7 steps to attract foreign direct investment ebook

7 steps to attract
Foreign Direct Investment
to your region
S T R AT E G I E S , TA C T I C S A N D TO O L S F O R E C O N O M I C , C O M M U N I T Y A N D R E A L E S TAT E D E V E L O P E R S .
By Xavier Hurtado | Foreign Direct Investment Consultant
www.FDIAttraction.com| Strategy@fdiattraction.com

What we’ll cover today
 Why attract Foreign Investors to your region?
 Comparing Economic Development Marketing Strategies
 Lessons learned of Alternative Economic Development Marketing
 The 7 Stages of the Foreign Investment Attraction Cycle
 7 Steps to attract Foreign Direct Investment to your region
 Success stories from diverse regions
 Start your FDI Attraction Campaign

Why attract Foreign Investors to your region?
 Because you want to create more direct jobs and economic spillover
 Because you want local suppliers to grow
 Because you want to attract more businesses to your community
 Because you want your local colleges, universities, technical schools, supplier
incubators and accelerators to develop a more competitive workforce
 Because you want to improve the Quality of Life of your community
 Because you want to improve the global positioning of your region
 Because you want to position your community as a global investment attraction hub.
And more….

Trade Shows Advertising on Industrial Publications Organizing your own seminars
Investment US$15,000 to US$50,000 + hidden costs
(brochures, booth, goodies, wages and travel
expenses of executives and staff)
Ranging from US$4,000 to US$80,000 per ad Ranging US$30,000 - US$80,000 + hidden costs
(brochures, banners, travel expenses, booth,
goodies, travel expenses of speakers + staff)
Results 25 to 50 business cards per team member for
each day of the event
They always said it was good for branding, but
rarely did we get clients from ads
We used to land 10 to 20 B2B decision makers
through telemarketing and direct mail invitations
from a 14,000 database that we owned
Problem Most attendees are Marketing and Sales
people, not business management decision
makers
We rarely got an email or phone call from a
potential customer because of those ads
Interruption marketing yields a very low return on
investment
Best Case
Scenario
3 to 5 qualified investors, perhaps turning into 1
1 project in a long landing cycle
Nothing measurable 1 attendee of every seminar turned into a real
investor with a long landing cycle
Basic Math Cost per qualified prospect = US$10,000 +
hidden costs (US$50,000 divided by 5)
Cost per Investor: US$50,000
US$4,000 to US$80,000 worth of
ZERO Qualified Potential Investors
Cost per qualified prospect = US$4,000 + hidden
costs (US$80,000 divided by 20)
Cost per Investor: US$50,000
Comparing Economic Development Marketing Strategies
These are the top 3 business development and marketing strategies implemented to attract investors. Let’s do some math:
Economic Development Premise: “Sign Marketing checks that your Economic Development Team will be able to convert in a new
industrial or commercial project in your region”
Can these “Costs per qualified prospect acquisition” be outperformed?

Changes needed to be made!
 We knew that we did not want to keep on spending our marketing and advertising Budget and TIME
in the so-called “BRANDING” media without a measurable return on marketing investment (ROMI)
 We knew that we wanted to increase our investor attraction conversion rates
 We knew that even if we had analytics of visitors to our regional website, we wanted to know who we
could call or send an email to, because they became interested in our region.
 These wants made us create a Budget to do benchmarking from other regions, research, training,
coaching and experiment with new technologies and campaigns.
Now we will share with you what we learned:

Lessons Learned – Decision Making Process Researched
Source: BtoB Online
First, they go to Online
Communities (Social
Networks) and Search
Engines
Then, they look for
whitepapers
(eBooks) webcasts
(webinars), videos
and other online
educational media
Here is what we found about how investors look for information before they make a decision:

Lessons Learned– Ebooks & Webinars promoted through Social Networks
We started to experiment, and this is what we learned:
 Ebooks & Webinars promoted through Social Networks had better performance than
other strategies due to the interaction in real time that these tools offer and its low cost
to produce and launch.
 Learning curve: new technology for us -webinar hosting platforms, websites, social
networks, driving qualified investors to eBooks, webinars and tracking results.
 Advantages: no travel expenses, easier to ask decision makers to sit on their computer
for 1 hour than traveling for 3 or 4 days.
 Results: On the first webinar, we got 64 potential investors - We started doing 1 webinar
per week. Then we decided to launch ebooks, with a better yield: 100+ registrants in the
immediate week of its launch with a yield of 15 potential business cases for our region
(with different sizes and time frames).
 Investment to attract them: around US$15,000 per campaign (12 weeks) bringing more
than 100 registrants and 10-15 qualified investors.

Lessons Learned about investors
Here is what we learned about potential investors:
 Investors take action when they are ready to do it; not when we were ready to market our region. That is
why we required an investor nurturing campaign and system.
 Investors do not look only for geographic, demographic and cost of doing business information. They want
to know what the business opportunities look like and the risk they will imply!
 Investors will try to first find customers and distributors than just venturing to open a new facility and
assembly, distribution or manufacturing operations in a foreign location.
 Investors will always look for their Return on Investment (ROI).
 It’s easier to invite an investor to an organized and scheduled Commercial Mission than to wait for him to
plan for a business trip.
 More than incentives, Investors will look for a community that aligns to their future plans and philosophy.
 Investors look for ways to maximize certainty and minimize risk while investing in a region: from site
selection to soft landing solutions (like foreign business incubators), avoiding red tape and fines on
compliance– investment made easy.

Attracting FDI – Lessons learned about Marketing
 A large group of investors will do their search online, before and during their investment research process:
We need our regional website to be found on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing with investment
attraction keywords, related to their industries and clients.
 Internet marketing is more than just a website and search engines: We want to know who is browsing our
regional website so that We can follow up with them.
 Email marketing is not just sending a cold email (CAN-SPAM act): it’s a tool to follow up and nurture
investors once they feel attracted to our potential business opportunity.
 Videos and Podcasts can be engaging media to attract and educate your potential investors about doing
business in your region, especially if you publish them on portals like YouTube, Vimeo and ITunes and
promote them on social networks like Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Pinterest and
Instagram. Those videos can come from your recorded webinars.
 Books and investment guides (printed and electronic) are a great way to position the opportunity of investment in
my region, especially if they are translated and distributed in the countries where potential investors live.
 Webinars and virtual trade shows are a great way to attract, interact and filter potential investors without large
budgets and travel expenses.

Early Mid Late
Find and
attract
subjects
Capture
Prospects
Educate
and
nurture
leads
Convert
opportunities
Land
Investors
Lead nurturing
Upgrade
Investors
Attract suppliers
“X” 2% 25% 10% 10% 25% 30%
These are the market conversion rates from one stage to another
So, how many potential investors do I need to reach in order to be successful?
The arrows indicate the moment
when a potential investors need
more information before
committing to our region
1. Suspect: potential investors who you want
to attract to your region.
2. Prospect: Subjects that show interest in
our region (at this point we know who they
are).
3. Qualified Lead: Prospects who request
information to start doing business in your
region.
4. Opportunity: Leads who request a
business agenda to visit your region, cost
model simulation, incentives, proposal or
other key information.
5. Investor: An Opportunity that decides to
Invest in your region.
6. Upgrade Investor: companies that expand
their business in the region
7. Supply Chain Integration: creating an
ecosystem of productive and MRO
suppliers.
This is the typical graphic representation to Land Investors in your region. It is very important that you implement and use the right tools and
message at each of the stages so that you capture, nurture and convert those investors into new businesses in your region.
The 7 Stages of the investment attraction Cycle

The 3 ages of Economic Development Marketing to attract foreign investors to their region
Here are just some examples. Obviously, the Accelerated Proactive Marketing is the most effective of the 3.
•Advertising: TV, Radio,
Newspapers, Magazines,
websites without valuable
information for their
potential investors
• Contents: centered in
their own regions and
politics.
• Without any metrics on
marketing lead
generation accountability
• Without investor
incubators and retention
programs
• Without supplier
attraction or development
programs
• Advertising: some traditional media combined with social media
•Contents: Fully centered in their own region and politics
• Basic metrics about the market: surveys and analytics
• Without investor incubators retention programs
• With some incipient efforts to learn about supply chain problems
• Advertising: Combination of traditional + social media + mobile marketing
• Contents: investor centered campaigns: showing business opportunities
• Full accountability for marketing budget spent vs lead generation accountability
• Integrated solutions to incubate, soft land and facilitate investment establishment
• Provokes referral marketing through supply chain integration programs
Traditional
Marketing
Proactive Marketing
Accelerated
Proactive
Marketing

So, what are the challenges that we face as Economic Developers?
 How exactly can we find the right type of investor for our region?
 How can we measure and improve our marketing efforts to attract and land those
international investors year after year, campaign after campaign?
 How can we help companies grow in my region so that they attract other companies
and suppliers as well?
 How should we integrate a supply chain integration program?
 How can we automate and outsource all the day-to-day marketing tasks so that we
focus on the strategic part of the process?
 How can we position our region at an international level as soon as possible?
Most importantly, how can we digest and process all of these concepts into a step
by step framework that we can implement with tactics and tools that work?
With all of the previous lessons learned, we still want to know:

Our purpose to help Economic Developers
We decided to synthetize and systematize our lessons learned into an international program that helps Economic Developers to by-pass
the long learning curve and accelerate their implementation and investor attraction results, so that we contribute on job generation and
economic spillover throughout the world. That is why we created our step by step framework:
7 Steps to attract
Foreign direct investment
to your region
Let’s see them!

7 Steps to attract Foreign Direct Investment to your region
1. Target the right industries, companies and Investors for your region
2. Create an Investment Soft Landing & Incubator Program
3. Create an “Investment Opportunity” Seminar + Book + Multimedia about your region
4. Develop a Global Website with Downloadable eBooks and Investor Follow Up Systems
5. Develop an International referral program
6. Launch an international campaign through social networks and search engines
7. Organize and promote seminars and speaking engagements with business associations
and embassies promoting commercial Missions for Potential Investors
What should each one of these elements include?

Step 1: Target the right Industries, companies and investors for your region
 Determine the ideal profile of investor you want to attract to your region: industrial,
commercial or touristic based on regional business opportunities potential and supply chain
needs with regional purchasing pools out of your clusters and associations.
 Identify the best players that match your ideal investor profile on the international arena,
including associations and affiliations.
 Select the top 100 companies and create their full profile: What they do, where, how, why
and for whom.
 Find a Champion inside their company and contact him/her.
 Create a strategy to align your region to fit their vision and opportunities for growth.
 Create a “Unique Value Proposition” for the company.
 Pre-sell the shift for their company and for your region.

Case Study #27: Chihuahua’s Aerospace Cluster
 They created a long term vision: assembling a complete aircraft in the region.
 They performed a reverse engineering study to determine the different
processes that were required to assemble the complete aircraft.
 They made a current capabilities assessment that they compared against the
reverse engineering study to determine what processes they were missing in
the region.
 They developed a 10 year roadmap to integrate the processes that were
missing by attracting or developing key suppliers, talent and infrastructure.
 At this point, it was very clear the specific profile of companies that the region
needed to attract.

Step 2: Create an Investment Soft Landing & Incubator Program
 Gather local information that could be of value for the foreign investor: infrastructure,
accessibility, connectivity, quality of life, supply base, academic infrastructure, etc.
 Offer Site Selection Assistance: to find strategic real estate.
 Offer Location & Integration Services: suppliers, distributors, real estate, funding sources,
logistics providers, etc.
 Offer Match-Making B2B agendas.
 Offer incentives: land, training, certifications, technology transfer programs, etc.
 Develop a Start Up Incubator Program: offer cutting through the red-tape fast track start up
or incubator programs. Get several foreign companies to share a real estate facility +
administrative services for 1 year.
 Develop a local administrative umbrella program for international investors: legal and
operational permits, customs, human resources, payroll, fiscal, accounting and compliance.

Case Study #25: A National Manufacturing Association creates a global purchasing pool
 The national manufacturing association “INDEX” in Mexico identified common needs of foreign
supplies in different regions. For example, they identified US$4 Billion needs in tooling that were
being imported from 3 different countries.
 So, they integrated those commodities into purchasing pools to be able to attract foreign suppliers
with a solid business case to a B2B event.
 Then they created a program including government incentives and an “all inclusive” incubator model
to facilitate the establishment of small distribution centers or even production lines of those needed
processes.
 Now they are hosting different seminars, B2B events and
commercial missions to connect those international suppliers
with purchasing decision makers of the needed products and
services in the country.

Step 3: Create an “Investment Opportunity” Seminar + Book + Multimedia about your region
Create a seminar, book and videos that show the business opportunity in your region, including:
 Local and Regional market composition: consumers, industries, distributors, competitors and local suppliers.
 Human resources: availability, cost, turnover, skillset, wages, benefits, productivity and quality.
 Business environment: Infrastructure & Quality of life: success stories of similar companies in the region.
 Start Up and Operational permits (entry, operational and exit barriers) and operational cost models.
 Infrastructure, accessibility, connectivity, real estate, utilities availability.
 Soft landing, incubator and start up programs: step by step process to start business operations in your region.
 Guide investors into the next step: a consultation call, assessment, regional business agenda, site selection
analysis or commercial mission.
Once all of this is documented, you should convert it into a book and seminar to distribute it
through Embassies and Business associations in foreign countries.

Case Study #31: Economic Developers support and sponsor the organization of
“Supplier days” for OEMs and tractor companies.
 Economic developers and industrial associations have supported and
sponsored the organization of “Supplier Days” so that OEMs and
leading or final assembly or framer companies such as Ford, Daimler,
Chrysler, Nissan, Navistar, GM, Toyota Honda, Mazda, Ki Motors, Audi,
BMW, Mercedes Benz and VW can attract foreign suppliers near their
operations to mitigate lead time and logistics costs.
 This is the same case for Aerospace companies such as Bombardier,
Honeywell, Airbus, Textron Aviation (Cessna Aircraft, Bell Helicopters
and Beechcraft) and some other industries like medical devices,
electronics and food industry with whom a purchasing pool can be
integrated into a business portfolio making it attractive for foreign
suppliers to expand or relocate operations.
 That is the perfect opportunity for Economic Developers to offer
invitations to commercial missions, soft landing and incubator programs.

Step 4: Develop a Global Website with eBooks & Investor Follow Up Systems
 The Investment Opportunity including FAQs, Cost Simulator, Testimonials and Success Stories.
 Investment Soft Landing & Incubator Program including Government incentives.
 Local information: maps, directories of companies established in the region, photo galleries,
infrastructure, connectivity, accessibility, costs of doing business in the region, quality of life, videos,
whitepapers and downloadable flyers.
 Investor capture pages offering access to your regional investment webinar, eBooks, whitepapers, etc.
 An investor education nurturing system: with drip marketing carrying key content and calls to action to
join commercial missions, to request business agendas, to request a consultation call or strategy
session or proposals.
 Multiple languages to attract investors from targeted countries (keyword optimized) and with
international access telephone numbers.
 Mobile responsive website: viewable on any internet browser and device + Social Media integration.
Your regional website must contain:

Case Study #53: Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, Audi and VW in Central Mexico
 Nissan has grown in Aguascalientes.
 Mazda and Toyota decided to establish operations in Guanajuato.
 All of those automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) interested in
serving Mexico’s and Latin America’s growing population with young families.
 Just from 2012 to 2014, 180 suppliers decided to establish their operations in
that region. It is expected to double its size in the years 2015-2017.
 That movement will create more jobs and local suppliers development.
 All of the promotional material from the region, including staff, need to be in
Japanese, not English or Spanish.
 The same applies for AUDI and VW suppliers, that are relocating near Puebla,
Mexico. Those materials need to be in German.

Step 5: Develop an International referral program
1. Find local product and service providers that would benefit from the new Investment in the
region and ask them to offer a finders fee for brokers or promoters in other regions:
 Real Estate Providers & Construction Companies
 Logistics & Packaging Providers
 Human resources: recruitment, training and payroll providers
 Other service providers
2. Then launch a campaign to capture the active promoters you need to bring your targeted
companies to your region segmented by industry.
 Business Associations
 Embassies & Consulates
 Consultants & brokers
3. Build a training program for your international promoters and make sure you provide them with
all the marketing materials they need, including a tracking system for their marketing efforts.

Case Study # 47: Touristic Developments in Mexico
 Entrepreneur discovers a natural reserve and converted it into an International touristic
attraction: Xel Ha, the origins of CANCUN, Mexico. A great pool of touristic and
commercial investors
 4 entrepreneurs design an amusement park named originally REINO AVENTURA
(Adventure Kingdom) in Mexico, Six Flags today.
 A group of hotel owners decided to grow tourism from baby boomers into Torreon,
Mexico, integrating services like golf, Mexican restaurants, and so on.
 The 3 projects created a successful referral program to be able to reach more clients
and potential investors.

Step 6: Launch an international campaign through social networks and search engines
 Social Networks:
 Linked In: Company page, professional
profiles and discussion groups
 Twitter
 Facebook: fan pages, groups and accounts
Once you have developed and published the eBooks, videos, reports and promotional material of the investment opportunity in your region, it is
now time to launch an international campaign to get positioned in search engines and social networks
 Multimedia:
 YouTube
 ITunes
 Slideshare
 Flickr
 Instagram
 Pinterest
 Google, Yahoo and Bing in native languages:
 Search engine registration
 Article marketing
 Press release marketing
 Q&A portals
 Microsites: Wikipedia, Google sites
 Online directories
Why all of these networks and sites?
Linked In for direct marketing
The rest for positioning your region with targeted keywords on search engines

Case Study #81: Medical Tourism in Mexico
 Hospitals and touristic agencies have organized different tours for
patients from all over the world
 They have pushed doctors to specialize on: dental services,
orthopaedia, arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so on
 They promote investment not only on hospitals and medical services,
but also on specialized transportation and wellness services.
 Medical tourism requires a lot of advertising, and social networks
provide a great media to support these markets and investors.

Step 7: Organize and promote seminars, speaking engagement tours with business
associations and embassies + coordinate commercial Missions for Potential Investors
 Organize 4 commercial missions per year promoting visits to:
 Foreign Companies in the region, associations and suppliers.
 Academic and R&D Institutions
 Infrastructure Points of Interest: airports, seaports, etc.
 Real Estate Facilities
 Show them regional development projections and how to get
government incentives
 Visit golf courses, restaurants and clubs (quality of life)
 Show them your incubator and soft landing program.
 Review calendars of events, conventions, conferences and seminar opportunities with embassies, consulates and international business
associations to promote the opportunity of investment in your region.

Case Study #95 A Commercial Mission Delegation visits 3 countries
 Several economic developers got together to promote their region and tey organized a
series of investment seminars visiting:
 Seoul, Korea
 Taipei, Taiwan
 Tokyo, Japan
 The purpose of those seminars was to invite business decision makers to invest in the
region, where they reviewed topics like:
 Legal permits
 Business models
 Markets
 Human resources
 Customs and logistics
 Supliers
 Real estate
 Government Incentives
 Since materials had been prepared in advance, they were able to deliver them to
potential investors in their native languages and to invite them to a commercial
mission in the potential reign to invest.
 The commercial mission reached around 130 potential investors in a 2 week trip of
execution, adding 10 weeks of preparation.

Go Implement – Spheres of Control Philosophy
 To launch you FDI Attraction campaign, focus on the things
you can control first.
 Then continue with the actions you can take to influence on
the changes you need on your environment to attract FDI.
 Do not depend to the outer sphere where you can’t influence
or control the inputs, much less the outputs.
No Control or Influence
Influence
Control

7 Steps to attract Foreign Direct Investment to your region
1. Target the right industries, companies and Investors for your region.
2. Create an Investment Soft Landing & Incubator Program.
3. Create an “Investment Opportunity” Seminar + Book + Multimedia about your region.
4. Develop a Global Website with Downloadable eBooks and Investor Follow Up Systems.
5. Develop an International referral program.
6. Launch an international campaign through social networks and search engines.
7. Organize and promote seminars and speaking engagements with business associations
and embassies promoting commercial Missions for Potential Investors.
When will you start your FDI Attraction Campaign?
START NOW with the NEXT STEPS

Will YOU Be Our Next Success Story?
At FDI Attraction Academy we are on a Mission:
To help Economic Developers to attract Industrial, Commercial
and Touristic Investment projects to their regions or project
through the Strategic Planning and Promotion of commercial
missions and global investor attraction Campaigns.
Accept our challenge:
“Launch your global campaign to attract foreign investors
to your region in 12 weeks”

About FDI Attraction
FDI Attraction is on a mission to help industrial and economic developers to find, attract and engage with potential investors for their regions.
Investment Attraction Campaigns: including 20 deliverables grouped in 5 packages:
1. Regional Investment Seminar and eBook Creation to promote your Business Value Proposition for Investors
2. Soft Landing Strategy and Team integration Guidelines
3. All marketing tools: campaign website, social media profiles + ebooks + webinars + articles + press releases
4. FDI Attraction Campaign implementation
5. Weekly report of Qualified Potential Investors
Some of our Strategic Alliances & Network
FDI Attraction Academy: On demand or Live Training Programs:
 Phase 1: Identifying your IDEAL POTENTIAL INVESTOR – FDI Attraction Matrix
+ 8 Strategic elements for your FDI Attraction Campaign + Regional Value
Proposition & Soft Landing Incubator Integration
 Phase 2: Transformation of Value Proposition into Investment Guides, Seminars
and a Global Marketing Campaign
 Phase 3: Implementation of the Global Marketing Campaigns connected with
Embassies, Trade & Development + Industrial Associations & Clusters
All 5 Packages for a flat
fee of US$60 per day or
on a Pay-per-
Performance model!
www.FDIAttraction.com
FDI Attraction - Business Development Programs:
Go to http://academy.fdiattraction.com

“Attract Foreign Investors to your Region” Training course
Hands-on training organized in 3 Phases:
Implementation Phase:
• Schedule Investment Seminars for events organized by embassies, consulates, clusters and associations
• Launch direct marketing campaign through social networks, press release and article market sites
Evaluation Phase: Integrate best practices report and business development plan for the next 12 weeks
Module 1: Mapping the 7 stages of the Foreign Investment Attraction Process
Module 2: Integrating your database and networking map of potential investors
Module 3: Integrating your regional value proposition, testimonials, success stories + a soft landing and incubator program for
foreign companies
Module 4: Structuring an international referral program for Brokers
Phase 1:
Regional
Value
Proposition
Creation
Module 5: Transform your Regional Value Proposition into an Investment Seminar, Recorded Webinar and Guide
Module 6: Create a Global website with downloadable eBooks, Investment guides and follow up system
Module 7: Create Regional Profiles on business and social networks, press release and article marketing sites
Phase 2:
Global
Marketing
Campaign
Design
Phase 3:
Global
Marketing
Campaign
Launch
To learn more Go to Http://Academy.FDIAttraction.com

 Virtual academy with immediate access to strategies, tactics and tools to find, attract
and land foreign investors in your region.
 24/7 access to our private members site with marketing materials, eBooks and tools.
 Intended for economic, community, industrial and touristic developers looking to
attract international investors to their regions.
 50% Scholarship for qualified EDOs:
PROMO CODE: 50-SCHOLARSHIP-EDOS
Methodology
To learn more Go to Http://Academy.FDIAttraction.com
“Attract Foreign Investors to your Region” Training course

If you have any questions or comments contact us!
www.FDIAttraction.com | Strategy@fdiattraction.com | +1 832 305 9234
Option 1: Join our Challenge and learn how to “Attract investors in 12 weeks”
Http://Academy.FDIAttraction.com
Option 2: Request our Foreign Investment attraction campaigns:
http://www.fdiattraction.com/request-a-proposal.html
Start your Foreign Investor attraction campaign Today!
Investment Attraction Campaigns: including 20 deliverables grouped in 5 packages:
1. Regional Investment Seminar and eBook Creation to promote your Business Value Proposition for Investors
2. Soft Landing Strategy and Team integration Guidelines
3. All marketing tools: campaign website, social media profiles + ebooks + webinars + articles + press releases
4. FDI Attraction Campaign implementation
5. Weekly report of Qualified Potential Investors
All 5 Packages for a flat
fee of US$60 per day or
on a Pay-per-
Performance model!
www.FDIAttraction.com

7 steps to attract foreign direct investment ebook

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7 steps to attract foreign direct investment ebook