iedc wwgd final

WHAT WOULD GOOGLE DO? Rethinking Economic Development

In the Internet Age

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

IEDC Annual Conference in Columbus

A Word About The Book and “Google Rules”

Charles FitzGibbon, VP,

Business Development

Journal Communications

Team “And-atalio”

Andy Levine…President, DCI

• Specialized in marketing places

• Work with 400+ cities, regions, states

and countries since 1960.

Anatalio Ubalde, CEO, GIS Planning Inc. &

ZoomProspector.com

• Invented Web GIS for E.D. Site Selection

• Current clients in 42 states + majority of

top 100 cities + small communities

Team “Ben-Jen”

Ben Wright, CEO, Atlas Advertising

• Former practitioner, in ED Marketing since

1993

• Specializes in branding, websites, GIS, and

prospect management for ED

• Tucks i-Phone in at night

Jennifer Wakefield, Director of Public

Relations, Metro Orlando EDC

• Accredited in Public Relations, 10 years in PR,

Adjunct Instructor

• Economic Development Marketing > 4 years

Google Rule #1

EVERYBODY NEEDS

GOOGLE JUICE

“It isn’t what you say about yourself. It’s

what Google says about you.”

Chris Anderson,

Author, The Long Tail

WHAT’S GOOGLE JUICE?

• The magic elixir that

makes Google value you

more because the world

values you more

• If your website can’t be

found, you might as well

not exist

DO I HAVE GOOGLE JUICE?

Log-in to Google and search for:

• Your Community Name + “Economic Development”

• Your Community Name + “Business,” “Business

Expansion,” “Business Relocation,” “Demographics,”

“Foreign Direct Investment,” “Incentives,” “Maps,”

“Office Space,” “Site Selection,” “Workforce”

• Your Organization Name (including variations and

misspellings)

RATING YOUR “GJQ”

(Google Juice Quotient)

NO JUICE = No Sign Of Your Website On The

First Page Of Search Results

GOOGLEY = Website Consistently In The First

Page of Search Results

GOOGLIER = In Top Five Results

GOOGLIEST = We’re #1

HOW DO I GET MORE GOOGLE JUICE?

Four Rules

1. Get Others To Link To Your Website…Google

will notice their links and give you more juice.

2. Keyword Content…Identify keywords

prospects use to search for you and

prominently display.

3. Avoid Fancy Technology That’s Makes Your

Site “Dance And Sing”…Google won’t recognize

this and it will annoy prospects.

4. Give Every Page A Logical, Permanent Address

Google Rule #2

MIDDLEMEN ARE DOOMED

“For all middlemen the clock is ticking and

the question of value is looming.”

Jeff Jarvis, Author,

What Would Google Do?

Do you get value for what you pay

these people? Are they worth it? (page 74)

• Car salesmen

• Insurance brokers

• Head hunters

• Advertising agencies

• Travel agents

• Real estate agents

According to Jeff Jarvis:

• Real estate agents are more distrusted than

tabloid writers

• “Eliminate advertising. Or at least fire your ad

agency.”

• “…travel agents (oh, sorry, they’re already

nearly extinct.”

Hi.

I’m an economic developer.

I’m here to help.

© GIS Planning Inc.

Google Rule #3

DO WHAT YOU DO BEST AND

LINK TO THE REST

“…the link forces specialization.”

Jeff Jarvis, Author,

What Would Google Do?

From general to specialized

• Linking is changing the structure – moving

generalization in media to specialization

• Specialization creates:

– Stronger USP’s

– Mass of “niches”

– Opportunities for collaboration

Mapping =

Google Mashup

Real Estate =

Third Party

Examples of ED’s leveraging what

others do best

Google Rule #4

BE A PLATFORM & LISTEN

“Stop callin’, stop callin’,

I don’t wanna talk anymore.”

Lady Gaga

“Telephone”

PLATFORMS

IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

flickr

Orlando Rocks

LISTEN

Examples of ED’s listening

Google Rule #5

JOIN A NETWORK &

THINK DISTRIBUTED

“We can’t expect our customers

to come to us”

Quincy Smith, President

CBS Interactive

Power of

Networks

How To

• Give a talk at an industry conference

explaining something that has value to the

attendees; develop relationships with them.

• Make sure your websites are linked from/to

the right partners.

• Grow your social network.

• Join online industry and economic

development networks.

• Grow where the networks are largest.

• Be where the networks are specialized.

Expecting Customers to Come to You

© GIS Planning Inc.

Be Distributed: Where the Customers Are

© GIS Planning Inc.

Result: More Customers Come to You

© GIS Planning Inc.

How To

• Hire more people.

• Fly more places.

• Buy more ads.

• Distribute your online presence.

• Widgitize your organization.

• Be where your customers are.

• Create EDO profiles/pages on social

media networks. Add value on them to

customers seek you out.

Being Distributed

• Create value within the networks you occupy.

Make sure you’re are a node in the network

that each time it’s touched the other nodes

get value.

• Be where your customers are.

• If you are small be a part of something big: a

network (page 56)

• Create something so great that others

distribute it.

Build a Digital Ambassador Program

• Identify savvy executives

in your community with

social media followings

• Provide with frequent

updates that they can

tweet, blog and share to

their networks

Google Rule #6

ANSWERS ARE

INSTANTANEOUS

“Fast is better than slow.”

Ten Things Google Has

Found To Be True

“Comprehensive List of Major

Private Sector Employers

with Headcount”

ED Organization

Website

Easy to

Find

Difficult to

Find

Not

Found

Airdrie Economic Development

Athens County Economic

Development Council

Iowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development

Corporation

Metro MSP

The Indy Partnership

Dennis Donovan

WDG Consulting

“A Map That Shows

Your Location in the Context

of Surrounding States.”

ED Organization

Website

Easy to

Find

Difficult to

Find

Not

Found

Airdrie Economic Development

Athens County Economic

Development Council

Iowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development

Corporation

Metro MSP

The Indy Partnership

Kathy Mussio

Atlas Insight LLC

“List of Four-Year and

Two-Year Colleges with

Enrollment Stats”

ED Organization

Website

Easy to

Find

Difficult to

Find

Not

Found

Airdrie Economic Development

Athens County Economic

Development Council

Iowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development

Corporation

Metro MSP

The Indy Partnership

Joe Lacy

Biggins, Lacy & Shapiro

“Contact information (direct

telephone line and email) for

senior economic developers”

ED Organization Website Easy to

Find

Difficult

to Find

Not

Found

Airdrie Economic Development

Athens County Economic

Development Council

Iowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development

Corporation

Metro MSP

The Indy Partnership

Jason Hickey

Hickey & Associates, LLC

“A Concise List of Economic

Development Incentives”

ED Organization Website Easy to

Find

Difficult

to Find

Not

Found

Airdrie Economic Development

Athens County Economic

Development Council

Iowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development

Corporation

Metro MSP

The Indy Partnership

All Consultants

Surveyed

Google Rule #7

YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE

YOUR AD AGENCY

“In the 20th century, we did monologue

marketing. In the 21st century, we’ve

moved to dialogue. Customers…will not

tolerate not being heard”

Source: John Hayes,

CMO, American Express

SHARE

Your Customers are varied – use

them to develop and tell the story

• Real estate devleopers/brokers = inventory

experts

• Local bloggers = local insight and color

• Local CEO’s = your sales team

• Site Selectors = the translators of your

message

Testimonial Example

Google Rule #8

MAKE MISTAKES WELL

“Oops. I did it again.”

Britney Spears

“Oops. I Did It Again”

OUTSTANDING MISTAKES

Summing It Up

1. Everybody Needs

Google Juice

2. Middlemen Are

Doomed

3. Do What You Do

Best and Link to

the Rest

4. Be A Platform &

Listen

5. Join a Network &

Think Distributed

6. Answers are

Instantaneous

7. Your Customers

Are Your Ad

Agency

8. Make Mistakes

Well

•For a copy of this presentation, visit Slideshare.net/?

•Presenter emails:

• Andy Levine: andy.levine@aboutdci.com / twitter: @AboutDCI

• Anatalio Ubalde: ubalde@gisplanning.com / twitter: @ZoomProspector

• Jennifer Wakefield: jennifer.wakefield@orlandoedc.com

• Ben Wright: benw@atlas-advertising.com / twitter: @atlasad

• Charles FitzGibbon: cfitzgibbon@jnlcom.com

Thank You!!!