What steps should economic developers take to leverage the changing technology landscape to their advantage?

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Smarter Software for Communities
October 5, 2015
DIGITAL ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 2.0:
"Mastering The
Technology
Sophisticated States
And Regions Use For
Your Own Community"

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Demo Stations:
Research: Shayna Miller
Business Development/CEO:
Nick Herman
Marketing: Guillermo Mazier

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Your hosts
Ben Wright
CEO,
Community Systems
benw@communitysys.com
www.twitter.com/communitys
ys
Nick Herman
Director, Enterprise Services
Community Systems
nickh@communitysys.com
Guillermo Mazier
Vice President, Strategic
Accounts
Atlas Advertising
guillermo@atlas-
advertising.com
Shayna Miller
Product Manager
Community Systems
shaynam@communitysys.com

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Community Systems spun off Atlas Advertising and became
the largest provider of technology products
to the economic development industry, in terms of staff.
Why? We saw that we could make an even greater impact on
more communities, at a lower cost, through software.

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Our mission: To introduce
opportunities to communities.

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By powering the world’s best economic development
websites, GIS, and prospect response systems.

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This includes:

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• Demo discussions 7:00 to 7:30
• Key Trends in ED Technology 7:30 to 7:45
• Recognizing Certified Digital ED Pros 7:45 to 8:00
• Case Study: Tennessee Valley Authority 8:00 to 8:15
• New Product Release: Lead IQ 8:15 to 8:30
• Adjourn
What today is about:
Our hope is that today you will be inspired, informed,
educated, and empowered to use technology to bring more
opportunity to your communities.

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Key Trends in Economic
Development Technology

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Smarter Software for Communities
Key Trend 1: The Way People are
Accessing the Internet is not just
through websites anymore

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When the internet started, people
thought of it like this, and
organizational websites were the rule

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Mobile is just the beginning of a larger
trend: Over the next decade, websites will
be one part of the internet of things

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Smarter Software for Communities
Key Trend 2:
The people who will be running
companies in 10 years have grown up
with Social Media as the Norm

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Millennials feel more favorable about a
brand if it is on social media

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Smarter Software for Communities
Key Trend 3:
The United States will not be the world’s
biggest economy for much longer (<5
years)

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And, the United States will Not be the
world’s largest market in 2020

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Smarter Software for Communities
Key Trend 4:
The way that people are using the
internet is not anonymous anymore

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Most websites are not anonymous
anymore, so why should yours be?

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Smarter Software for Communities
What simple steps should economic
developers take?

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Step 1: Make sure that your website
is programmed using responsive
technology.

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Step 2: Move your printed
publications to social media.

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Step 3: Make your websites
multilingual.

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Step 4: Use tools to identify your
website visitors
Current Conversion Ratio:
<1 %
112 Website Visitors
1 Identified Company
Conversion Ratio with Lead IQ :
>10%
>10 Identified
Companies
112 Website Visitors

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Recognizing
Certified Digital ED
Professionals

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Digital Economic Development
University Is and Why We Built It
A program specially designed to put the
skills economic developers need to compete
in today’s digital age in the hands of
economic developers at the lowest cost
possible.
The courses consist of 13 90-minute
webinars, delivered online and recorded for
future use, that are only open to participating
communities.

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Certifications Available
Certified Digital EDO: Given to an entire EDO.
One of the organization’s members attended all
13 sessions.
Certified Digital Marketer: Completed four or
more of the digital marketing courses offered.
Certified Digital Business Developer: Complete
four or more of the digital business
development courses offered.
Certified Digital Researcher: Complete four or
more of the digital research courses offered.

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The Syllabus
1. Defining your Digital
Strategy
2. Developing Relevant
Content
3. Building an Attractive
Property Inventory
4. Using Demographics and
Labor Data to Tell Your
Story
5. Building Business Lists,
Success Stories, and
Testimonials
6. Great Website Design
8. Driving Traffic to Your
Website Using Email
9. Setting Goals and Measuring
the Performance of Your
Website
10.Using Digital Tools To
Generate Leads
11.Leveraging Search Engines
to Drive Traffic
12.Using LinkedIn to Drive
Engagement
13.Capturing Leads, Managing
Prospects Using CRM

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What our participants said about it
“It was very well organized and the reminders were helpful.
also having the video after for the staff in our office who were
out during the time was also beneficial.”
“The focus for each webinar was toward
Economic Development. Then they also
recognized that EDOs are different sizes and with
each size generates different needs. I want to add
another well done; having the ability to review and
revisit each webinar by posting them to
Community Systems website.”
“[Thank you for] delivering tools
and tips that help ED marketers be
more effective at marketing their
organizations”
“Next year I would like you to add
relationship sharing with EDOs; learning
the best tricks and tips from industry peers
would be awesome.”

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Recognizing Digital EDU Instructors

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Recognizing three certified economic
developers here today!
Paul Saldana,
Tulare County EDC
Rachel Crickmar,
Tennessee Valley Authority
Duane Lavery,
HTL Advantage

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Others who were certified
Name Organization
Rena Purdy Wayne County Chamber
Carlie Moe City of Colleyville
Diana Goss DeKalb County Economic Development Authority
Dan Havener City of Reynoldsburg
Dianne Nunez Tennessee Valley Authority
Melissa Halsell Tennessee Valley Authority
Greg Lowe City of Lewisburg
Harland Henry Sunbiz Showcase Alliance
Jodi Barnard Morristown Chamber
Jeremy Cayton Wayne County Development Authority
Kelly Rinehart Corinth Alliance
Theresa Mangrum Kitsap Economic Development Alliance
Michael Stewart Grayslake Business Partnership
Patrick Hurley Union County Chamber of Commerce
Rachana Kothari Racine County Economic Development Corporation
Stacy Davis Sumner County Economic Development
Shireen Farr
Cumberland Area Economic Development
Corporation

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How to Sign Up for 2016
1. We are actively working with multiple states to bring this curriculum to
various state conference.
2. You can sign up an individual at www.communitysys.com.
3. We do have scholarships available, and allow States and Utilities to
fund scholarships. Last year, we gave away 3 scholarships: 10
available for 2016
4. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship this year, please
bring your business card up to the front! If online, pleas type
“scholarship.”

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34. 34TVA Mission
TVA was created in 1933 to make life better for the
people of the TVA region. We carry out that mission
through our work in:
• Energy
• Environment
• Economic Development
YEARS
OF
SERVICE82

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Site Selection magazine
recognized TVA as a top utility in
economic development for the
tenth consecutive year.
Recognition
Award
IEDC Gold Excellence Award in
Economic Development for
Megasites Certification Program
Jobs Capital Investment
FY 2009 26,000 $4.2 billion
FY 2010 41,000 $4.3 billion
FY 2011 43,000 $4.9 billion
FY 2012 48,000 $5.9 billion
FY 2013 52,000 $5.0 billion
FY 2014 60,300 $8.5 billion
FY 2015 76,200 $7.8 billion
TOTAL 346,500 $40.6 billion
TVA Performance Highlights

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new companies and investments to the Valley that are viable now &
into the future
Attract
Engage
existing business & industries to grow in a sustainable manner
Serve
and support communities to prepare for economic growth
TVA Economic Development

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• Recruit Companies and Investments
• Project Management
• Marketing and Communications
Attract

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Marketing & Communications
• Website
• Media
• Trade Publications
• Direct Mail
• Relationship Marketing
Attract: Marketing the Valley

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Digital Economic Development
• Integrating websites into one
• Invest in GIS based property & building database
• Provide technology at a low cost to communities
• Train partners on how to leverage technology
• Staff a full time website administrator, supported by
marketing team
• Invest in staff training (Certified Digital Economic
Developer)
Attract: Marketing the Valley

40. 40Integrating Websites

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Digital Systems Managed:
• TVA ED and Sites Website
• TVA Property Database
• TVA CRM System
• TVA Email Marketing
• TVA AdWords and Social Media
Digital Interactions in
September:
• 3,060 Website Visits
• 471 Property Searches
• 27 Leads
Website
Email
Marketing
Social
Media
Total Interactions:
3,531
Daily Average:
177
Number of Staff:
3
September 2015
A Day in the Life…

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New Product Release:
Lead IQ

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What Lead IQ does for
Economic Development: Toyota
Example

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Lead IQ is not for everyone.
It is only for the economic
developers that know they play
a role in influencing the
location decisions of the
companies they serve.

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How Lead IQ closes the loop
between anonymous website
visitors and real prospects for
economic developers.
In real time.

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How Prospects Use Websites
Top Activities:
1. About Us page (staff)
2. Property search (if available)
3. About the organization
4. Contact staff
123
online visits per
1
offline contact

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Proof that humans are
actually interacting online

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Strangers
Visitors
Leads
Customers
Promoters
Attract
Convert
Close
Delight
SEO/SEM Blog Social Media Sites Mobile Optimization
Calls-to-action LEADIQ
Email Optimization
CRM Synch #
Lead Scoring
Sales Alerts
Personalized Email +
Web + Social
Nurturing
Email +
Web + Social Engagement
Feedback
Forms
How websites and digital marketing
convert anonymous users into prospects

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What is Lead IQ?
Community Systems Lead IQ is a software plugin to
your website that tells you, for 10 to 15 % of your
users:
• Which company came to your website
• What they did
• What they searched for
• What properties they viewed
• What kind of properties or companies they searched for
• And how to contact them

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How Does Lead IQ Work?
By using a blend of advanced conversion
approaches and technology that appends
Hoover’s data, the industry’s richest, to
previously anonymous web visitor records.
Community Systems LIQ can be integrated
into your existing website and property
search, or built as a part of your CS
Website

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Data included in Website
Visitors List
• Company name
• Location (Latitude,
Longitude, plus address)
• Industry
• Number of Employees
• Phone Number
• When they visited (Date
• Company phone
number
• Pages viewed
• Properties viewed
• + 30 other fields

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Lead IQ Pages and Properties
Visited List, by Visitor

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Key Differences between Lead
IQ and Other Services
• The only tool that tracks web pages and properties
viewed
• The provides 3x the data about the company that other
services, due to unique partnership with Hoovers/D&B
• Customizable lead scoring designed for economic
developers helps you only contact the companies that
meet your criteria (industry, size, recruitment/retention)

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How to get started
• Bring your business card, or type “free trial” into your
webinar questions box to sign up for free trial period (2
weeks)
• We install Javascript code for Lead IQ
• You start receiving leads
• If you like the result, you convert to a paying customer

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Q&A

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So How Did We Do?
Are you:
Inspired? Informed? Educated? Empowered?
To use technology to bring more opportunity to your
communities?

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929 Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
Contact: Ben Wright
t: 720.420.3800 x 210
benw@communitysys.com
www.Communitysys.com
Thank you and stay in touch!
Smarter Software for Communities