atlas 7 keys to high performance economic development

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7 Keys to High Performance Economic

Development in 2013

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Your hosts

Ben WrightCEO, Atlas Advertising

benw@atlas-advertising.comwww.twitter.com/atlasad

Guillermo MazierBusiness Development,

Atlas Advertisingguillermom@atlas-advertising.com

www.twitter.com/atlasad

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About Atlas AdvertisingAtlas Advertising is a niche economic development marketing and technology firm that helps economic developers reach local, national and international prospect and site selection audiences. Atlas’ economic development solutions and websites have been named among the best in the country by the IEDC and Angelou Economics, and have won awards regionally from business to business marketing organizations.

Atlas has worked with 90+ different economic development clients in 43+ US states and 6 countries. Our approach and experience means that our campaigns generate an average of three to ten times the response of other campaigns.

Featured clients:– Denver South EDP– State of Ohio– Charleston County, SC– Omaha, NE– San Francisco, CA– Webster City, IA

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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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Questions we will answer1. How do we as a profession feel about the impact

we are making on our communities today?

2. What are the basic principles that should drive your economic development marketing?

3. How do we define success as a profession?

4. Who are the top performing communities in the nation in 2012?

5. What can we learn from high performing communities?

6. How can we evaluate our own past performance, and plan for our future performance?

7. How can we implement high performing marketing programs in our own communities?

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Cutting through the clutter: The world we work in

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Do we as economic developers make a difference?

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A few principles that drive (or should drive)

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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What worked 20 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 define success: High Performance

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 framework:

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ED success: benchmarked results by population size

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Get the report: http://www.slideshare.net/wright0405/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 can we learn from the top performers?

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Your panelists

Janet MillerChief Economic

Development OfficerNashville Area Chamber

of Commerce

Emailjmiller@nashvillechamber.com

Sara DunniganSenior VP, Existing Business

Services& Talent Development

Greater Richmond Partnership

EmailSdunnigan@grpva.com

Clint KolbyProject Manager

Brenham Economic Development Foundation

Emailclint@brenhamtexas.com

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Case Study 1: Nashville Area Chamber

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Nashville Challenges

• “Music City” brand association with old-line country music can paint negative image for business

• Shortage of IT workforce with 5+ years experience limiting factor on tech-company growth

• National attention to state legislature and political infighting around immigration, incentives, etc. damaging for state image

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Nashville Goals

• Annual dashboard of metrics include:– Job growth – 12,500/year– Per Capita Income growth – 1.6%– Population growth – 1.5%/year– Increase GDP – 2.3% /year– Relocations & Expansions

• Number, Jobs, Cap Investment, Square Footage, Jobs Retained

– Internal Metrics – prospect visits by industry sector; % ratio of RFP’s to site visits, etc.

• Successful launch and implementation of IT recruitment project including– Number of tech jobs created, time to fill, etc.

• Legislative scorecard

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Nashville Tactics

• Get the tools right..nashvilleareainfo.com; RFP process and design; slide decks

• Consistent marketing over a period of years to target audiences………site selection consultants #1– Music = Creativity is

the message• Play to strengths

rather than weakness – e.g. health care services versus biotech

• Policy work on state and local level…

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Nashville Results

• Ranked number one for job growth in Atlas Advertising 2012 survey of ECD groups

• Top Ten Economic Development Group in America, Site Selection Magazine, 2011

• City named:– #1 – Kiplinger’s “Future Job Creating

Machines”, 2012– #3 – “Future Boomtowns”, Forbes 2012– #2 – Top Start Up Paradise, Young

Entrepreneur Council 2012– #3 – Overall America’s Best Cities,

Travel + Leisure 2012– #2 – Most Cost-Attractive Business

Location, KPMG 2012 – Top 10 U.S. Culture Cities – Homes Dot

Com, 2012

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The Corporate Relocation Story

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Nashville Learning's

• Embrace who you are• Public-private sector

leadership is key• Metrics matter• Acknowledging

weakness is first step to tackling it

• People will fund what they are passionate about– Nashville Entrepreneur

Center Launch– Tech Talent Campaign

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Case Study 2: Greater Richmond Partnership

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Richmond Region Challenges• Bringing together 4 strong

localities around shared vision

• Integrating private sector investors and interests

• Relatively successful – no crisis

• Diverse economy – no single strong industry “identity”

• Slow growth economy, competitive neighbors

• Existing business program needed a boost

• Little brand awareness• Tight labor market

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Greater RichmondWork Program• Business Attraction Regional Marketing• Business Retention and Expansion• New Business Formation & Small Business

Support• Talent Development and Promotion

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Greater Richmond Tactics• Sound foundation in

strategic plan – clear message to investors and community– Our work has impact -

economic impact• Revisited the plan

assumptions – cluster study

• Reoriented work programs to support the above goals

• Developed internal scorecards and management tools

• Refined data systems and tracking methodology

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Greater Richmond Tactics• Business Attraction Regional Marketing

– Cluster Focus– Domestic/International– Engage Stakeholders

• Business Retention and Expansion– Cluster Focus– High Growth– High Impact

• Talent Development and Promotion– External Market– Cluster Focus– Graduate Retention– High Demand Occupations

• New Business Formation & Small Business Support– Innovation– Peer Learning

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So, What Do We Measure?

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How do we share?

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Greater Richmond Results• Specific job creation and investment (and

more) goals – by program of work• Attraction program emphasis on quality vs.

quantity• Invested in web-based CRM, workflow

system• Launched refined collaborative BR&E

program• Launched talent portal –

RichmondJobNet.com • Launched virtual relocation resource –

LoveWhatYouFind.com• Scorecards developed for management,

board and investors

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Greater Richmond’s Learnings“We can’t control the direction of the wind, but

we can adjust our sails.”

• Jobs & capital investment still matter• Link & understand process, output and

outcome metrics• Alignment, accountability and transparency• Change when conditions change• Embrace technology• Explore “link and leverage” strategies• Focus on conversion• Transactional vs transformational

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Case Study 3: Brenham Economic Development

Foundation

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Brenham Challenges

In the shadow of Houston and AustinSeen as more of a tourism destinationSmall pool of skilled laborLack of available commercial buildings

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Brenham Goals

Build awareness with site selectors Familiarization tours with commercial real estate brokersReach out to existing primary employersStrong workforce development partnership with local college and school districts A leading website that gets 7,000 + visits per year

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Brenham Tactics

Direct e-mail campaigns Site visits and windshield tours Survey with local primary employersIndustry tours and training programsRelevant and updated website content

INSERT SCREENSHOT OF SURVEY or SAMPLE EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

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Brenham Results

66% increase in the number of conversations 100% increase in the number of proposals submitted50% increase in the number of ongoing prospects Top micropolitan in Texas by Site Selection magazine for second year in a row

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Brenham Learnings

• Embrace regionalism • Make yourself known• Business retention &

expansion is the meat and potatoes of rural economic development

• Workforce development is a major ingredient for success

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How can we implement high performing marketing programs in our own communities?

Guillermo MazierBusiness Development,

Atlas Advertisingguillermom@atlas-advertising.com

www.twitter.com/atlasad

For information, call:

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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 visitsb. Conversations / inquiryc. Jobs Announcedd. Capital Investment

Announced

2. Set a marketing plan that drives those goals.

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Implement the basics manage, measure, and produce results. 1. Economic development website, with a content

management system to enable you to make changes2. A base of content about your area and your organization 3. A customer relationship management system (or Excel

spreadsheet to track inquiries and results)4. Email marketing management tools, such as Exact

Target, Constant Contact 5. Social media management tools, such as HootSuite,

Tweet Deck, etc.  6. Proposal templates and delivery systems (email, online)7. PowerPoint template for community and company

presentations

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Basics +1: Tactics that drive awareness and traffic to your website.

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Basics +2: Tactics that convert website visits to conversations.

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Basics +3: Tactics that go straight to conversations.

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Celebrate your success!

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Chat your Answer:

What is one thing that you learned in today’s webinar?

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Q+A

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Thank You!

Contact information: 1128 Grant StreetDenver, CO 80203

Contact: Ben Wrightt: 303.292.3300 x 210

benw@Atlas-Advertising.comwww.Atlas-Advertising.com

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