WHAT WOULD GOOGLE DO? Rethinking Economic Development

In the Internet Age

August 27, 2013AED Annual Conference

About Atlas • Niche economic development marketing and technology

firm, providing branding, websites, GIS

• Worked with 100+ economic development clients

• Pioneered the use of benchmarked outcome metrics in economic development

• IEDC’s official High Performance Economic Development Marketing Partner

• 20+ people based in Denver, CO in the (haunted) former Governor’s Mansion

• Invited by Bryan Barnhouse, Jefferson County

A Word About The Book and “Google Rules”

About this presentation • Originally delivered in 2011 at the

International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) Annual Conference in Columbus, OH

• In December 2009, I read the book, “What Would Google Do?”

• One of its key themes was “Middlemen are doomed.”

• I had to ask the hard questions: • “Is my company a middleman?• “Are economic developers middlemen?”

Why Should We Study Google?

A share bought for $102 in 2004 is worth $869 today

Over the Same Period, What has Been Happening in Economic Development?

• Vast growth in the availability of information

• Dramatic downturn that froze company and workforce mobility, then a gradual economic recovery

• More global competition for business and jobs

• With the recession, declines in public sector funding

• More scrutiny from private sector investors

Has your organization become 8 x more valuable since 2004?

Introducing Google Rules 1. Everybody Needs

Google Juice2. Middlemen Are

Doomed3. 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 Well9. Be Performance

Driven

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)

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

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 =GIS Using

Cloud data

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

Google Rule #5

JOIN A NETWORK & THINK DISTRIBUTED

“We can’t expect our customers to come to us”

Quincy Smith, President

CBS Interactive

Expecting Customers to Come to You

Be Distributed: Where the Customers Are

© GIS Planning Inc.

Result: More Customers Come to You

© GIS Planning Inc.

How To

• 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.

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

Why Digital?

• The average economic development organization nationwide gets 10 times the interactions on their website than all of the following forms of communication combined:• Phone calls• Email• Drop in visitors• Trade show conversations

Google Rule #6

ANSWERS ARE INSTANTANEOUS

“Fast is better than slow.”

- AT&T

This week in ED… • Site Selectors reviewed hundreds of Cities, in

less than an hour. They threw out 95%.• They then did deep dives in less than 5

percent of the Cities they considered. • To do those deep dives, they did an average

of 20 Google searches• If they didn’t find your website, they went to

someone else’s.• If they came to your site and didn’t find

what they wanted in 10 seconds, they left.

“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 PartnershipIowa City Area Development

Kilgore Economic Development CorporationMetro MSP

The Indy Partnership

Dennis Donovan WDG Consulting

Google Rule #7YOUR 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 developers/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”

AN OUTSTANDING MISTAKE

Google Rule #9 (Provided by Ben)

MAKE YOUR ORGANIZATION COMPLETELY PERFORMANCE

DRIVEN

“What do you mean I didn’t impact jobs? Look at all the meetings I went to!”

- Former economic development CEO

GOOGLE’S DEFINITION OF BEING PERFORMANCE DRIVEN

• They don’t get paid until a user clicks on an ad when interested (95+% of their revenue)

• If their tools are not available = $0 revenue• If they don’t serve ads someone wants = $0

revenue• If a product does not hit critical mass =

canceled (Google Reader)• If a user has a bad experience = $0 revenue

A review of the Google rules

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 Well9. Be Performance

Driven

How can you measure what impact following Google rules will have on your community?

A guide to be a performance driven EDO: High Performance ED

• 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.

The framework:

The results, from 300 + communities

Benchmarked Results by Population Size

POPULATION YEARLY WEB VISITS

INQUIRIES PAST 12

MONTHS

JOBS LAST 12 MONTHS

CAPITAL INVESTMENT

LAST 12 MONTHS

Less than 25,000                           8,418           20                           

98 $28,333,333

25,001 to 100,000                           8,324           46                 576 $63,750,000

100,001 to 250,000    22,412           65             1,198 $149,376,418

250,001 to 1,000,000   28,374         208              2,422 $365,923,077

1,000,000 to 2,500,000    45,543         228               2,646 $447,794,260

Over 2,500,000    23,445         170                 5,359 $399,630,000

Average for all Sizes   29,181 148            1,768    $244,629,502

Which one of these is not like the other one?

ORGANIZATION YEARLY WEB VISITS

INQUIRI

ESJOBS WON

CAPITAL INVESTMENT WON LAST 12

MONTHS

JOBS PER INQUIRY

ANNUAL OPERATING

BUDGET

Ohio Community

43,618

169 4,171 $875,700,000 25

Over $2,500,000

Indiana Community

25,572

107 2,329 $424,082,780 22

$500,000 to $999,000

Tennessee Community338,388 400 14,415

$2,232,616,082 36

Over $2,500,000

Virginia Community50,236 101 3134 $418,200,000

31

Over $2,500,000

Florida Community

67,440

621 4033 $43,600,000 6

Over $2,500,000

Average for Above Communities 105,051 280 5,616 $798,839,772 24

Summing It Up – What Google’s Version of High Performing ED is1. Everybody Needs

Google Juice2. Middlemen Are

Doomed3. 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 Well9. Be Performance

Driven

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Thank You!