The Future of Economic Development Websites: 3 Predictions
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The document outlines 3 predictions for the future of economic development websites: 1) They will be built as lead generation engines to foster engagement and identify visiting companies. 2) They will geo-target visitors and share customized content based on location. 3) They will shift toward talent attraction by staying targeted to their talent audience and sharpening key messages beyond generic phrases like "live, work, play".
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The Future of Economic Development Websites: 3 Predictions
- 1. The Economic Development Website Of The Future… THREE PREDICTIONS
- 2. 1. Built as a Lead Generation Engine • Foster engagement with ED groups • Use new technology to identify specific companies visiting your website
- 3. How Do You Like Them Apples…
- 4. 2. GeoTargeted…Share Customized Content by Visitor Location
- 6. 3. Shift Toward Talent Attraction • Stay targeted—know your talent audience • Sharpen key messages—“live, work, play” is dead
Editor's Notes
- Colorado had a bit of a misperception to fix when it came to where the state was located on the actual map. BUT people who lived there clearly know where it was; so the message needed to be different for in-state folks, vs. east coast vs. international. The state use geo-targeting to help clear up confusion on that end.
- There are many creative, cool, talent attraction websites out there – but not many of them are strategic. Based on our research report “Talent Wars,” we know talent wants to first know about jobs, not just location. Which is why these two websites for Cleveland County and Colorado are best in class – they have a laser focus on specific industries where talent is needed, in this case, manufacturing and financial services, respectively. Here’s why they are best in class: They stay targeted—Unless you have a million dollar marketing budget just for talent attraction, it is extremely difficult to make a dent in talent attraction marketing if your message is for all types of talent in all locations. Remember, a website is a home for your location’s job and lifestyle information, it is the marketing done around it (like digital advertising and media relations) that gets people there, and gets them to make an action to relocate. The solution? Stay targeted on exactly what type of talent you’re trying to attract and where they are located. Case in point, Cleveland County, North Carolina, located just outside Charlotte had has a problem - hundreds of open manufacturing jobs, we knew they had to make the most of their resources and limited name recognition by staying targeted. Cleveland County focused on one target market – nearby Charlotte – and one specific industry - manufacturing. They have sharpened their key messages—Every community says “live work play” – the copy on these websites not only tells a story of these regions, like “Charlottes backyard” evokes nature, “Work at your peak” evokes mountains, but the copy is also strategic and based on what we know talent wants to know about based on our research—jobs. Both websites paint a crystal clear picture of what not just a job, but a career looks like in these industries in these regions. Both websites have powerful success stories of transplants who have moved to these regions and have thrived in their industries. For example, for Cleveland County – we’re not just promoting “Come work in manufacturing” we are changing the perception of manufacturing entirely, using copy like “Not Your Grandfather’s Manufacturing Job.” These jobs are innovative, clean and the come with good pay and great benefits and range from marketing to machine operation. For Colorado, we were trying to emphasize that their financial services industry is a powerhouse that holds its weight with opportunities in major metros like NYC, or copy emphasizes “the state is home to four of the fastest-growing investment-advisor firms. Plus, wages in the state’s investment services industry are among the most competitive.” – our research shows salary is a driving factor for job and relocation decisions. [Background note: Another point to add could be that Cleveland County recognized that they weren’t necessarily going to be able to recruit from all over the country, so they’re hyper-targeting the Charlotte area because people living/working there could benefit from a much lower cost of living and good jobs in Cleveland County. Cleveland County has no name recognition, which is why we dubbed it “Charlottes Backyard”]