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In this presentation, Atlas Advertising CEO Ben Wright gives detailed information about the eight components of world class websites, including online brands, website navigation, search engine marketing, gis systems, and more. This webinar can help you enhance your website in very specific and valuable ways.
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Your Hosts
Ben WrightCEO, Atlas Advertising
[email protected]/atlasad
Guillermo MazierBusiness Development, Atlas Advertising
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About Atlas
Atlas Advertising helps economic developers reach national and international prospect and site selection audiences. We deliver branding, website development, GIS mapping, research, social media, and creative services professionally and with a staff experienced in economic development. Unlike firms with little or no economic development experience, Atlas Advertising uses a proven mix of economic development marketing tactics that generate interest from site selection audiences.
Atlas Advertising is led by a former economic development practitioner and has worked with 50+ different economic development clients in 30 states. Our approach and experience means that our campaigns generate an average of three to ten times the response of other campaigns.
Featured clients:– State of Ohio– Indy Partnership– City of San Francisco– Greater Phoenix Economic Council – Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership
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Atlas Agency Services• Website Design
Services• GIS Websites• Brand Development• Search Engine
Marketing• Social Media
Marketing• Website Hosting
• Marketing, Media and Lead Generation
• Content Services• Research Services • Training Services
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Atlas Technology and Data Products• Content
Management Software – Robust Media Center – Calendar– Data Cart/Brochure
Generator – Mobile friendly websites– Blog or Microsite
Software
• Project Tracking Software
• Email Marketing Software
• Data Products– Demographic Data– Business Lists– Enhanced Prospect Lists
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ― Commercial Property
databases― Business databases― Data Search (Data Tab)― Other Data
Management (Map Overlays)
― Community Data Management
― GIS System Analytics― GIS Data Reporting― Data Widgets
• Website Analytics
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Cool stuff to do/download
• Download our “Compete Smarter” webinars at our Slidespace, http://www.slideshare.net/wright0405
• Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AtlasAd
• Read more at our Blog, “Latitude”: http://blog.atlas-advertising.com
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Outline
1. Trends in ED Websites
2. The Atlas Approach
3. Eight components of a world class Economic Development website
4. Best practices in each component
5. Today’s opportunities online
6. What one Atlas client said last week
7. Wrap up
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Trends in ED websites
1. Content is becoming ever more important
2. Content is also diversifying, including:– Pages– Property data– Demographic data– Business data– Downloads– Video
3. Social media is making all of what we do more transparent
4. The conversation is moving from back rooms and private meetings to be online
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The future, according to one site selector “Young companies are all about social media. Their whole concept is open source everything. They rely on an online community. They’re building enthusiasts for their product online. I have a current client in the auto manufacturing space that loves social media. These guys are choosing their locations based on what their online community says they want.
“If you can find companies on social media, you can reach them. Big corporations not using it this way, but small guys are for sure.
“As people who live in the community find these great companies, they could connect ED with companies. Blog with your citizens about what they like and what they know about. Tips are good. Fear is how do you know you have the good information in these channels? I am just learning myself.”
-A Site Selector, early October 2009
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How to sum this up?
Think of your website as a platform. A platform you use to publish, communicate, organize, and serve your many varied customers. Today, there is very little in economic development that can’t be facilitated or made more efficient by treating your website as a platform.
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About the Atlas approach• The first economic development website we worked on
was in 1995. • Since then, the usage of the web has grown
astronomically, new tools such as blogs and social media have come on the scene, and Google has risen to dominance.
• Atlas created the seven components of a successful website in 2004, and since then, it has undergone two major revisions.
• To develop the components and scoring, we conduct annual research with site selectors and prospects, and study actual usage data collected from ED websites in 37 states by Development Results.
• This thinking goes into every website Atlas works on in collaboration with our clients.
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Eight components of a world-class ED website• Authenticity of place branding and messaging• Clarity of navigation • Depth and quality of content• Use of search marketing approaches• Use of email marketing and news sections• Frequent performance tracking• Use of Maps and GIS technology• Use of new media
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Authenticity in place branding is…
• Communicating a true positioning of the region
• Utilizing recognizable national elements
• Capturing users’ attention to inspire them to use the site
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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Branding
Item Do: Don’t:Communicating a true positioning of the region
Stick to the facts – how is your
community really better?
Use overly puffy language, or
stretch the truth
Utilizing recognizable national elements
Pick the thing that the nation thinks of you, often not the sexy thing
Try to steal someone else’s brand (Silicon
what?)
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Best online branding is…
Tucson, AZ• Uses desert
imagery and color palette
• Connects the region with useful business messaging
• Backs up the positioning with fact based information
• Invites users to click on a variety of useful links
www.treoaz.org
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Honorable metion:
Des Moines, IA• Augments ED
messaging with young professionals campaign: “Do More.”
• Connects life in Des Moines to business
• Addresses a real community need
www.desmoinesmetro.com
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Clarity of navigation in websites is. . .
• A prospect-specific section placed prominently
• Utilizing IEDC data standards
• Providing the top ten most requested pages
• Keeping all valuable content three clicks or less from the homepage
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Top 10 pages requested nationally on ED websites
1. About Us (about the organization) 2. Programs (that the organization offers) 3. Data Center4. News 5. Relocate and Expand6. Find Property 7. Site Selection Services 8. Workforce data and Information 9. Database of Companies or Largest
Employers 10.Maps of the Area
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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Navigation
Item Do: Don’t:A prospect-specific section placed prominently
Make it abundantly clear where your data, sites/buildings,
and contact information are
Try to serve too many audiences with the same
navigation
Utilizing IEDC data standards
Get as close as you can to these
standards
Abandon them completely
because they are onerous
Providing the top ten most requested pages
Use the list in this presentation and
make sure all pages are within 1
click
Turn your navigation into
something that is other than utility
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Best navigation is…
Indianapolis, IN• Site selector
specific section• Tremendous
amounts of data in downloadable and GIS formats
• All of the top ten pages within one click
www.indypartnership.com
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Great content is…
• Making content scannable
• Using a content management system that enables publishing of pages, downloadable documents, and data
• Weekly updates• Devoting half of
your budget to content
• Offering prominent contact info
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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Content
Item Do: Don’t:Weekly updates Spend 50 percent
of an FTE staff person’s time
Let updates slip to less than
weekly
Using a content management system that
enables publishing of
pages, downloadable
documents, and data
Use one that allows for easy editing. Open
source and Microsoft (both offered by Atlas)
are best
Use a home grown, overly basic system
Scan-able & relevant content
Use a mix of links, bullet points and
downloads to limit scrolling
Pretend your pages are 8.5 x
11 word documents
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Best content is…
Kansas City Area EDCOutstanding data center Downloadable documents First class community/ regional profilesUpdated multiple times weeklywww.thinkkc.com
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Effective use of search marketing is…
• Ranking #1 organically for “your geography economic development”
• Ranking #1 organically for “your organization name”
• Utilizing paid search (PPC) to drive additional traffic
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Top 10 search terms that drive traffic to ED websites
1. Your organization name2. Your city/region name “economic
development”3. Incentive type offered in your region
(depends on community)4. Resident company name (i.e. Boeing)5. Region name (if different from city)6. Organizational url (without .com/.net.org)7. Campaign name (initiative or fundraising)8. City/region name “maps”9. City/region name “counties”10.City/region name “industries”
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Do’s and Don’ts of Outstanding Search Engine Marketing
Item Do: Don’t:#1 organically for “your geography economic development”
Use these terms between 7 and 11
times on your home page
Vary the usage or ordering
#1 organically for “your organizational name”
Leverage your name if it includes
your region’s name
Use coined organizational
names that don’t tie to geography
Utilizing paid search (PPC) to drive additional traffic
Spend at least $500 per month
this way
Dismiss this as too expensive but
still use advertising or PR
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Best search engine marketing is…
Location Georgia• Optimize their
website around top terms
• Use PPC to broaden search terms “Georgia Demographics”
• Over half of their traffic comes from search engines
• 500% traffic increase by using Search
www.locationgeorgia.com
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Effective use of email and news is…• Monthly email
newsletter to investors, prospects
• Tracking performance of those newsletters
• Posting newsletters and news items to your website weekly or monthly
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Do’s and don’ts of Outstanding Email Marketing
Item Do: Don’t:
Monthly email newsletter to
investors, prospects
Send email consistently, with a yearlong calendar
Rush to send email “just to stay in front of folks”
Track performance of newsletters
Track open rates, click-through rates,
and who opens email
Keep sending email if your open rate is
below 5 percent
Post newsletters and news items to
your website
Post items relevant to your key audiences
Post news just because you feel
you have to
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Best email marketing is…
Los Angeles EDC e-Edge• Send weekly e-
newsletters highlighting economic trends in the area
• They use their economist as a “Rock Star.”
• It is their most effective marketing tool
• All newsletters are posted back to the website
www.laedc.org
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Effective performance tracking is…• Receiving a
report once per month
• Tracking unique visits, referrers and downloads
• Benchmarking your performance against other ED’s
• Integrated tracking of advertising, web and PR effectiveness
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Do’s and Don’ts of effective performance tracking
Item Do: Don’t:
Receiving a report once per month
Review just the basic metrics – visits, referrers, pages, contacts
Ignore your statistics for a
quarter or more
Tracking unique visits, referrers, and downloads
Track a funnel of activity
Use “hits”
Benchmarking your web statistics
versus your peers in ED
Look quarterly at how your
performance stacks up against national
averages
Simply think that because your stats are “up” that they
are good
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Best performance tracking is…
Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership• Look at Google Analytics Monthly• Track visits, not hits• Benchmark their data against like
organizations using Development Resultswww.chooseneindiana.com
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Effective use of Maps and GIS technology is…
• Using maps with various layers (transportation, education, etc.)
• Using integrated real estate searches/GIS mapping software
• Generating dynamic demographic and business reports
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Do’s and Don’ts of effective maps and GIS technology
Item Do: Don’t:
Using maps with various layers
(transportation, education, etc.)
Place a simple map on your home page that places your city inside your region
Forget that a national audience
does not know your area the way you
do
Using integrated real estate
searches/GIS mapping software
Integrate these features fully into your website and
content management
Require users or staff to visit or log
into a separate sytem
Generating dynamic demographic and business reports
Make reports available in as few clicks as possible
Use interfaces that are too
complicated or clunky
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Best use of Maps and GIS technology is…
Indy Partnership• Use maps to place
their region in the global geography
• Fully integrated property and business GIS Searching
• Geospatial reporting
• 1 property search and 1 business search per web visit, on average
www.indypartnership.com
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Effective use of new media is…
• Linking between your website and your LinkedIn profile
• Keeping an active Twitter account
• Having a blog and updating it four times per week
• Incorporating Share It features on your site
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Do’s and Don’ts of effective maps and social media
Item Do: Don’t:
Linking between your website and
your LinkedIn profile
Set up a Linked In profile for each customer and
prospect facing member of the
team, link to your oganizations profile and indiv profiles.
Think that LinkedIn is a fad. The research does not support that
conclusion.
Having a blog and updating it four times per week
Post small (even paragraphs) that
show your perspective 4 times
a week
“Over process” your posts
Keeping an active Twitter account
Encourage your investors,
stakeholders, workforce, and
others to follow you
Dismiss Twitter as something “the
kids do”
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Best use of Social Media is…
Metro Denver EDC• Outstanding blog,
mostly written by their Executive VP
• “Insider” tone• Outstanding use
of Twitter – 2,700 followers
http://www.metrodenver.org/blog
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Today’s opportunities online
• Content is king. The more of it you have, and the better it is displayed, the better your organization will do online.
• Clients who have control of their page, data, file, and photographic content do better in the long run. Make sure the content management system you choose gives you that ability.
• Integrated GIS makes the experience seamless for your users. Integrated GIS delivers 300% more property searches than other tools in many markets.
• Never forget your brand on your website. Your site will likely deliver more than 10x the experiences of any other marketing you do, almost always to those outside the region.
• Search engine marketing is the most cost effective, targeted way to deliver new leads to your organization. Remember to optimize, and pay per click is a must. In all, solid search engine marketing can increase traffic to your website by as much as 1000% within targeted audiences.
• Social media is a vast, untapped opportunity. Make sure that you direct users to your LinkedIn profiles, blog, Twitter account, and lets users share pages and content with others.
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What a recent Atlas client has said
“I truly feel that we now have a website, and more importantly, a platform, that is one of the best in the country.
- Tim Mroz, VP of Marketing and Communications, The Right Place (Western Michigan)
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To view this presentation:
We look forward to having you!
Visit our slideshare site: www.slideshare.net/wright0405 :
And, join our LinkedIn Group: Next Gen Economic Development
Marketers(Once you sign up, you will need to be approved)
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Contact Atlas
Contact information:
2601 Blake Street, Suite 301Denver, CO 80205
Contact: Ben Wrightt: 303.292.3300 x 210
LinkedIn Profile | LinkedIn Group | Twitter | Blog | Slidespace