Tag Archive for 'Economic Development'

Business Attraction Website For Virginia, USA

Published
by
Ian Smith
on August 25, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Friday Afternoon Reading and Investment Attraction
. 1 Comment

Pop quiz.

What makes a good website for business attraction?

a) Current and relevant key location factor data
b) Social media tools to push information and great marketing content
c) Multilingual content
d) Database of available real estate options in the region
e) All of the above

After our evaluation of the leading economic development agencies in Canada for the 2010 Canadian Online Marketing Index, Intelegia believes that the answer is definitely, e).

We were alerted to the Yes Virginia website by Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) via the LinkedIn group, Foreign Direct Investment Professionals.  The website deserves a closer look in regards of the elements vital to investment attraction efforts.

I) Multilingual Content

Seeing multilingual content on a website that is devoted to investment attraction is a clear indication of “openness” on the part of a region.  Supplying information in more than one language allows a region to put itself on the radar of investors who speak French, Spanish, German or other languages.   Figure 1 illustrates Yes Virginia’s content in German that deals with Virginia as a place to invest.

Figure 1: Yes Virginia German Content
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

This particular section of the site provides details on:

  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Investment by Country
  • Strategic Locations
  • Mergers, Acquisitions & Joint Ventures
  • Success Stories
  • Export Programs

Along with German content for the above is available in French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, China and English.

II) Site Selection

It only makes sense for a site selector to have access to database of available real estate option to evaluate possible sites.  Yes Virginia gives site selectors the opportunity to conduct in-depth research based on their needs.  Figure 2 is the search interface for a query for industrial sites.

Figure 2: VEDP Property Search Interface - Industrial Sites
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

III) Contact Information

One faux pas that agencies commits on  the website is the lack of contact information for key individuals. VEDP provides a detailed a staff directory on their website.  Figure 3 is a sample of the directory.


Figure 3: VEDP Staff Directory
Please Click On Image To Enlarge

Each individual that is listed in the directory has their phone number and email address.

The three elements of the VEDP’s website that were highlighted in this post should be at the core of any website for business attraction.

  • Multilingual Content - Multilingual content ensures that agencies do not discriminate against potential investors who may speak a difference language other than English.
  • Site Selection - This portion of the site must give selectors and potential investors the ability to place themselves in a region to benefit from the existing infrastructure, especially transportation.
  • Contact Information - By simply providing a list of contacts relevant to investment attraction, agencies can remove the first barrier associated with promoting a region.

What’s In A Name For Investment Attraction?

Published
by
Ian Smith
on August 11, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Investment Attraction
. 0 Comments

In the recent post, “Online Marketing Strategy For Investment Attraction“, we focused on some of the key elements that will help a website sell a region in terms of attracting potential investors.  An element that can be overlooked and taken for granted is contact information.

Keep in mind that a website is an extension of a business card and must include all the information on it.

While preparing of the 2010 edition of the Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index, we were surprised to see that some cities do not provide a name of a key contact for investment attraction inquiries.  As a potential investor, you are provided with a general email address with hopes that a message gets to someone’s inbox that can be of assistance.

With the limited amount of time that potential investors and site selectors have these days, can cities afford to place these barriers (ie, not providing a contact name) in front of them with the risk of turning them off and pushing them to another region?  A region that is more open in terms of providing information to facilitate the process of investment attraction will make life easier for their economic development officer and most importantly, investors.

Go ahead, visit your website for business attraction.  See if the complete contact information for the individual in charge of investment attraction is on the site.  This should not include an email address that begins with inf@… or invest@…….  If you see a lack of information, ask yourself why and what is the point of doing so.

Online Marketing Strategy For Investment Attraction

Published
by
Ian Smith
on August 4, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Investment Attraction
. 0 Comments

At the core of a good investment attraction is a strong online presence starting with a website.  To some economic development officers, a website is a means to promote their region with the use of glossy images and clever sales pitches.  On the contrary, a site should be in place to provide information to potential investors and site selectors in a simple manner that the data is current and easy to access.  Case in point: Greater Rochester Enterprise’s website.

Once logged onto the site, individuals can access significant information related to investing in the region.  As seen in Figure 1, there are navigational tabs to browse through details regarding:

  • News in the region (What’s new?)
  • Sites and buildings
  • Incentives
  • Demographics
  • Top Employers
  • Videos

Figure 1: Sites & Buildings Navigational Tab

A pretty impressive feature of the site is the database that is placed in the incentive section.  Individuals may search the database using different criteria for incentive programs that are available in the city of Rochester and surrounding counties.  Figure 2 is the screens hot of the results given for the grant programs in Ontario Country for medium sized businesses.

Figure 2: Listing of Grants Available in Ontario County for Medium Sized Businesses

As supporters of economic development agencies that use social networks, we were happy to see that Greater Rochester Enterprise is present on Twitter with GRERochesterBiz and a Linkedin profile.

Linking their Web 2.0 presence with a well though out website provides Greater Rochester Enterprise with a “push and pull” information dissemination strategy to serve site selectors and potential investors.

Reaffirming The Competitive Intelligence and Economic Development Link

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 28, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

If you think that the practice of competitive intelligence does not have an increasing role in economic development, then it is time to step back and understand the prevailing outlook when it comes to investment attraction.

Investors are now have less time and less money to place in regions that may look the same on paper thus putting economic development officers in competition with other officers not only in the same country but in the same province or state.   In order to sell potential investors and site selectors on a competitive advantage that a jurisdiction has over another location, gathering and analysing data on a frequency basis is required.  As a result, the practice of competitive intelligence should be undertaken.

Last week, instructors from Intelegia joined Eric Canada from Blaine Canada and Jennifer Zeller of Georgia Power at The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute.  The four representatives were on hand for the course, “How to Conduct Business Intelligence to Gain a Competitive Advantage“.  The day was broken down into six sessions:

  • Fundamentals of Business Intelligence - This part of the course set the tone for the day by furnishing a look at the business intelligence cycle.  Eric Canada continued to stress the importance of localized business intelligence and asking the right questions when it come to business, retention, expansion initiatives.
  • Know Your Companies: Business Intelligence For EDOs - In his second session, Eric went on to highlight to some of the anaylsis frameworks used to assess companies for economic development initiatives. Frameworks such as Benchmark Analysis, Portfolio Assessment, Triage Analysis and Company Analysis were discussed.
  • Serving Georgia Companies Through Business Intelligence and Research Services - Jennifer Zeller discussed some of the end-products and research tools that are delivered and used at Georgia Power.  From business comparisons reports to industry-specific overviews, attendees had the opportunity to see how an information gathering service can help economic development agencies.
  • Locate Your Sources: Gather Relevant Information - Instructor, Frederic Chevalier presented a collection of “must have” sources for EDOs to conduct their own online searches.  The sources ranged from some of the free well known sites to premium content databases.
  • Leveraging Social Networks To Gather Business Intelligence Data - Isabelle Poirier demonstrated how economic development professionals can benefit from the wealth of information available on social networks and the simple search tools to find content on Web 2.0.  Tools such as Addictomatic and Samepoint were presented.
  • Business Intelligence Monitoring Tools  for Enterprise - Using applications such as Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and other free tools, Isabelle showed attendees how to push strategic information to themselves.

At the end of the day, attendees were given an outlook on the use of business intelligence and competitive intelligence that every economic development agencies and officers must have.  In order to attraction and or retain investment in a region, agencies must go out and compete with the use of relevant and timely information and established analysis methods to make the best decisions.

Business Intelligence Course For Economic Development Officers

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 14, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Economic Intelligence
. 0 Comments

On July 20th, 2010, Intelegia will be on hand at The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute to present its portion of the Certified Economic Developers (CEcDs) accredited course, “How to Conduct Business Intelligence to Gain a Competitive Advantage“.

The course is a combined effort of the institute, Eric Canada of Blaine, Canada Ltd and Jennifer Zeller of Georgia Power and Intelegia’s instructors, Isabelle Poirier and Frederic Chevailer.

Eric Canada, chief strategist at Blane, Canada Ltd  will kick off the day with two training sessions.  Eric will first go into detail regarding the fundamentals of business Intelligence and its importance to economic development organizations (EDOs).  The session will address questions that EDOs may have when starting a business intelligence gathering initiative.  Eric’s second session will deal with the issue of business intelligence research services for business retention, expansion and recruitment programs.  Attendees will learn how to collect company and competitor information needed to make the right decisions when it comes to economic development activities within a region.

As the Director of Georgia Power, Jennifer Zeller will be present to share her insights on how an economic development organization can support communities and companies via research services and analysis.    Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the value of having access to such business intelligence gathering efforts.

My colleagues Isabelle and Frederic will be in Atlanta to provide their know how when it comes to collecting information from traditional web sources and social networks for investment attraction purposes.  Not only will they show you how and where to search, they will have you think strategically before, during and after conducting research regarding a promising investor in your region.

To register for this seminar, visit the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s website.

Intelegia’s Business Intelligence Course At Georgia Tech University

Published
by
Ian Smith
on June 16, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

I would like to congratulate my colleagues Isabelle Poirier and Frederic Chevalier who have been invited to be course leaders at Georgia Tech University next month.

They will be on hand to provide insights and the necessary search tools as a part of the course, “How to Conduct Business Intelligence Research to Gain a Competitive Advantage“.  This course is in the Georgia Tech Professional Education’s portfolio of training opportunities.

This highly interactive course will have attendees learn about time-tested methodologies and a variety of internet search tools to find information to be used for economic development initiatives.  Be it investigating an existing company or a potential investor for a region, there is more to internet research than typing words into Google.  In addition, Isabelle and Frederic will show how Web 2.0 can be a great source to gather relevant and timely details that will help economic development officers make informed decisions.

Who should attend?

This course has been created for economic development professionals would like to improve their online information gathering skills.  If you find yourself amongst the list below, then you should attend the course on July 20th, 2010:

  • Economic Development Officers
  • Marketing Managers
  • Trade Officers
  • Analysts
  • Site Selectors
  • Investment Attraction

For more details on the course and to register, please see the “How to Conduct Business Intelligence Research to Gain a Competitive Advantage” outline.

Tweeting or Blogging For Economic Development

Published
by
Ian Smith
on May 5, 2010
in Economic Development, Investment Attraction and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Tools that are used as a part of a social media strategy for economic development are free however; it does require hours of work by individuals who manage the content.  When faced with the option of using a blog or a Twitter account, tweeting makes complete sense when time is short.  Twitter allows you to get your message out in 140 characters or less in seconds.

As seen in the post, “Invest In Korea Social Media Tools“, the Korean agency provides relevant and timely information regarding foreign direct investment via InvestinKorea.  This is done within a matter of seconds however; some of the tweets lacks the details needed to inform and convince investors to place money in the country.

And that’s where the art of blogging comes into the social media marketing equation.

Blogging for economic development affords you with the luxury of providing not only facts from other sources but with the analysis of key issues.  Figure 1 is an image of a page from Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation’s blog “Clark’s Cone of Silence” by Tom Clark.

Figure 1: The Cone of Silence Blog

What is important to note in The Cone Of Silence is the appearance of Tom Clark’s photo and biography.  Both elements aids in the promotion of the blog by being an authoritative source for news and analysis for economic development in Metro Denver.  In his post, “Metro Denver makes big impression on national site selectors“, Clark provides a detailed account of a visit with site selectors and Metro Denver’s key locational factors.

Since it would be rather difficult to put all that content into one tweet, it is important to know what sort of information should be available on a Twitter feed and blog in order for each application to be efficient and effective,

Case scenario:

You have just received a mandate to put your city on the radar in terms of investment attraction.  Given a Twitter account and a blog that is already indexed by the top search engines and news aggregators, what kind of content should be posted on each application?

Possible Solution::

Twitter:

  • Link to local news articles on success stories of companies that have invested in the city
  • Link to latest report on city’s innovation climate
  • A tweet from the provincial / state government regarding news about recent changes to incentive programs

Blog:

  • Profiles of new companies investing in the city. (Please note: This should not be a copy of a press release)
  • Assessments of successful incentive programs
  • Photos /videos of events linked to investment attraction initiatives

The purpose of the post is not to discourage economic development agencies from either tool.  The two applications compliment each other and should be used strategically to reach desired objectives.

Do you agree with the possible solution presented for the case scenario mentioned above?  What would you do if you were given the same mandate.  Tell us!!!

Enterprise Florida’s Web 2.0 Toolkit

Published
by
Ian Smith
on April 28, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Investment Attraction and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 3 Comments

Thanks to the Linkedin Group, “Foreign Direct Investment - FDIexecutive“, Intelegia has discovered several economic development agencies that has implemented social media marketing applications to promote their region.  Recently, we were alerted to the Web 2.0 initiative by Enterprise Florida.

Enterprise Florida’s mission is “To diversify Florida’s economy and create better-paying jobs for its citizens by supporting, attracting and helping to create businesses in innovative, high-growth industries.” The agency has a full compliment of social media marketing tools that includes the following:

  • Facebook Page
  • YouTube Channel
  • Twitter Page
  • Linkedin Group
  • RSS Feed
  • Itunes Clip

For the purposes of this post, Intelegia will profile the Facebook Page, Twitter Page and YouTube Channel.

Facebook Page

The Enterprise Florida Facebook Page is rather straightforward.  It offers the following tabs:

  • Wall - With the latest news and events regarding the key sectors and companies in the state. (See Figure 1)
  • Info - With relevant links regarding the agency’s other social media tools.
  • YouTube - A section where some of the agency’s videos can be found.
  • Notes - A series of notes pertaining to the industry clusters and companies activities in Florida.

The notes from the Facebook Page is available via a RSS feed.

Figure 1: Enterprise Florida’s Facebook Fan Page

Twitter Page

The Enterprise Florida Twitter Page, EnterpriseFL, contains a steady stream of news regarding economic development activities in the state of Florida.  Figure 2 provides a sample  of what is available via EnterpriseFL.

Figure 2: Enterprise Florida’s Twitter Page - EnterpriseFL

One thing that is missing from the agency’s tweets are hashtags.  Hashtags for tweets will allow individuals find tweets easier.  (Read “Invest In Korea Social Media Tools” to have a best practices approach to using hashtags.)

YouTube Channel

The Enterprise Florida’s YouTube Channel offers access  to min-profiles of companies and the agency’s efforts in the following sectors or (Innovative Centers) :

  • Life Science
  • Information Technology
  • Clean Energy

The YouTube clip below is a profile of Intezyne Technologies that is active in Florida’s life science industry cluster.

Panel Discussion At APDEQ Event

Published
by
Ian Smith
on April 21, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

Last week, our post, “APDEQ 2.0 - Economic Development Meets Web 2.0” introduced to you the upcoming economic development 2.0 event scheduled for May 5th, 2010 in Brossard, Quebec.  The event will conclude with a panel discussion centered around the theme of Web 2.0 applications and case examples of economic development initiatives.

Below is a listing of individuals that will be participating in the panel discussion:

1) Sébastien Daoust is a strategy adviser at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. He has 10 years of experience in the fields of process management and information technology.  During his career, he has presented at several conferences dealing with business processes, strategies for integrating information technologies and identify scenarios outsourcing business processes.  Passionate about sales and networking, he also promotes the strategy development and corporate uses of social networking to facilitate accounts management.

2) Benoit Meunier is a practitioner of 15 years and strategist in the world of digital marketing, user experience and social media. He has developed web sites and several strategies within large organizations and many SMEs in Quebec.  Benoit has worked with over 120 companies in diverse sectors such as B2B, media, commerce, education, culture and professional services. His strong experience in online marketing and his constant presence in the world of Web 2.0, enables him to offer effective tools to companies to become more efficient.

3) Isabelle Poirier is an expert in investment strategy at E & B DATA and a director / trainer at Intelegia. She has 15 years of experience in the fields of economic development and strategy of attracting investment in Quebec and the rest of Canada.  Isabelle provides training in using the internet to collect intelligence, improve competitiveness and brand regions using Web 2.0 tools.  Isabelle has given seminars at the European Business School (Paris, France), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) (Paris, London and Ottawa) and various federal, provincial and regional economic development agencies in Canada. In 2009, she co-authored, “Web 2.0 And Business Attraction - Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index“, a benchmark study assessing how economic development agencies in large Canadian cities are promoting their regions to potential investors.  In March 2010, she spoke at Restigouche Tourism Association 2010 in New Brunswick on the topic of the use of Web 2.0 and branding.

4) Sandra Dessurault is the communication officer at CLD des Chenaux.  Sandra will be present to share her insights on her organization’s use of social media marketing tools.

For further information on the APDEQ event, please visit www.apdeq.qc.ca/.

APDEQ 2.0 - Economic Development Meets Web 2.0

Published
by
Ian Smith
on April 14, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

For those who will be in the Montreal area on May 5, 2010,  Intelegia invites you to the (Association des professionnels en développement économique du Québec (APDEQ)’s event, Le Web 2.0 C’est Vous. Maintenant!.

APDEQ’s objectives of this event are:

  • To provide an understanding of Web 2.0 and different social media tools
  • To put the use of Web 2.0 into context for economic development
  • To establish a strategy in order to help create a web identity for participants
  • To demonstrate the importance of following the principles of Web 2.0 to put a region on the radar for existing and potential stakeholders
  • To allow participants to question speakers regarding their visions on the new economic development paradigm

The event will be kicked off by Benoit Meunier, a web strategist and  Sébastien Daoust of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, who will be dealing with the topic of “Web 2.0 and Social Media: How?, For Who?, Why?”

My colleague, Isabelle Poirier, will be on hand at the event to present best practices in terms of the use of social media applications for economic development and to discuss  E&B DATA’s, benchmark study, “Web 2.0 And Business Attraction - Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index“.  In addition, she will participate in a panel discussion regarding practical uses of social media marketing tools and real case examples.

The event will be in French.

For more information on the event, please visit www.apdeq.qc.ca/