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We are Atlas Advertising
And we do things like this…

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Tucson concepting

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Screen shot of Jobs Ohio Promotion of Atlas developed
GIS mapping tool, easily view able on IPad devices

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That lead to things like…

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“If I thought for a minute that I
could get the same product in
the end, even for a higher price,
by going local, I would have
done it,” Downs said last week.
“I have no interest in sending
money away to Denver except
to get the best product.”
-Timothy Downs, CEO City of Dayton Office of
Economic Development

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All because…

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We Believe Economic Development Makes a
Difference!
Our Goal: To Create Vital Communities
Our process, knowledge and background enables us to take a
comprehensive approach to economic development
marketing and attraction.
Featured Clients:

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Your hosts
Ben Wright
CEO, Atlas Advertising
benw@atlas-advertising.com
www.twitter.com/atlasad
Guillermo Mazier
Director of Strategic Services
Atlas Advertising
guillermom@atlas-advertising.com
www.twitter.com/atlasad

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Questions we will answer
1. Who is Atlas?
2. What does the outside world think of economic development today?
3. How should we act differently if we want to make a difference in this
landscape?
4. What defines success in economic development?
5. What are the basic principles that should drive your economic
development marketing?
6. How can we implement High Performance programs in our own
communities?

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View the slides, continue the
dialogue
• Continue the Conversation:
– Follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/AtlasAd
– Tweet questions using hashtag
#ASKATLAS
– Join Next Gen Economic
Development Marketers LinkedIn
Group
• View and share the slides with
your colleagues (available now):
http://bit.ly/fQB6hC

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Get the report:
http://www.slideshare.net/wright04
05/atlas-high-performance-
economic-development-white-paper
Take the survey to
participate:
http://atlas-
advertising.com/Community-
Benchmarking-Study.aspx

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What does the world outside
think of economic
development?

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“Economic development organizations increasingly
operate under much tighter budgets at a time when
the need for economic development programming is
becoming more crucial to the continued vitality and
competitiveness of a community.”
International Economic Development Council in
“High Performing Economic Development Organizations,” 2011

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Do we as economic
Developers make a difference?

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Why is Economic Development
Misunderstood?
1. The definition of what an economic development entity is supposed to
accomplish is vague, and varies from community to community.
2. As a result of 1), there has not been a standard for setting, measuring,
and comparing outcomes in the industry.
3. As a result of 1) and 2), boards, key stakeholders / investors/ leadership
in economic development do not believe that they can hold staff and
leadership accountable for specific outcomes. They have not created a
culture of accountability.
4. Though there is significant turnover in staff/executive leadership in
economic development due to “performance issues,” the replacement of
those positions rarely come with renewed commitment at the
board/stakeholder level for the outcomes that should be produced.

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How should we act differently if
we want to make a difference in
this landscape?

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What worked 20-50 years ago is
not the same as what
works today.

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What hasn’t changed:
To make a difference, we have to serve
companies directly.
If we are not having conversations,
we are not making a difference.

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What has changed:
The ways we start conversations have
changed forever.

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A simple framework to help EDO’s
define success:

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What’s Your Version of
Economic Development?

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What High Performance
Economic Development is
• It is the first measurement of
the outcomes (Inquiries, jobs,
capital investment) that
EDO’s create on this scale.
• It proves the ways we make
a difference, and in some
cases, the ways we don’t.
• It can help drive your
strategic and marketing
planning using actual
outcomes, instead of
activities, using national
benchmarks as your guide.

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The High Performance Framework
1. Getting buy-in on a few key
goals. Push hard to track the
following:
a. Awareness: Website visits
b. Conversations / inquiry
c. Jobs Announced
d. Capital Investment Announced
2. Implement strategies and
technology platforms that
drives those goals.

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EDO Performance,
benchmarked by population
POPULATION YEARLY WEB VISITS
CONVERSATIONS PAST
12 MONTHS
AVERAGE JOBS
ANNOUNCED LAST 12
MONTHS
AVERAGE CAPITAL
INVESTMENT ANNOUNCED
LAST 12 MONTHS
Less than 25,000 7,779 43 115 $24,951,083
25,001 to 100,000 5,790 90 411 $81,263,040
100,001 to 250,000 23,339 112 737 $330,501,622
250,001 to
1,000,000 48,533 157 1,696 $335,914,394
1,000,000 to
2,500,000 42,753 327 3,035 $378,869,231
Over 2,500,000 23,516 603 6,134 $502,258,333
Average for all
Sizes 25,562 146 1,293 $234,366,814

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EDO Performance,
benchmarked by staff size
STAFF SIZE
AVERAGE YEARLY
WEB VISITS
AVERAGE
CONVERSATIONS
PAST 12 MONTHS
AVERAGE JOBS
ANNOUNCED LAST 12
MONTHS
AVERAGE CAPITAL
INVESTMENT
ANNOUNCED LAST 12
MONTHS
1 11,603 56 176 $45,676,585
2 to 3 9,269 85 493 $186,364,000
4 to 9 45,237 161 1,696 $267,705,000
10 to 19 47,977 184 2,859 $469,212,381
20 or more 49,836 799 6,279 $548,110,000
Average for all
Sizes 25,562 146 1,293 $234,366,814

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EDO Performance,
benchmarked by budget
Budget Level
AVERAGE YEARLY
WEB VISITS
AVERAGE
CONVERSATIONS
PAST 12 MONTHS
AVERAGE JOBS
ANNOUNCED LAST 12
MONTHS
AVERAGE CAPITAL
INVESTMENT
ANNOUNCED LAST 12
MONTHS
Under $100,000 1,240 45 85 67,050,000
$100,000 to
$249,000 5,635 59 300 40,047,027
$250,000 to
$499,000 12,006 85 542 219,461,767
$500,000 to
$999,000 13,755 129 712 210,183,125
$1,000,000 to
$2,500,000 30,552 335 1,617 212,146,897
Over $2,500,000 68,819 193 3,987 499,600,294
Average for all Sizes 25,562 146 1,293 $234,366,814

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Highs and Lows: Some EDO’s and
communities outperform others
Budget Level
LOW
JOBS
HIGH
JOBS
LOW CAPITAL
INVESTMENT
HIGH CAPITAL
INVESTMENT
LOW
INQUIRIES
HIGH
INQUIRIES
Under
$100,000 20 243 $500,000 $442,000,000 5 214
$100,000 to
$249,000 2 1,500 $600,000 $250,000,000 1 400
$250,000 to
$499,000 5 5,000 $300,000 $4,500,000,000 3 600
$500,000 to
$999,000 4 4,283 $235,000 $2,500,000,000 15 670
$1,000,000 to
$2,500,000 35 8,000 $10,000,000 $650,000,000 5 4,000
Over
$2,500,000 6 16,835 $1,500,000 $2,200,000,000 3 1,425

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US Canada Comparison Performance Relative
To Benchmarks
Respondents POPULATION
YEARLY WEB
VISITS
CONVERSATIONS
PAST 12 MONTHS
AVERAGE JOBS
ANNOUNCED LAST
12 MONTHS
AVERAGE CAPITAL
INVESTMENT ANNOUNCED
LAST 12 MONTHS
198 US Performance 25,562 146 1,293 $234,366,814
6
Canadian
Performance 34,473 112 169 $42,933,000

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How Communities are Performing Using This
Model
The first cut at the data gave us an overall baseline for the performance of
the average participating EDO:
The average community gets:
24,635 visits to their website per year
or 2,053 per month
or 474 per week
or roughly 103 per working day
The average community announced:
1,319 jobs in the last 12 months
or 109 per month
or 25.3 per week
or 5 per day
The average community announces:
$202,805,022 in capital investment per year
or $16.9 million per month
or $3.9 million per week
or $780,000 per day
The average community generates:
143 conversations per year
or 12 per month
or 3 per week
or 1 every other working day

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A Day in the life of an average economic
developer…
The average community receives:
103 visits to its website every
working day
Which yields an average
announcement of:
5 Jobs per working day
And an average announcement of:
$780,000 in capital investment per working
day
Which drives an average of:
One conversation with a company every
other working day

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This framework gives us key conversion
metrics to work into our own planning
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Yield this many
conversations One
Yields this much
capital investment
$6.6 Million
The following number of
website visits
Yield this many jobs:

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Can all Countries and Regions
Compete? (US Example)

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How can we implement High
Performance Marketing Programs
in our Own Communities?

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So what should we be
focusing on?
• Attracting and retaining
firms?
• Attracting and retaining
top flight workforce,
including freelancers?
• Attracting and retaining
entrepreneurs?

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What does marketing look like for
attracting firms?

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What does marketing look like for attracting workforce?

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What does marketing look like for attracting workforce?

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What does marketing look like for attracting
entrepreneurs?

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Is your community prepared to be
relevant in the following?
• Attracting and retaining firms?
• Attracting and retaining top flight workforce,
including freelancers?
• Attracting and retaining entrepreneurs?

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We are not sure EDO’s should
be choosing one path.

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Putting High Performance Into
Practice: The Steps
1. Benchmark your community – get a
baseline.
2. Cut through the clutter: Set goals and Plan
for Performance with your board and
stakeholders.
– Website visits
– Inquiries / Conversations
– Jobs Announced
– Capital Investment Announced
3. Implement the basics, plus additional
tactics that your organization can support.
4. Adjust to improve your execution.
5. Report out and celebrate your results.

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Plan for Performance.
1. Get buy in from your leadership and
stakeholders on a few key goals.
Push hard to track the following:
a. Awareness: Website visits
b. Conversations / inquiry
c. Jobs Announced
d. Capital Investment Announced
2. Set a marketing plan that drives those
goals.

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Chat High Performance in your text
box if you are interested in a Free
High Performance Review from
Atlas

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Get the report:
http://www.slideshare.net/wright04
05/atlas-high-performance-
economic-development-white-paper
Take the survey to
participate:
http://atlas-
advertising.com/Community-
Benchmarking-Study.aspx

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Thank you!
Contact information:
1128 Grant St
Denver, CO 80203
Contact: Ben Wright
t: 303.292.3300 x 210
Benw@Atlas-Advertising.com
www.Atlas-Advertising.com
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