Tag Archive for 'Investment Attraction'

It’s Location, Location, Location For Site Selectors

Published
by
Ian Smith
on September 1, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Investment Attraction
. 0 Comments

Last week, I came across a discussion on the LinkedIn Group, Site Selection, where the topic was, “What should be on a website for investment attraction?”.  A member of the group simply stated, “a detailed map”.

Make sense, right?

Of course however; how many agencies have a map that is more that a map?

A map for investment attraction used by site selectors should be an information product that provides intelligence on locations in a region.  Case in point: IDA Ireland.

IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency) is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland.  Below in Figure 1 is a screen shot of the agency’s “Location” section on its website.

Figure 1: IDA Ireland’s Location Section

Thanks to tabs labeled:: “Locations of Ireland”, “Business & Technology Parks” and “Strategic Sites”, site selectors can easily access information that they can use to choose real estate to fit their clients’ investment needs.

Within the Strategic Sites subsection, IDA Ireland offers the opportunity to have a view of 10 locations in which they feel that it would be beneficial for any investor to do business.  Figure 2 is an animated model of Oranmore, Co Galway where Biopharma Campus Ireland is located.

Figure  2: Animated model of Oranmore, Co Galway

For each listed strategic site, the website provides a promotional brochure and video to learn more.

When engaging site selectors via a website, it is important to realize that some selectors would like to be independent when it comes to gathering information.  Pushing information to individuals for the decision making process does have its limits.  With a variety of search tools, selectors may want seeking out information for themselves since they are only individuals who knows what they really need and want from a location.

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.

Are You Really On Social Media For Investment Attraction?

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

A lot of effort can be placed into planning and executing a social media marketing campaign for investment attraction however; there is an element that cannot be omitted.  Getting exposure.

Similar to the saying, “If  a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”, having a presence on social media but if nobody knows it,  then it is a huge issue that should be dealt with immediately.  While preparing for the 2010 Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index, I was surprised to find that some Web 2.0 accounts were not linked to the economic development agencies’ website and vice versa.

Here are a few practical tips to help obtain some additional exposure for your agency’s Web 2.0 efforts.

1. Links, Links, Links - Take a look at the agency’s website. Do all the links to your platforms (i.e., Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) appear on the front page of the site?   Providing direct links will make life easier for investors and site selectors who are looking to gather information and not guessing where links are on the website.  Be bold and put them upfront where they can not be overlooked.

2. Find Yourself - Put yourself in the shoes of site selectors and conduct a search on the popular social media networks using the keywords that they would used.  Have you found your agency’s page, profile, channel and / or account?  If not, you have some extra work to do to get on the first page of results.  (Please read, “Finding Keyword Intelligence For Investment Attraction Promotion“)

3. Get People To Read All About It - If you believe that you have done something great with one or all of your Web 2.0 applications, let people know about it.  Issue a press release, mention it in a newsletter or send out a tweet (remember to use hashtags).  Nobody is going to draw attention to your agency except for yourself.

4. Be Active and Engage - To some. being on social networks for investment attraction begins and ends with just posting content in the form of links, videos, tweets, etc.   An important factor to a social media campaign is engaging your target audience.  This can be done by simply replying to comments made on a Facebook Page Wall or participating in a LinkedIn Group. This kind of interaction will help you enhance your credibility as a knowledgeable economic development officer representing a region and an agency.

If you have placed a check mark beside the four tips above to indicate that you have completed or are doing the tasks, congratulations.  It is a sign of very good social media marketing management.

If you found yourself nodding in agreement as an indication that these tips should be acted upon, then I wish you good luck.  It is time to improve your visibility to get on the radar of site selectors.

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.

The Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index 2010

Published
by
Ian Smith
on June 30, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 0 Comments

In September 2009, E&B DATA in conjunction with Intelegia published the first Canadian Cities Online Marketing Index.  This benchmark study examined the use of social media tools by large Canadian cities to market themselves for investment attraction purposes.  One would assume that big cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal would have had an official presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube however; they were not even ranked amongst the top 5 CMSAs in Canada.  On the basis of the city’s economic development agency website had to offer in terms of Web 2.0 tools, the top ranked  cities were: Halifax, London and  Hamilton,

This summer, Intelegia will be hard at work to produce the second annual benchmark study.  The 2010 version of the study will investigate:

  • Has these cities modified their social media strategies over the past nine to twelve months to increase their power to convince investors to place money in their respective regions?
  • Has cities (that were ranked lower down on the list) adopted social media marketing tools to catch up to the top three?
  • What are the prevailing Web 2.0 marketing trends that are being adopted by different cities?

Plus, a whole lot more.

With the assistance of interviews with the agencies that are responsible for investment attraction, the study will document how well the top cities in 2010 in terms of using the web for investment attraction.

Results will be unveiled by my colleague, Isabelle Poirier, at this year’s Economic Development Association of Canada Conference 2010 in Quebec City, Quebec.

YouTube Puts Saratoga County On Business Attraction Map

Published
by
Ian Smith
on May 12, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Investment Attraction and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 0 Comments

Executing a social media marketing strategy for investment attraction entails aligning the use of a selection of tools and a sound communications plan about the initiative.  A clear example of this assertion is the web 2.0 strategy for Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).

In April 2010, the firm issued the press release, “Saratoga Economic Development Corporation Launches Global Marketing Video: Life With Balance” highlighting a new marketing video that can be viewed below.

The clip focuses on the key sectors and key localisation factors that the county has to offer investors and site selectors. This is strategically done by using testimonials by CEO of companies that have selected  Saratoga County as the place to operate (i.e., GlobalFoundries and AMD).  A key testimonial by U.S. President Barack Obama was used with from a speech made in September 2009 at Hudson Valley Community College.

As discussed in the post, “SEO For Your Investment Attraction YouTube Videos“,  writing a detailed description for the video and using the correct tags will allow the clip to be found easier by viewers.  Figure 1 is a screen shot of the description and tags for the county”s YouTube video.

Figure 1: Description and Tags For Saratoga County’s YouTube Clip

As of May 6th, 2010, the clip, “Saratoga County, New York - Saratoga Economic Development Corporation” has received 1207 visits.  According to statistics given to Intelegia from the corporation, the video has been seen in Germany and Singapore (Figure 2).  Only time will tell if investment dollars will flow from these countries into the county to deem the social media initiative a complete success.

Figure 2: Number Of View Per Countries/States

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!!!

Invest In Ontario’s GIS Site Selection Tool

Published
by
Ian Smith
on April 7, 2010
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Development and Investment Attraction
. 2 Comments

Do you think that you have the ideal website and applications for investment attraction purposes?  Are you providing the best information to site selectors to make informed decisions?  Consider using a geographic information system application to address the two issues at the same time.  Invest in Ontario is a prime example of how a government agency is modifying their approach to selling their region for business attraction.

In February 2010, The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade launched SelectOntario, Canada’s first web-enabled, investment attraction-focused site selection tool. (A similar tool is available on the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s website.  Please read, “Site Selection Tool Puts Indiana On The Map“)   The index page of SelectOntario can be seen in Figure 1:

Select Ontario Index Page

Figure 1: Index Page Of SelectOntario

There are four main components of the tool that site selectors may use to gather information:

  • Site Search - To find real estate for an investment project
  • Community Search - To examine communities by workforce and demographics
  • Industry Search - To investigate industry clusters in Ontario
  • Skills Search - To assess the skills, language and educational capabilities of Ontario’s workforce

For the purposes of this post, the Site Search was selected to test SelectOntario to identify available real estate for sale in the City of London for a new drug store.

Placing a mouse over the “Site Search” button will prompt the tool to provide a menu where users can select to conduct the following types of searches:

  • Industrial
  • Commercial
  • Investment
  • Agriculture
  • Investment
  • Vacant Land
  • Business

Figure 2 is an image of the Vacant Land search interface.

Figure 2: SelectOntario’s Vacant Lot Search Interface

By entering the following details for the query, users will be supplied with the map seen in Figure 3:

  • Transaction Type: For Sale Only
  • Vacant Land Subtype: Industrial Lot
  • Price: (Maximum): $5 000 000 (Canadian Dollars)

Figure 3: Mapping of Available Industrial Lots In Ontario With A Maximum Value Of C$5 000 000
Please On Image To Enlarge

The numbered green plotted points on the map indicate the available vacant lots for sale.  Each point corresponds to a data record listed below the map.

The second page of records must be accessed to read details on the lot in London as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Site Summary Report For Vacant Industrial Lot At 268 WILLIAM ST, LONDON,  ONTARIO

The application permits users to generate comparison reports amongst available lots.  Figure 5 is a site comparison report for 268 William St and 203 Crumlin Side Road in London.

Figure 5: Site Comparison Report For Two Lots In London, Ontario

SelectOntario is a tool that will no doubt make life easier for site selectors.  Via computers or smartphones, site selectors can conduct extensive research on some of the key locational factors on one site.

Time will only tell if other Canadian provinces will select to adopt an similar tool rather than sticking with an ordinary website with tons of .pdf documents to open.

SelectOntario is available at http://www.ontario.ca/siteselection/