Economic Development Marketing in Canada

Economic development marketing in Canada.

2009 Member Marketing Survey ResultsEconomic Developers Association of Canada

Dear Colleague,

This report contains the results of the 2009 EDAC Member Marketing Survey, the most current, comprehensive look at Canadian economic development marketing practices available.

The survey was conducted in the third quarter of 2009 by On Three Communication Design Inc., in partnership with EDAC, and this report summarizes data from 98 completed and 15 partial surveys. It looks at attitudes, budgeting, marketing techniques, and ambitions for the future.

This report was created for EDAC members to use in planning, benchmarking and garnering support for their economic development efforts.

We hope you find it useful.

On Three Communication Design Inc. www.onthree.ca

Rank Objective

1 Attract new business

2 Retain and build existing businesses

3 Increase awareness about our municipality or region

4 Increase awareness about our economic development services

5 Develop a specific sector or sectors

6 Build relationships with developers and realtors

7 Increase awareness about specific programs or incentives

8 Create a competitive advantage over other municipalities or regions

9 Report on progress and achievements

10 Promote tourism

Why are you marketing? We asked survey participants to rank the following marketing objectives, with 1 being most important and 10 being least important. The results are shown below. How do your individual ranking compare with your peers?


Marketing in your economic development organization...

The basics.

Where are you located?Where are you located?Ontario 39.8%Alberta 24.8%British Columbia 8.8%Saskatchewan 8.0%Manitoba 5.3%New Brunswick 5.3%Newfoundland and Labrador 3.5%Quebec 1.8%Nova Scotia 0.9%Prince Edward Island 0.9%Yukon/NWT 0.9%Nunavut 0.0%

Who do you work for?Who do you work for?

Municipality 55.8%Region 18.6%Other 8.0%Fed/Prov/Municipal Partnership 6.2%Federal Government 1.8%Regional Government 1.8%Community Futures 1.8%Private-sector organization 1.8%Self-employed 1.8%Provincial Government 0.9%Territorial Government 0.9%Business Development Centre 0.9%

How many dedicated marketing and communications staff do you have?

49%

44%

7%01-3More than 3

Half of EDAC members are marketing without a single dedicated staff member!


The support from above?

How does senior management view your marketing activities? How do Mayor and Council view them? How about your Board of Directors?

64%

21%

4%11%

They are very supportiveThey are somewhat supportiveThey are not supportiveNot applicable

44%

32%

2%

22%


35%

16%

49%



Note: There was no significant relationship between support levels and marketing spending allocations.

Now, let’s talk budgets...

Overall budgets and marketing allocations

Overall economic development operating budget:

% of overall budget allocated to marketing:0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

27.4%

46.9%

25.7%

Less than $200,000

$200,000 to $600,000

More than $600,000

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

26.5%31.0%

22.1% 20.4%

< 5% 5-10% 11-20% > 20%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Value Title

< $200k overall budget $200-600k overall budget > $600k overall budget

<5% 5-10% 11-20% >20%

Marketing allocations by overall operating budget level:

• The most popular marketing allocation was between 5-10% of EDAC members’ overall operating budgets (31% of responses), followed by less than 5% (26.5% of responses).

• 20.4% of EDAC members allocate more than 20% of their entire operating budget to marketing.

• Those with overall operating budgets of less than $200,000 were the least likely to outsource.


Changes in spending over time

56.6%

32.7%

10.6%

Make no significant changesIncrease our marketing budgetDecrease our marketing budget

49.6%

25.7% 24.8%

Stayed about the sameIncreasedDecreased

Compared to 2008, our 2009 marketing budget has: Looking ahead to 2010, we will likely:

For about half of EDAC members, marketing budgets aren’t experiencing much change.• 49.6% saw little change from 2008 to 2009, and 56.6% anticipate the same for 2010.• While increases and decreases to budgets were roughly equal from 2008 to 2009 (25.7 and 24.8 respectively),

32.7% anticipated increasing 2010 budgets, compared to 10.6% who predicted decreases.• Regionally, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Quebec and the Yukon/NWT are most likely to increase 2010

spending.


Changes in spending over time

...but those that are spending more will continue to do so in 2010.• 62.1% of EDAC members who increased marketing spending in 2009 plan to do so again in 2010.• In contrast, only 25% of 2009 decreasers plan to increase 2010 spending. Almost 30% plan to decrease

budgets further in 2010. • Only 10.3% of 2009 increasers will bring their 2010 marketing budgets down.

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Increased in 2009 Decreased in 2009

Will increase in 2010Will decrease in 2010Will make no change in 2010

Planned 2010 spending based on 2009 behaviour


Specific expenditures and outsourcing

Print and advertising are generally less than 10% of marketing budgets each• 73.7% spend less than 10% of their marketing budget on printing, while the same is true of 66% of EDAC

members when it comes to advertising. • Both print and advertising show a declining trend as the % allocation increases, with the exception of a jump

back up in advertising in the category of over 20% of marketing budget allocation. This may be indicative of larger media buys or national campaigns, which have significant advertising costs associated with them.

% of marketing budget allocated to print and advertising buys

0%

13%

25%

38%

50%

Less than 5%5-10%

11-20%More than 20%

AdvertisingPrinting


Specific expenditures and outsourcingWhat activities do you outsource? If you outsource, do you have an agency of record?

45%

32%

16%

7%

No, we tender to various agenciesN/A - we do not outsource our marketingYes, we deal with the same agencyOther (please specify)

Canadian economic developers carry out much of their marketing in-house• Although 54.9% outsource website design, only 15% outsource web updates, which is reflected later in the

survey by the high proportion of EDAC members using a web content management system in-house• 32% of respondents indicate that they do not outsource any marketing whatsoever • Only 16% have a consistent marketing agency that they employ on projects, 45% tender opportunities to

various agencies

61.9%

54.9%

31.0%

23.9%

15.0%

6.2%

4.4%

Graphic Design

Website design

Advertising and Media buys

Marketing strategy or plan

Website updates

Email campaigns

Other (please specify)


What marketing techniques do you use?

Prevalence of techniques & perceived effectiveness91.9%

80.8%

73.7%

67.7%

65.7%

50.5%

31.3%

27.3%

24.2%

16.2%

7.1%

6.1%

Website

Print collateral

Events

Newspaper ads

Newsletters

Email campaigns

Radio spots

Social media

Direct mail campaigns

Television spots

Blog

Paid search engine

Most used does not equal most effective.• The colours of each bar represent the perceived effectiveness of

that technique. See legend below.

• Although print collateral is the second most popular marketing technique, it was seem most often as “somewhat effective”.

• In contrast, two of the most effective techniques - events and email campaigns - are 3rd and 6th in prevalence respectively.


What will you stop, start and continue in 2010?We asked survey participants what activities they planned to continue and discontinue in 2010, as well as what new activities they would be undertaking. Trends from the individual responses are summarized below:

STOPWhen asked what would be discontinued in 2010, two prominent themes emerged: 1) reducing investment in print collateral (often paired with a plan to repurpose that printed content in an electronic format instead) and, 2) reducing paid advertising in newspapers and on radio.

STARTThe prominent theme here was social media. When asked what new marketing activities they would be undertaking in 2010, over 70% of responders identified social media or blogging as a planned initiative. Website development was also mentioned frequently.

CONTINUEWhen asked what activities would be continued going into 2010 there were no specific marketing techniques that stood out in the responses, which were quite varied. Most respondents indicated satisfaction with their current marketing mix with responses such as “continue with all of the above”, “the same”, and “those currently in use.”


What are economic developers up to online these days?

Are you online?

EDAC members communicate with their audience: EDAC members feel their online presence is:

Absolutely!• Only 10% of respondents communicate primarily

through printed materials with their audience.• 91.9% felt that their organization’s online

presence was “very important”.

32%

10%58%

Primarily electronicallyPrimarily through printed materialsThrough both print and electronic equally

91.9%

7.1%

1.0%

Very important

Somewhat important

Not important


How do you manage your content?

Does your organization have its own website?

Do you use a content management system to update your website?

Does your organization have a blog?

75%

19%

6%

Yes, and we update it frequentlyYes, but it is not updated frequentlyNo

59%22%

3%

16%

YesNoWe do not have our own websiteDon't know what a content management system is

7%

4%

89%



Control over web content is correlated with greater online activity overall• 93.1% of those using a CMS deliver frequent

website updates to their audience, compared with 40.9% of those that do not use a CMS.

• An online presence was seen as more important among CMS users - 94.8% versus 86.4%

• CMS users were also more likely to have a blog - 17.3% versus 4.5%

Does your organization have its own website?

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Use CMS

No CMS


We saw a real difference between EDAC members who use a content management system (CMS) for website updates and those who do not update their own content:


How do you manage your content?

Are you using email?

Do you use email campaigns to communicate with your audience? If yes, do you use an email reporting tool that allows you to measure things like open rates and click-thrus?

59.6%

40.4%

Yes No

35.4%

32.3% 32.3%

Yes No N/A

EDAC members are using email, but most don’t know if it’s working.• Almost 60% of respondents are utilizing email to communicate, but only 35% use an tool that allows them to

measure the effectiveness of their email campaigns.


How social are you?

What are your preferred social networking sites?

EDAC members are not exploiting the social web... yet.• Facebook is the most popular social networking platform among EDAC members at 30.3%. YouTube, Twitter

and MySpace are roughly half as popular. • Overall, social media is not being embraced by EDAC members, but is a planned activity for many in 2010 as

indicated earlier in the survey.• Respondents with dedicated marketing staff were far more likely to be using social media.

1.0%

15.2%

30.3%

16.2%

15.2%

58.6%

1.0%

Myspace

Youtube

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

We do not use social networking



The printed goods.

How do you use print?

Do you print newsletters, brochures and annual reports?

0%

15%

30%

45%

60%57.6%

40.4%

30.3%32.3%

9.1%

24.2%

10.1%

50.5%45.5%

Brochure Newsletters Annual Report

Yes, and they are also available electronicallyYesNo

Do you use outsourced direct mail campaigns?

88%

12%

NoYes


Do you advertise?

Where do EDAC members advertise?

Do you buy advertising?

74.7%

53.5%

36.4%

18.2%

11.1%

10.1%

8.1%

In newspapers?

In printed periodicals?

On the radio?

Online?

On television?

Nope!



Marketing support for EDAC members.

EDAC White Paper Series

Topics for future white papers• When asked to provide desired topics for future white papers, the responses were varied, but common

themes identified were: 1) getting support/buy-in/business case for marketing, 2) social media and 3) measuring marketing effectiveness

How helpful do you find the EDAC White Paper Series?

33.7% 33.7%

2.0%

30.6%

Very helpfulSomewhat helpfulNot helpfulI did not read the white papers/Not applicable


EDAC Marketing Awards

More feedback please• Many members left comments in the “what else should we know” field indicating a desire to better understand

the judging process and how they can improve their submissions in future• Members also expressed a desire for a showcase of successful marketing initiatives

Have you ever submitted an entry to EDAC’s Marketing Canada awards?

60%

40%

YesNo 0%

15%

30%

45%

60%

Very valuableSomewhat valuable

Not valuable

How valuable do you find EDAC’s Marketing Canada awards?


ConclusionThe 2009 survey reveals that Canadian Economic Developers are actively engaged in marketing activities, with various levels of financial resources and scope. Some of the key takeaways are:

• Big operating budgets do not necessarily equate to large marketing allocation percentages. Smaller communities are just as likely to spend on marketing relative to the size of their budget.

• Half of EDAC members are marketing without a single dedicated staff member.• Most members report that they receive good support from senior management, mayor and council.• Although print collateral is the second most popular marketing technique, it was seem most often as “somewhat

effective”. In contrast, two of the most effective techniques - events and email campaigns - are 3rd and 6th in prevalence respectively.

• EDAC members have not adopted social media techniques widely to date, but it is the top activity planned for 2010. Facebook is the preferred social networking site of EDAC members.

• Although 91.9% of respondents felt their online presence was “very important”, only 75% update their website frequently and only 11% maintain a blog.

• Almost 60% of respondents are utilizing email to communicate, but only 35% use an tool that allows them to measure the effectiveness of their email campaigns.

• Newspapers, printed periodicals and radio are the most popular paid advertising venues.• Those that have increased their marketing spending plan to continue to do so in 2010.

Looking forward, we will conduct this survey on an annual basis and make it available free of charge through EDAC. Marketing is critical to our profession, and sharing our practices, ideas and attitudes strengthens economic development organizations across the country. Please feel free to reproduce this study in whole or part, with credit to the original source.


About On Three Communication DesignOn Three is a marketing and communications agency specializing in promoting places, not products. We are the only creative agency in Canada that focuses exclusively on economic development marketing. Visit us at www.onthree.ca or blog.onthree.ca.

About EDACThe Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) is Canada's national organization of Economic Developers pursuing excellence in the field since 1968. For more information about EDAC contact Penny A. Gardiner, Ec.D. Executive Director @ 905.689.8771 or [email protected].


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Economic Development Marketing in Canada

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