Atlas CEO Ben Wright presented latest data and case studies at the IEDC Marketing and Attraction Conference in Phoenix, AZ in March 2012

1. Comprehensive
Economic Development
Marketing –
Case Studies
1

2. Agenda
• A few formative ideas about ED marketing
• How research can inform your marketing decisions
• What the customers (Site Selectors) say
• How marketing should differ by organizational size and type
• Case studies
– Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities
– Webster City, IA
• Calculating and valuing the impact of your activities on your
community
• Q+A
2

3. Join the community, continue
the dialogue
• Join the Conversation:
– Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AtlasAd
– Tweet questions using hashtag #AskAtlas
• Join the community of innovative economic
development marketers
– Join our Next Gen Economic Development
Marketers LinkedIn Group
3

4. A Few Formative Ideas
About ED Marketing
4

5. Whether or not you market, your
community and its brand already
exists. It is up to you to shape, not
create, the brand and story of your
community. If you don’t, you will
leave that up to others who may
have different interests.
5

6. When considering your
marketing efforts, set
quantitative goals. If you can’t
measure it, you shouldn’t buy it.
6

7. States are different from regions and
different from individual cities and
counties. The area you represent,
your organizational goals, and how you
are funded each should drive the
tactics you use.
7

8. Economic developers should
respond to those who are already
looking before speaking to those
who aren’t.
8

9. Businesses may do one major
relocation in their management’s
entire time there. Our job as
economic developers is to educate,
coach, and be relevant to them. If
we don’t, we will be cut out.
9

10. How research can
inform your marketing
decisions
10

11. The regions that consistently
make the cut in the West
11

12. Some examples of standard
benchmarks for quantitative goals
City or County Region State
Goal
Benchmark Benchmark Benchmark
Deals/Jobs in the pipeline Varies Varies Varies
RFI requests per month Varies Varies Varies
Website visits per month 1,500 5,000 20,000
Incoming email and phone
15 50 200
inquiries per month
Property searches on my
500 2,500 5,000
website per month
Social media followers/
200 500 1,000
connections
12

13. How to focus your Marketing at the
correct “moment” for the company
13

14. Please rate the following in terms
of their importance as a source of
information:
% Important, % Important,
Information Source
2011 2006
Site visits (familiarization tours) 100% 100%
Existing relationships with ED
95% 88%
officials
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
38% 29%
estate community
National conferences 29% 0%
Trade magazines 14
29% 14%
Social Media/Social Networks 24% n/a

15. Incentives, Proximity to Univ.,
Access to Workforce
Lead the “Fastest Growing” Factors
List
2011 2006 % difference
Access to customers (large markets) 95% 69% 26%
Financial incentives from communities 95% 69% 26%
Proximity to a research university 67% 43% 24%
Access to technical/scientific workers 90% 70% 20%
Quality or fit of specific real estate 90% 75% 15%
Access to transportation infrastructure 90% 76% 14%
Pro-business tax-regulatory climate 95% 83% 12%
Access to senior management talent 76% 64% 12%
Quality of life for employees 62% 60% 2%
Ability to recruit workforce 95% 96% -1%
A rapidly growing region 57% 60% -3%
Access to cultural amenities 43% 49% -6%
Access to outdoor recreation 10% 38% -28%
Climate (weather) 29% 58% -29%
15

16. Interesting Findings on
Online, GIS, and Social
Media for Economic
Development
16

17. Top 10 pages used nationally on
ED websites
1. About Us (about the organization)
2. Programs (that the organization offers)
3. Data Center
4. News
5. Relocate and Expand
6. Find Property
7. Site Selection Services
8. Workforce data and Information
9. Database of Companies or Largest Employers
10.Maps of the Area
17

18. What new media advancements have you
seen that you think are valuable to the site
selection profession?
18

19. What the Customers
(Site Selectors) Say
19

20. 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
20

21. What Tracey needs and
doesn’t need
What We Need What We Don’t
• Contact information • General labor statistics
• Incentive programs • Secondary source wage
• Tax rates information
• Recent announcements • Real estate listings
• Industry-targeted info • Rankings
• Map of your territory • Distance to other major
cities
• Largest employers
• Area colleges and
universities
21

22. Douglas van den Berghe
1. Based in Amsterdam,
Netherlands
2. Specializes in international
corporate location
Douglas van den Berghe
Managing Director
Investment Consulting
Associates
douglas@ic-associates.com
22

23. Douglas van den Berghe
What is a cluster?
23

24. Ed McCallum
1. Based in South Carolina
2. Partners with Mark Sweeney, a
former economic developer
3. Specializes in large industrial
projects
McCallum – Sweeney Consulting
info@mccallumsweeney.com
24

25. A Site Selector’s rationale for
regional economic development
1. Regions have larger, more diverse set of
assets for companies
2. Regions can support more effective marketing
3. Regions are better aligned with site selection
decisions
a) Labor markets
b) Infrastructure
25

26. How marketing should differ
by organizational objective,
size and funding type
26

27. Economic development
organizational objectives
Deal focused Promotion Retention/ Infrastructure/
focused Entrepreneur Policy focused
ship focused
Mission Jobs and wealth from Awareness, Inquiry Jobs and wealth from Improve the business
outside inside environment
Key audience Site selectors, prospective Site selectors, Local companies and Local elected
companies prospective entrepreneurs officials, government
companies
Metrics Deals closed, deals in Awareness, Meetings, issues Projects built,
pipeline inquiries/mo. solved, policy legislation passed
Staffing ½ business developers, ½ 2/3 marketers and ½ business ½ lobbyists, ½
marketers information developers, ½ , policy/infrastructure
producers service providers
Core Skills Service, person to person Content creation, Service, consulting Lobbying, public
communication, sales. digital affairs
communications
27

28. Size and funding of ED
Organizations
• Geographic coverage
– States
– Large Regions (1,000,000 people plus)
– Small Regions (between 100,000 and 1,000,000 in
population)
– Individual Cities/Counties under 100,000
• Funding
– Predominantly publicly funded
– Public/Private funding
28

29. Case Study 1:
Tucson
Regional
Economic
Opportunities
Objective: Promotion
Size: Large Region
(1,000,000)
Funding: Public
(35%)/Private (65%)
29

30. Economic development
organizational objectives
Deal focused Promotion Retention/ Infrastructure/
focused Entrepreneur Policy focused
ship focused
Mission Jobs and wealth from Awareness, Inquiry Jobs and wealth from Business
outside inside environment
Key audience Site selectors, Site selectors, Local companies and Local elected
prospective companies prospective entrepreneurs officials, government
companies
Metrics Deals closed, deals in Awareness, Meetings, issues Projects built,
pipeline inquiries/mo. solved, policy legislation passed
Staffing ½ business developers, 2/3 marketers and ½ business ½ lobbyists, ½
½ marketers information developers, ½ , policy/infrastructure
producers service providers
Core Skills Service, person to Content creation, Service, consulting Lobbying, public
person communication, digital affairs
sales. communications
30

31. Tucson’s Goals
• TREO's Values
– Nurture Competitive Economic Growth
– Build Strategic Partnerships
– Promote Regionalism
– Be an Economic "One Stop"
– Maintain a Customer Focus
• TREO JobOne
– Acceleration of regional and national marketing
– Local company assistance
– Enhanced tools to spur job creation
– Creating a strong and unified voice
– Leveraging the federal stimulus
31

32. Tucson’s Challenges
• In the shadow of Phoenix
• Seen as more of a tourism destination
• In an economically troubled state, and public
funding cut dramatically as a result
• In the storm of political infighting around
immigration, incentives, etc.
32

33. Tucson’s Target Audience
• Targeted industries
– Aerospace and Defense
– Bioscience
– Solar
– Transportation & Logistics
• Targeted geographies
– Southwestern US
– California
– Western Europe
33

34. Tucson’s Tactics
• Partnership with Phoenix and Nogales, Mexico to
form a “super-region”
• Industry targeted media trips with local CEOs
• A leading website that gets 5,000 + visits per month
• Industry content, online and in proposals
• Strong legislative presence in favor of incentives
• Large scale local event (800 + attendees)
• Website: www.treoaz.org
34

35. Tucson’s Results
• From 2005 to 2011:
– 37 relocations
– 9,200 jobs
– $1.4 billion in new investment
35

36. Case Study 2:
City of Webster
City, IA
Objective: Recruitment
Size: Individual
City/County (7,500
population, 200,000 in
labor shed)
Funding: Public
36

37. Economic development
organizational objectives
Deal focused Promotion Retention/ Infrastructure/
focused Entrepreneur Policy focused
ship focused
Mission Jobs and wealth from Awareness, Inquiry Jobs and wealth from Business
outside inside environment
Key audience Site selectors, Site selectors, Local companies and Local elected
prospective companies prospective entrepreneurs officials, government
companies
Metrics Deals closed, deals in Awareness, Meetings, issues Projects built,
pipeline inquiries/mo. solved, policy legislation passed
Staffing ½ business developers, 2/3 marketers and ½ business ½ lobbyists, ½
½ marketers information developers, ½ , policy/infrastructure
producers service providers
Core Skills Service, person to Content creation, Service, consulting Lobbying, public
person communication, digital affairs
sales. communications
37

38. Webster City’s Goals
• Increase awareness of the City as a destination for
business
• To recruit/add 500 jobs from 2010-2012
• Maximize the reuse of the Electrolux facilities
• A clearly articulated image for the City and its
economic future
– Build a brand
– Establish an internal marketing program toward residents
– Launch communications to site selectors, allies, and
targeted industries
– Launch targeted industry marketing
• Inspire a generation of local entrepreneurs to forge
38
ahead

39. Webster City’s Target
Audience
• External Audiences:
– Midwest based site selection consultants
– Foreign counsels in Minneapolis and Chicago
– Companies in targeted industries, including
– Commercial real estate brokers in large Iowa cities
– Buyers and/or suppliers to companies in and around the
Webster City area.
• Internal Audiences:
– Residents of Webster City
– Existing employers
– Economic development allies at the local, regional, and
state levels
39

40. Webster City’s
Challenges
• Small market in a rural part of a rural state
• Not a well known, household name
• No established, centralized economic development
entity
40

41. Webster City’s Tactics
• Build a clear product brand that differentiates
Webster City as a business location
• Feature rich website, with a virtual familiarization
tour
• Prospect communications – standard PPT
presentation
• Limited advertising campaign, focused on Midwest
site selectors
• Direct communications with site selectors and
targeted industry list
• Limited Trade show participation, focused on
targeted industry shows 41
• Linkedin for prospecting

42. Webster City’s Results
• Campaign launched January 2011
• Quantitative results
– Electric car company opened operations in former Electrolux
facility in Q1 2011
– Two other prospects that have already visited and are in
proposal/decision stage, plus one other that the community lost
– The City has been getting calls direct from prospects, including
in response to recent press, the city's direct mail and online
marketing Website traffic has grown, and time on site has
increased
– Website is receiving more traffic from ED specific keywords
• Qualitative results
– The City’s profile and visibility for ED efforts have grown, as has
their network of connections across the region/nation.
– The City is now receiving emails from all sorts of entities ranging
42
from prospects to other ED groups asking “How they are doing
this?”

43. Calculating and valuing the
impact of your activities on
your community
43

44. How to value an economic
development promotion activities
Generating Generating Generating
Jobs and
Awareness Inquiry
Investment
Knowledge of the Visits to website Number of jobs
Organization Phone/email inquiries Capital investment
Prospect meetings
Prospect pipeline
44

45. Example Economic Developers that
have shared their information
45

46. The value of various organizations’
impact on their communities in context
AWARENESS INQUIRY JOBS AND INVESTMENT
WEB JOBS
SOCIAL MONTHLY INQUIRIE
VISITS JOBS IN WON CAPITAL INVESTMENT
ORGANIZATION MEDIA GOOGLE S PAST 12
LAST 12 PIPELINE LAST 12 WON LAST 12 MONTHS
TOTAL SEARCHES MONTHS
MONTHS MONTHS
Sub - Region 443 140 21,257 109 2,681 3,531 $ 293,878,000
Large Region 2631 390 37,880 195 46,531 4,048 $ 906,160,000
Medim sized region 24 110 8,428 68 4,803 2,285 $ 399,371,908
Medium Sized
371 635 43,618 169 5,878 4,171 $ 875,700,000
Region
Medium Sized
486 480 25,572 107 9,635 2,329 $ 424,082,780
Region
46

47. Summary of Value
$1,131,835,705
$980,924,278
$632,667,138 $621,058,567
$394,691,425
47
Large Region Medium Sized Sub-region with Medium Sized Southeast
Medium Sized
Region Large Region Region Business
Region
Partnership

48. Would you like to join a national
community to benchmark the impact
you have?
• Fill out the survey at the link on the sheet at
your table
• We will send you a report about how your
community ranks
48

49. 49

50. Hear more from Keith Gendreau of
Cushman & Wakefield:
Attend the Atlas webinar March 14:
How Site Selectors are Using GIS to
Evaluate Locations and "Short-List"
Communities
http://www.atlas-advertising.com/How-Corporate-
Real-Estate-GIS.aspx
50

51. 51

52. 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
LinkedIn Profile | LinkedIn Group | Twitter | Blog | Slidespace
52