This document provides an overview of effective online marketing strategies for local economic development organizations. It discusses determining marketing goals and target audiences, developing an online presence through a professional website with relevant content and tools, and optimizing search engine visibility through techniques like SEO, social media engagement, and frequent updates of fresh content. The presentation emphasizes having a clear plan and measuring results to focus efforts on most effective tactics.
2. WhyareYouHere?
• Youknowthat the successofyourEDOmeansattractingnew businesses and
supporting existing business
• Youknowthat attractingnewleads meansgoingwhere your customers are
• Youknowthat youknowyour customers areonline
• Over90%ofsite selection begins (orends) on the web
• Doyouhavethe right info to beshortlisted?
• Youprobably don’t knowhowtogetin front of themand deliver your“pitch”
3. WhyareYouHere?
• Youmayhavecreatedawebsite and had no appreciable results
• Maybeyourely onState,Regional, orUtilities to drive leads
• Youmayhavehired a“programmer” or“ITguy”to“manage”your website
• Youmayhavenever had totruly marketyourEDOonline before
• Lotsof moving parts:SEO, PPC/CPC,SEM, SMO,SMM, EIEIO
• Everycommunity is “super awesome”,what differentiates yours?
• Youmayrealize this ismore complicated complex thanmost “experts”claim
• Alittle education and effortwill yield bigresults
4. AboutCirrusABS
• 15YearsExperience inOnline Marketing and Website Development
• Hybrid companythat offersthe best ofmarketing andtechnology firms
• 25+employees
• Fullstaff oftechnical &creativepersonnel
• Client ranging fromFortune 500to smalllocalbusinesses
8. WhytheWeb?
Itis more cost effective.
• Distribution of message
less about money, more about effort
• Updating of message
printing and postage costs eliminated
• Measurement of success
know what works and eliminate waste
9. WhytheWeb?
Itis interactive.
• Human/Social Interaction
More timely & reliable information
• Various Forms of Media
Video, audio, interactive graphics, documents, etc…
• Business Processes Functionality
i.e. online banking, account creation, purchases, etc…
13. SoHowDoWeMarketEffectively Online?
• Determining WHO you’re trying to reach
• Determining HOW you’re going to reachthem
• Determining WHAT information THEY needto see to engagewith YOU
• Determining WHAT ACTION you want THEM to take
• Determiningwhat is WORKING and what is NOT WORKING
16. SoNowWhat?
• Build aWebsite, right?
• Butwhat about the searchengines?
• Buthow do I get my site indexed?
• Buthow do I get my site rankedso peoplecan find it?
17. DifferentWebsites=DifferentMessage
• State EDWebsites–
• Promote State incentives,programs, differentiators
• Offer state-wide sites and buildings database tools
• Your properties competewith everyone else – small fish, big pond
• Regional EDWebsites –
• Representsthe strengthof the Region
• Regional workforce, quality of place/life, etc
• Local EDWebsites (LEDO)
• Your properties, your incentives,your workforce, your
education,your differentiators
• You are the local expertsto“sell”your community
18. First,DoYouHaveaLameDuckWebsite?
• Doesyour website have freshcontenton the homepage?
• Canyou change METAinfo?
• Is your site trapped in Flash?
• Do your site visitors have a reasonto come back or refer you?
• Canyou evenadd contentwithout a programmer?
• Do you have enoughpages to“tell the story”?
• Do you“connectthe dots”for site visitors with clear contentpaths,
relatedcontent, internal and external links, calls to action?
19. ARecentSurvey…
Theeditors of AreaDevelopment magazine conducted a“flashsurvey”of a select
group of highly respectedconsultantswho work with a nationwide client base.
Theirtop site selectioncriteria whenconsidering a“top ten state”for Economic
Development:
1. Lowest businesscosts
2. Most businessfriendly
3. Corporate tax environment
4. Overall labor climate
5. Work force developmentprograms
6. Fast-track permitting
7. Rail and highway accessibility
8. Shovel-ready sites
21. Similarly…
The2010IEDC Conference“WhatWould Google Do”highlightedthe following
criteria whenevaluating communities websites as“musthaves”
• “AMapThat Shows YourLocation inthe Context of Surrounding States.”-
KathyMussio of Atlas Insight LLC
• “Comprehensive list of majorprivate sectoremployers with headcount”–
DennisDonovanof WDG Consulting
• “Contact information (direct telephone line andemail) orsenior
economicdevelopers” -Jason Hickey of Hickey & Associates, LLC
• “List of Four-Yearand Two-YearColleges with Enrollment Stats”-Joe Lacy
Biggins,Lacy & Shapiro
• “AConcise List of Economic Development Incentives” -All Consultants
24. SoNowWhat? -BuildaWebsite,Right?
•Similarly sized communities
•One has better accessto Interstates, lower
unemployment,accessto multiple airports, etc.
•Whichsite looks more professional and has
more“going on”??
26. SoWhat?
Some Statistics about this effective website since its launch in June‘10:
• DirectWebsite leads up 400%
• 1:3 converted to projects
• 50% of projects have closed!!
• Latest win took only 90 days from 1st contact to open for business
• Came in through search engine inquiry not State or Region
28. AboutThatWholeIntentThing…
• SearchEngines Represent Direct1:1Marketing
• SearchEngine queries arepeople “raising their hand” and askingfor info
• Ifyouhavethe infoandarefoundyoucandeliver yourentire value
proposition on the searchers’ termsand timeframe
• Traditionaladvertising interjectsadsin betweendesired content
• 1/6ofapagecan’tdeliver muchof yourmessage
• Ifthe adisseen the viewerwilllook foryourwebsite formore
information –what will they find?
• Traditionaltrade publications end upin awaiting room
29. AboutThatWholeCostEffectiveThing…
Itis more cost effective: Site Selection Magazine 2011Advertising Rates
$4370 is approx one full
year of our LEDO Suite
program for communities
under 100k population for:
•Website (including content
management and SEO tools)
•Sites and Buildings with
Demographic and Business
Data
•Site-Wide Report Builder
•Hosting
•Call-in and Email Support
•Tech & Security Upgrades
30. SearchEngineOptimization –WarningGeekContentAhead
1. Technical –Coding, site structure, URLstructure, site maps(XML and visible),
Metatags,heading tags,internal link structure, …
a. Haveorhavenot. And the weighting of elements constantly changes
2. On-siteContent –Ifyoudon’t talkabout it youwon’t befound forit!!!
a. Keywordsaturation, title tag,Metadescription, h1s,internal linking,…
3. Off-siteContent -AKA “backlinks”
a. Building site authority through reinforcing links &citations toboth your
homepageand internal pages
b. Socialmedia (networks and bookmark sites) canbeyourfriend here
31. SearchEngineStats
1. Googlehasover200criteria to belisted in its index
a. “technical”,“on-sitecontent”, &“off-site content”
b. Ifyoudon’t talk aboutit, youwon’tbefound forit –ContentisKing!
2. 95+%of non-branded searchesstopatthe bottomof page1
a. Farmore people searchforwhat youdothanwho you are
b. Novisibility =no clicks
3. Lessthan20%of searchers will evenconsider “sponsored links” (Adwords)
a. Cangetquick response but canbeveryexpensive to maintain
4. ButIwantto be#1…
34. StartThinkingAboutTotalOnlineVisibility
•Engaging your customer also
engages the search engines.
•Creating a “buzz” is important
•Sharing info across multiple
mediums ensures you will make
contact with your customers’
preferred medium
•Provide Quality Content
•Give both site visitors AND the
search engines reason to return
•Freshness of content is crucial
•Keyword Saturation of content
•Internally linking fresh content to
existing content
•Backlinking to fresh content
36. TotalOnlineVisibility–GetSocial
How can social media help your EDO?
• Visibility / brand awareness
• Customer feedback (in real-time)
• Traffic/backlinks (to pages or our site)
• To encourage page or site indexing
• Likability factor (or not)
– “All things being equal, people want to do businesswith their friends. All
things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do businesswith their
friends”– Jeffrey Gitomer
• Promoting knowledge experts
37. Online/WebsiteToolstoIncreaseEffectiveness
Sites and Buildings Databases
• On-site or Off-site Pros and Cons
• Off-site Pros – your properties compete at state/national level
• Off-site Cons - your properties compete at state/national level
• NoonsiteSearch Engineindexing,IF the search engineseven see thedatathe
state/nationalsitegetsthe“Google Juice”
• Noabilitytouse site-widereport buildingtools
• NoGoogle Analyticsfortracking
• On-site Pros – it’s yours
• Youget Search Engine value forYour properties(“Google Juice”)
• Abilitytocompilewithreport buildersand othertoolstobrand results
• Add relatedcontenttocompleteyour“value proposition”
• GoogleAnalyticstracking of propertyvisits
• On-site Cons
• Can youpush/pull dataor are you static?(Multiple dataentry)
• Can be expensive(dependingon vendor)
38. Online/WebsiteToolstoIncreaseEffectiveness
Report Builders / Data Carts
• Site user can add content they choose to Report(s)
• Brandedfor Your organization
• Save time for EDO staff responding to State, Regional leads
• Some (LEDO Suite) can capture lead data
Widgets
• Related content (documents, images, videos, maps, links, more)
• Social Media content
39. InConclusion
• First and foremost, do you have a plan?
• Do you have a lame duckwebsite? If you do you change it!
• Doesyour website have the information, tools, and calls to action
neededto engagewith YOU
• Are you supporting your website’ssearchengine visibility and site visitors
with new, fresh, optimized content?
• Are you engaging social media and other offsite outlets to build authority
and spread your messagewith little to no expense?
• Are you measuring what’s WORKING and what’s NOT WORKING?
• Do more of the former and less of the latter!