What are the top ED website trends heading in to 2019? Will your organization be up to date, or will you fall behind? Join Golden Shovel CEO Aaron Brossoit and GIS Planning VP of Marketing, Alissa Sklar for a look at the 10 most important trends in economic development marketing online for the coming year, with live examples and practical tips related to the following factors - and more! Design trends Strategies for engagement Microsites Interactive and dynamic features Visualizing data Tracking website visitors

1. Alissa Sklar, Ph.D.
VP of Marketing
GIS Planning Inc.
asklar@gisplanning.com
GISPlanning.com
@gisplanning
10 Key Trends for
Economic Development Websites in 2018-19
Tuesday, September 25th, 2018.
Aaron Brossoit
Chief Executive Officer
Golden Shovel Agency
abrossoit@goldenshovel.com
GoldenShovel.com
@goldshovel

2. What’s next in economic
development marketing?
Workforce attraction
Business attraction
Business retention
Business expansion

3. 10
STORYTELLING

4. COMPREHENSION
RECALL
RESONANCE

5. STORY IS THE CONTENT OF WORD-
OF-MOUTH MARKETING

6. WHO IS THE STORY FOR?
WORKFORCE/TALENT
SITE SELECTORS
BUSINESS OWNERS
EXISTING BUSINESSES
ENTREPRENEURS
TARGET INDUSTRIES
STAKEHOLDERS

7. WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY?
Credit: StoryBrand.com

8. A LINKEDIN SUCCESS
STORY

11. STORYTELLING
IS VISUAL

16. Using data for storytelling

17. http://www.ga-sites.com/industries/aerospace.html

19. 9
DATA

20. Businesses and site selectors are researching
locations online.
Site selection research may be performed after
business hours & weekends by potential
investors all over the world.

23. What kinds of data do you offer site selectors?
● Demographic
● Available sites & properties
● Labor force
● Business
● Industry
● GIS
● Local data
● Talent
● Housing
● Transportation
● Energy
● Education
● Comparison
● Maps
● ….and more

29. 6 Intelligence Components for website pages
1- Mapping

30. 2- Business Data

31. 3- Demographics

32. 4- Compare Communities

33. 5- Infographics

34. 6- Talent Pool

35. How Two Communities Put Data to Work
Greater Gallup EDC GallupEDC.com

36. How Two Communities Put Data to Work
Expand Greater Springfield ExpandGreaterSpringfield.com

39. 8
INFOGRAPHICS
& VISUALIZING DATA

40. The power of images
● 90% of the information that comes to our brain is visual
● The human brain can absorb visual information in 1/10th of a second.
● The average person is exposed to 174 newspapers full of information every
day.
● Only 1% of that information actually makes it through to our brains.
● We remember new and different things more easily when they are presented
in a visual format.

42. Infographics are illustrations of data or ideas that can communicate
complex information in a way that can be quickly absorbed,
easily understood and remembered.
Websites with infographics realize an increase in
traffic of 12% over those that don’t.

43. https://www.zoomprospector.com/edos/northern-kentucky-tried/278

44. http://www.gemstateprospector.com/communities.html

45. 7
Business Retention & Expansion

49. BUSINESS DIRECTORY

50. INCENTIVES DIRECTORY

51. RESOURCE LIBRARY

52. NEWS & EVENTS

53. NEWS & EVENTS

54. 6
MICROSITES

55. TYPES OF MICROSITES
WORKFORCE ATTRACTION
INDUSTRIAL PARKS
HOUSING
START UPS
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
TARGET INDUSTRIES
DISASTER RECOVERY
SITE SELECTION & DATA

59. Microsite for Site Selection

60. Microsite Portals for Data Resources

62. 5
MOBILE

65. Our analytics show that up to 30% of web traffic on our clients’
site selection pages are coming from mobile devices.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile,
you are losing leads without knowing it.

66. Irvine Chamber Economic Development
Responsive Design

67. Responsive Design

68. Responsive Design

69. 4
WORKFORCE ATTRACTION

71. SUCCESS STORIES

72. JOB POSTINGS

73. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

74. 31 UNDER 31

75. ON THE JOB VIDEOS

76. SOCIAL MEDIA

77. Profile Talent Pool Data

78. 3
VIDEO & VR

79. Video attracts engaged visitors
Content marketing with video is increasing
Video marketing is cost effective
Video drives SEO
Videos are impressionable

82. SPHERICAL VIDEO

84. HOW VR IS USED

85. GoldenShovel.com
OCULUS GO

86. WORKFORCE ATTRACTION TOURISM
SITE TOURSFAMILIARIZATION TOURS

88. COMBINING 3D AND VIRTUAL

89. COMBINING 3D AND VIRTUAL

90. VR MEETINGS

91. VR MEETINGS

92. VR MEETINGS

93. GoldenShovel.com

94. 2
ADVANCED MARKETING

103. Aerospace Companies Impressed

104. We Know the Size of the Companies
And Where They Are From

105. What Their Roles Are

106. LinkedIn Approved

107. EnerBlu Announcement
Facebook & LinkedIn Together

108. EnerBlu Announcement
Facebook & LinkedIn Together

109. Fully embedded social sharing

111. Mine your data tools for a consistent source of social
content:
● Properties of the week
● Businesses of the week
● Interesting heat maps

113. 1
TRACKING & LEAD GENERATION

114. A)Lead generation:
How will your website be found?

115. Connecting businesses with communities.

116. The U.S. national site selection website
Be found.
Free searches of 1000+ data points for EVERY
community in the U.S.

117. B) Do you know who’s visiting your website?
ZoomProspector does.

120. Lead Conversion

122. Top 10 Trends in Economic
Development Websites in 2018-19
10) Storytelling
9) Data
8) Infographics & Visualizing Data
7) Business Retention & Expansion
6) Microsites
5) Mobile
4) Workforce Attraction
3) Video & VR
2) Advanced Marketing
1) Tracking & Lead Generation

123. Alissa Sklar, Ph.D.
VP of Marketing
GIS Planning Inc.
asklar@gisplanning.com
@gisplanning
Thank You!
Any Questions?
Aaron Brossoit
Chief Executive Officer
Golden Shovel Agency
abrossoit@goldenshovel.com
@goldshovel