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Social Media is becoming increasingly important for Economic Development Promotion, said IEDC and DCI

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

According to a recent survey presented at the International Economic Development Council  (IEDC) Annual Conference this week in Charlotte (NC), USA, more Economic Development professionals are embracing Social Medias to promote their business locations at regional level as well as at national and international level.

The survey, which involved 307 professionals in the Economic Development sector, was carried out by IEDC and Development Counsellors International (DCI). The findings indicate that a growing number of economic development agencies are implementing Social Media. 63% of the professionals confirmed that their organization is using social media since less than one year, while 30% of them said that they have been using social media for 1 to 2 years now. A good number of the professionals recognized that social media will become increasingly important in the coming three year.

The results in numbers:

  • 57 % of the 307 interviewed responded that their organization use social media within their communication efforts.
  • 77% of the staff members managing social media are full time and have other responsibilities.
  • 41% use social media to communicate frequently or very frequency at regional level, while 30% uses social media with the same frequency to communicate nationally and internationally.
  • LinkedIn and Facebook, in this order, are considered the most valuable social media to communicate inside and outside their regions.
  • Social Medias are used, within the region to communicate: organization news (28%), Project wins/ Expansions/ Retentions (21%), support for local businesses (19%), and local events (18%).
  • Economic Development organizations that were mentioned as using social medias in the most effective way are: Indy Partnership, Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, and Gwinnett Chamber.

Global Arena recognizes these findings in its own experiences. The fact is that more economic development organizations (EDOs) and investment promotion agencies are looking for new ways of promoting their business locations online. From our personal experiences offering Location Marketing Solutions, we can say that American economic development agencies having taken a proactive step in this matter during the past 12 months. European and Asian investment promotion agencies (IPAs) are still holding a step back regarding the importance of promoting their business locations online.

In the context of IEDC and DCI survey results, Global Arena encourages IPAs worldwide to take the leadership and spread the word regarding what the regions and business locations have to offer to investors. If IPAs and EDOs don’t communicate the competitiveness and business advantages of their regions for investment attraction, who will?

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Posted in: business locations, FDI business, FDI trends, Surveys
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FDI bounces back, but in a changing landscape

Monday, January 24th, 2011

“FDI will increase, some even envision a growth of 20%” , this can be read in the report “Winning in a polycentric world” by Ernst & Young, in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit. An interesting differentiation is made between the emerging and the developed world, where companies have well developed business models and asset bases, but have to deal with slow growth opportunities. In the emerging markets, this situation is often reversed. Multinational companies should have business models that allow multiple speeds, depending on the location of business. Emerging markets require agility, and fast response-to-markets, where developed markets are more dependent on efficiency and incremental growth. Meeting this range of demands requires a flexibility at Board level that can be met by creating diversity in the Board, both on geographical background and on experience.

One area where this diversity in local approach will become visible is R&D. Currently, most multinational companies concentrate their R&D in the developed world, with only 16% of their R&D investments in emerging countries. Within 3 years, it is expected that at least 25% of R&D investments will be allocated to emerging countries. A clear signal to Multinationals, but also to Agencies attracting FDI.

Another area that will see a different approach in the coming years is the weighing of the local political environment in investment decisions. Right now, the only factors taken into consideration regularly are taxation and economic growth potential. A better understanding of the political environment, and what that might mean for the future of doing business in a certain country will become much more decisive in the coming years. Global Arena is already investigating what independent and comparable parameters can be used to assist our clients in making investment decisions, taking political environment into this consideration as well.

In short, another indicator that globalization is a strong driver for increased FDI, but globalization will not flatten the market to such an extent that the balance between scale and local relevance allows for a generic approach worldwide. Only companies that have a careful strategy on business allocation and a locally centered business approach will have the full benefit of geographic spread of their activities.

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Posted in: business locations, FDI business, global-arena.com, Surveys
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Economic Development Marketing in modern times

Friday, November 19th, 2010

The Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC), Canada’s national organization of Economic Developers, has published an excellent report on economic development marketing practices. You can find the full report on www.edac.ca

I think the trends observed 2009 – 2010 are global, and not only applicable to Canadian Developers. Some conclusions I would like to share:

  • Business attraction is the top ranked marketing objective. Business retention is a distant second. I recognise this sequence, even to a level where business retention is undervalued. Once established companies do not feel serviced any more by the Agencies that brought them in, and start looking for alternative locations. Never forget your existing clients
  • Those that increase their marketing budgets are planning further increases. Those that have decreased in
    2009 and 2010 are planning more decreases. The gap continues to widen.     How do companies find you when you reduce your marketing efforts? You have to be where they are looking, and that is in well over 50% online. Make sure you can be found, and present relevant information in the earliest possible phase of a search. Longlist-Shortlist-Selection starts with being on the Longlist
  • Half of EDAC members are marketing without a single dedicated staff member. That can only be done by tying in to an organization or platform that fills that gap for you. What is your road to the client?
  • 37% of respondents say their website is the single most effective marketing technique they are using, and 70% have a dedicated, frequently updated web presence. This 37% may very well be higher, since investments originate more and more from Emerging Countries and Regions, and there we find a high focus on Online. Content edditing to survive the “5 sec diagonal scan” and Search Engine Optimisation are processes that should be in order ot truly call your website an effective marketing technique
  • This year’s study asked EDAC members for the first time about marketing measurement: Lead generation, website analytics and event attendance are the top measures used by Canadian Economic Developers. 69% say that their measurement efforts are somewhat effective, but 22% have no idea if their marketing is working at all. If you consider, or are forced, to reduce marketing budgets, then make sure that what you allocate is generating maximum effect. Can your marketing efforts be measured?

We believe that Global-arena.com , the No 1 in online business locations, can increase your marketing results on a decreased budget. For more information, please mail me on ruud.storm@global-arena.com

I would like to thank EDAC for their excellent survey, and for their approach to stimulate to use the results freely.

Posted in: FDI business, Surveys
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