The visitors to your website, who open your email, view your social media profiles, view your slides on slideshare, are people.

When considering your online marketing efforts, set quantitative goals. If you can’t measure it, you shouldn’t buy it.

Economic developers should respond to those who are already looking before speaking to those who aren’t.

Online communication follows the same rules as offline communication. It must be relevant, timely, and different.

What the research says

How site selectors say they like to get information from communities

Information Source % Important, 2011

% Important, 2006

Site visits (familiarization tours) 100% 100%Existing relationships with ED officials 95%  88%

Community websites 90% 63%Third party national data sources 90% n/a Past experience with other deals 81% 71%Word of mouth from peers 57% 43%Calls from local officials 48% 29%Existing relationships with local real estate community

38% 29%

National conferences 29% 0%Trade magazines 29% 14%Social Media/Social Networks 24% n/a

Source: Atlas Survey of Site Selectors, January 2011

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

Source: Atlas Survey of Site Selectors, January 2011

The frequency site selectors are using social media is rising in 2011 – 86% use weekly or more, compared to 71% in late 2009

Daily Two or three times a week

Weekly0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

25%

31% 31%

Early 2011

Source: Atlas Survey of Site Selectors, January 2011

What social media/networks site selectors are using

Social Media/Network % who are using

LinkedIn 61%Facebook 21%RSS Feeds 21%Twitter  18%Blogs 14%Foursquare or other location based social media

0%

Source: Atlas Survey of Site Selectors, January 2011

A person!

Tracey Hyatt-Bosman

1. Based in Chicago, IL

2. Former economic developer

3. Specializes in renewable energy and data centers

Director of Grubb & Ellis

Strategic Consulting Group

Tracey.Bosman@Grubb-Ellis.com

What Tracey needs and doesn’t need

What We Need• Contact information• Incentive programs• Tax rates• Recent announcements• Industry-targeted info• Map of your territory• Largest employers• Area colleges and

universities

What We Don’t

•General labor statistics

•Secondary source wage information

•Real estate listings

•Rankings

•Distance to other major cities

Goal setting for online marketing

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Examples of standard benchmarks for quantitative goals, and how they relate

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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Free (or low cost) tools to track your performance

• Salesforce for calls and email inquiries

• Google Analytics for visits and conversions

• Your GIS system or Google Analytics for property searches per month

• HootSuite for your social media followers/ connections and click-throughs

Employing specific online tactics

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Effective web self-service is…

• Giving users the ability to create their own proposals – from your website

• Allowing page content, properties, businesses, documents, and maps

• Allowing simple document re-ordering

• All without a password

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Effective use of LinkedIn is…• Linking to customer

facing staff profiles from your website

• Maintaining an organizational page

• Participating actively in relevant groups

• Managing and growing your connections

• Using company profiles in recruitment and retention

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What is the applicability of LinkedIn to the site selection profession?

“I have used it along with Hoovers to check who is LinkedIn and contact people for business meetings.”

“I think it has good application. I have gotten proposals through this tool.”

“It’s okay.”

“I already have the contacts I need in my email – how is this different?”

“Not much”

“Good for seeking independent information.”

“Good for finding contacts, and to keep in touch with peers.”

“More of a business site”

Useful networking tool

Don’t know yet.

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What is slideshare?

• A service to host and share your slide presentations

• Integrates with your website and with your LinkedIn account

• 45 million viewers per month, viewing 90 million pages per month

• Voted top 5 global learning tool, behind twitter, YouTube, Google Docs, and Delicious, and

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Effective use of slideshare is…

• Creating relevant, targeted content at least monthly

• Integrating slideshare with your website and with your LinkedIn account

• Tracking views for key presentations alongside your website statistics

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Effective use of search engine 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 name

2. 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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Effective use of email marketing is…• Maintaining and growing

your opt in list, from your website, CRM system, and LinkedIn account

• Sending simple, targeted messages that are relevant, timely, and different

• Linking back to your website or blog

• Tracking open and click through rates

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Effective use of mobile techniques is…

• Showing a specially formatted version of your website

• Focusing on contact information and how to connect with you

• Including property and other geographic information

• Not building an app

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Why should you care about mobile?

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What you can stop doing to make room…

• Sending printed newsletters• Designing and printing fancy brochures• Going to general industry trade shows• Going to as many meetings!

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Put your marketing skills to the test, and serve your country! • Write the best messaging for

the United States for Foreign Direct Investment

• Become our 4th Panelist Tuesday the 20th at 8:00 PM

• Criteria for entry: – Follow @atlasad on Twitter– Be judged as the best by other

panelists– Tweet using the hashtags:

#iedc and #usvworld– By Tuesday at 6:00 PM

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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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