• Be Specific in Your Messaging: Why “Live, Work, Play” and other clichés will harm your marketing efforts.
• Does Your Economic Development Website Speak Effectively to Site Selectors?:  Highlights from a US-based study of site selectors regarding their frustrations and preferences when it comes to ec dev web properties.
• 8 Tips for Getting Started with Social Media and Email: As more economic developers embrace new social tools, it is important to realize that when it comes to these new marketing channels, the old rules simply don’t apply. Here are 8 tips that cover ideas, etiquette and advice for getting started.
• Has Branding Become a Dirty Word? Our most popular EDAC White Paper, where we explore myths and misconceptions about place branding.
• Branding a City: One of our very first blog posts, this one covers off why place branding is different, and more complex, than other types of branding.
• Place Branding Inspiration Gallery: Over the years, we’ve reviewed quite a few logos and re-branding efforts from cities and regions around the world. Here are 7 posts to get you thinking about your own visual identity and branding program.

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- Found via Brand Arcade

“It’s a worldwide campaign to let the rest of the world know that Iceland isn’t completely covered in ash,” Icelandic tourist board director of marketing Jon Gunnar Borgthorsson said.

The country has created a new website: inspiredbyiceland.com and a really wonderful ad (shown below) asking Icelanders to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in an effort to improve perceptions and salvage the tourism industry that the country has come to rely on so heavily since its major banks collapsed in 2008.

Inspired by Iceland Video from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

Appealing to people that know and love the country to act as ambassadors in the face of a tourism crisis is smart strategy on Iceland’s part. The ad is beautifully executed, the cinematography is breathtaking and the ad is brimming with personality – from the all the crazy dancers to the naked couple to the old guys in the pool.

I love that group dancing timing is always off, I love that the people are laughing at each other during the filming, I love that the guy almost falls off his bike – it genuinely portrays Iceland and its people in a wonderful and honest light. The music is catchy too – “My heart is beating like a jungle drum” by Iceland’s Emiliana Torrini.

It may have taken a giant ash cloud to do it, but this campaign out of Iceland is top-notch.

From The Sydney Morning Herald via AdPulp.

SUMMERSIDE, April 19, 2010 – On Three Communication Design Inc. recently announced the expansion of its operations to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The marketing company, headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario, is currently exploring office space options in the city, and hopes to open its doors in June 2010.

“The growth and opportunity in Atlantic Canada is what motivated our decision to come to Summerside,” explains Jim McGimpsey, partner at On Three. “We have enjoyed our work on the Island immensely, and it’s time to hang out our shingle and continue to grow our business here.”

Although its Summerside location is new, On Three is no stranger to the Island. “We have been working on marketing initiatives in Summerside for years,” says On Three’s Heather Ciere. “We’ve come to love it here, so opening a Summerside location feels a little bit overdue actually. Once the decision was made we knew it was the right one.”

Ciere and McGimpsey are the minds behind projects like the Summerside commercials that aired during the Canada Games, the “Brick” Health IT business investment campaign, and the Summerside branding initiative that won national acclaim from the Economic Developers Association of Canada. On Three hopes to build on this portfolio with a larger group of clients as a result of their Atlantic Canada expansion.

Click here to view our Media Release and announcement of a Youth Business Contest.

THE WINNERS

First up: Kirkland, WA.

Here’s an example of a community that really gets destination branding. Kirkland, WA is a town on the shores of Lake Washington that has embraced and nurtured a strong artistic community. This is evidenced by its many galleries, events and a thriving public arts program. It has also embraced its proximity to the water, designing the town around walking trails that facilitate shopping and dining by the lake. So when it came time to launch its new look, Kirkland identified and married these two elements of their community in a well-executed identity… Read the whole review.

Our next example of place branding done right: Copenhagen.

A very nice new visual identity out of Copenhagen that was posted over at Brand New. It’s logo design done right under the constraint of having to serve many masters: attract tourism, attract business, create civic pride, promote sporting events… a challenge certainly not unfamiliar to economic development professionals… Read the whole review.

One of my personal favorites: The U.S. Virgin Islands

The figure is a “Mocko Jumbie” – a traditional stiltwalker that represents the culture of the USVI. The three stars represent each Island. It is striking as a shape when it is in one colour and the individual applications for each island balance a unified look and feel with some individuality. It feels tropical, culture-rich and laid-back. Very well done. Read the whole review.

Belfast:

Belfast has unveiled a new logo and set of taglines to brand itself as a safe, welcoming and enterprising place to be. Although the heart has been done before (think I love New York), it also works as the letter “B”, and a variety of taglines and colours gives different groups flexibility when using the new brand, similar to the approach taken by the City of Summerside, PEI. You can read more about it over at Brand New.

And finally, Alberta:

Alberta has unveiled a strong new identity to the world. The branding initiative will cost $25 million over three years, and it is a bold undertaking indeed… Read the whole review.

THE LOSERS

Philadelphia failed to ring our bell:

Creating an identity for an entire city or region is a tough undertaking. You are trying to please many different stakeholders. You’re trying to communicate many different messages, but with limited real estate to do so. And you are creating something that is sure to be scrutinized very closely by many, because they have a stake in their city’s brand, and often some concern about how much public money is being spent on marketing activities. With all these challenges, it is very tempting to do something safe and easy, which is exactly the trap that Philadelphia fell into. In fact, this new logo serves up a lot of place branding “don’ts” in a single creative execution… Read the whole review.

Brisbane has a good concept, but poor execution:

I don’t love this tagline, but I do think it was smart to put “Australia” right in the tag, as it shows an awareness of the need to market globally and not everyone knows which Brisbane is being referred to here without it. Read the whole review.

Alberta gets caught in a major blunder:

Although it made our winners list, Alberta deserves a mention here as well for getting caught in an embarrassing situation involving one of its promotional videos. From our blog post:

After coming our swinging with a $25 million campaign slated to roll out over the next three years, Alberta finds itself dealing with some unfortunate negative publicity. Today’s Globe and Mail ran a story about Alberta being caught red-handed using stock photography in a promotional video. Read the full review here.

YOU BE THE JUDGE

Melbourne, Australia:

Melbourne gets mixed reviews, with a thumbs-up on the colourful approach and a thumbs-down on the PR surrounding the launch and the single-colour verison of the logo. Read the whole review.

Raleigh seems confused…

What do you think? Does the logo trip over its own attempt to be all things to all people? Read the review here.

Egypt gets it right… and wrong:

Beautiful logo, but tough to read. Points for the tagline though: In Egypt’s case, this generic tagline is actually quite meaningful. See the review here.

So there you have it: Our place branding hits and misses. We’d love to hear yours. Post your thoughts in the comments.

Found via I believe in advertising.

• 59.3% of EDAC members are using email campaigns.
• 28.1% of EDAC members are already using social media. It is the top new marketing activity planned for 2010 for those that aren’t.
• 92.8% have a website specific to their organization, yet only 7.3% have a blog.

As more economic developers embrace new social tools, it is important to realize that when it comes to these new marketing channels, the old rules simply don’t apply. Here are 8 tips that cover ideas, etiquette and advice for getting started with social, blogs and email:

1.    Have a strategy and integrate it

If you hear your colleagues exclaim: “We need to get a Twitter!” or “Let’s get at least 100 Facebook friends!” or “Let’s buy a third party email list so we can show big distribution numbers!”, then you don’t have a strategy, you have a big, big problem.

True, these tools are growing in popularity and importance, but aiming wildly at the flavour of the month is not the way to take advantage of them. Like any marketing channel, you must answer basic questions like “Who do we want to reach?”, “What message do we want to send?”, “What is the goal of this activity?” Once you’ve got that figured out you can decide on the tool that will get you there.

Your strategy in these new areas must also work with your overall marketing strategy. Too often, marketers neglect the important potential of cross-pollination that comes from social media, blogs and email. How can you use them to leverage each other and your other marketing efforts?

2.    Do your homework
We can’t offer you a magic bullet when it comes to selecting from the suite of tools available to you. While Twitter may work for some, the openness and frequency demanded by that platform may not be right for others. An in-house email solution may be the route for you, while your neighbour may choose to leave the technology up to an outside agency. It is incumbent on you to research what is out there and decide what, if any, tools you want to integrate with your current strategy.

Using these tools may seem like a cheap way to go, but what you save in hard costs you will incur in the time required to keep your content fresh and interactive. Think carefully about what you will have the time to sustain.

3.    Don’t jump right in

Once you have decided on the channels you’d like to integrate, it’s time to… sit back and take notes? Yes. Many social media platforms have their own vernacular and etiquette. Watch how your peers are using these tools, and note how audiences are responding.

Email, blogs and social networks are fickle mediums, as it takes very little effort to “un-follow”, “un-friend” or hit delete. Be sure to get a good grasp of how to make the best impression and build trust and credibility. You will only get one shot.

4.    Measure

One of the greatest advantages of these new tools is how well they lend themselves to measurement. Set goals and constantly measure your progress in order to tweak content and determine which channels are working for you so that you can allocate your resources accordingly. Some ideas for measurement include:

• Traffic: Use a free tool like Google Analytics to see what efforts are increasing traffic to your website or blog. You will be able to see what content is most popular, where users are being referred from and how often they return to your site.
• Comments and other interactions: Which blog posts get the most comments? What Facebook updates spark the most user interaction? What LinkedIn discussions get the most responses? Use interactions as a measure of engagement and make note of what is generating conversation.
• Email Metrics: If you consider pasting 300 email addresses into your “bcc” field an “email campaign”, then it is time to check out some of the new tools that allow you to track specific user behaviours, compare campaigns to one and other and see what content is most popular. Email metrics are powerful, and can be used for specific events as well as ongoing communications.

5.    Be human

There is an expectation with blogs, social networks and emails that content is more conversational and personal. Remember that you are being invited into someone’s inbox or personal network, so don’t regurgitate your media releases and mission statement. Share advice, offer resources and don’t be afraid to add some personality to your writing. Being interesting is more important that strict adherence to corporate taglines and rigid grammar.

6.    Listen

When you open yourself up to interactions with your audience, be prepared to listen. You may need a thick skin sometimes, but it’s critical not to censor or try to control the conversations that happen as a result of a social presence. You may get a harsh “What a crock!” to one of your blog posts, or a snarky comment on Facebook, but you’ll earn a lot of credibility for letting the conversation happen without trying to steer it. You may also find that other users jump in to defend you, which is far more powerful than a rebuttal from you. More importantly, the things you may not want to hear are the exact things you may need to be hearing:

“At a talk about a year ago, one audience member stood up and asked a question. Her company wanted to use social media, but they were scared about what would happen if people said bad things about their products. As a result, she asked how they could minimize negative comments on the web about their products. In her search for a way to control the message, she missed the most basic solution: Fix your stuff.” – Eric Karjaluoto, SmashLab

We used to pay big bucks for focus groups. Social networks provide a focus group of sorts for free, and the responses are often more spontaneous and honest than those you get around a board room table or in a town hall forum. Be sure to listen to how your community can “fix its stuff”.

7.    Quality over quantity

It takes a long time to build a good network, and trying to find shortcuts will not serve your goals. It may be tempting to purchase an email list, but before you do, think about the last time you received an unsolicited email. Likely, your reaction was one of confusion and annoyance, not one of relief that someone sought you out to tell you this great piece of information. Further, privacy practices dictate that you cannot send emails to people that don’t explicitly give permission or implicitly give it by having done business with you within the last two years.

Social networks and blogs are similar. Many treat them as a popularity contest, but the most valuable friends, followers and subscribers are those that look forward to your posts and engage in conversations with you. In short, it may be tempting to try to push up your numbers, but do you really want to be talking to people that don’t want to listen to you?

8.    Put the shoe on the other foot

There are no hard and fast rules for how often to post to a blog or send an email newsletter. The one rule you should heed however is to never waste your reader’s time. Before you put a message out there, put yourself in your audience’s place and ask if this is going to add some value to their day. If it’s not, it’s better to wait until you’ve got something to say that will build your credibility and leave them wanting more.

In closing

Like any other industry, economic development marketing is moving towards new tools for communication that rely heavily on technology, transparency and measurement. Used correctly, they can greatly enhance your community’s brand in the market, and can facilitate business development, job growth and civic pride. Take the time to figure out the best strategy for you, respect the practices of these new platforms, and you will reap the rewards as you grow this area of your marketing strategy.

Louisiana Economic Development has embraced niche marketing in a really unique way, using programming language to catch the eye of digital media professionals who code with these languages everyday.

It works because it is so targeted. It works because it communicates its message in a really unique way. It works because it’s not a generic banner ad – it takes a risk and goes after one very specific group.

Most importantly, it works because it tells that demographic “We get you.”

Well done Louisiana. You can visit the corresponding website here.

And 2009 has been QUITE the year for economic developers.

We’ve done our best to chronicle some of the challenges, showcase best practices and to examine what a tough economic climate means for marketing and communication design. Based on traffic, these are our most popular blog posts from 2009. Enjoy!

1. How the Toronto Star lost my business for good… and what economic development marketers can learn from it.
2. $75,000 for THAT?
3. “Quality of life” becoming more important for relocation… but what does the term really mean?
4. The role of ambassador programs in economic development marketing
5. Tell the truth in city marketing
6. Oh General Motors, you didn’t. Wait. You did.
7. White Paper: Has branding become a dirty word?
8. Eleven myths of economic development.
9. Alberta rebrands itself
10. Alberta branding campaign gets caught in a major blunder.

This blog will keep trying making sense of marketing and communication for economic developers in 2010. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it.

Many economic development organizations fail to think about the competition when thinking about branding their communities. This is a tenet of traditional product branding that place marketers would be wise to observe. You must recognize that site selectors, businesses and workers are not looking at your city in isolation. It is one choice in a sea of options, and the only way to stand out is to think not just about what your city has to offer, but to think about what your city offers that is different.

As the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) points out:

“Technically, your community may have the same strengths and assets as a number of others. The key is finding a differentiator in the mind of the client, and understanding site selection criteria so you can turn features such as transportation or education into distinct advantages.”

Don’t be afraid to take a stand and commit to what makes you different. Many people shy away from this approach for fear of losing some of their potential audience, but the result of trying to be all things to all people is usually a “bland brand” that resonates with no one. Build your brand message around your competitive advantage.

2. Tell the truth

The Saffron Group – a British consultancy – recently released a study that compared the brand strength of European cities. The study looked at both the assets the city had to offer (e.g. culture, amenities etc.) as well as the current image of the city. In many cases, cities had assets that they were not leveraging, resulting in an image that was weaker than what the city had to offer in reality.

But in some cases, the opposite was true.

Cities did a great job of selling an image that embellished (or worse) what the city offered in reality. This resulted in a city whose image was stronger than its actual assets. In short, these cities fail to live up to their own hype.

A sustainable economic development communications strategy requires the reality lives up to the perception. Identify your current assets, match them to an audience that values those assets and fill the gaps you need to attract sectors targeted in your economic development strategy. If you build it they will come. If you already have it, they will come for that too. But if you are dishonest about it, they will come, see for themselves… and then they will promptly leave.

3. Get stakeholders excited about what really matters

Too often we see stakeholders being poorly utilized in the branding process. It’s not uncommon to find a group of community leaders huddled around a conference table debating the merits of a red versus blue logo, rather than engaging with an overall strategy and vision. Get your stakeholders excited about what is really driving the branding exercise in the first place. This will garner lasting engagement that can be counted on well after the launch of the brand.

The Medinge Group, a not-for-profit think tank of communications professionals, says that this type of approach:

“…helps the key stakeholders of the place to chart a route towards realizing their shared vision for the development of the future offer of the place. It helps define the value that will be created for those stakeholders, for example through increased income generated by sports events or from retail sales, from increased investment in land and buildings, from job creation and from the creation of new services. It provides a decision making tool for shareholders to identify really ‘on-brand’ investments from among the many possibilities and opportunities on offer to them.”

When community leaders present a unified message, it is a clear indicator to site selectors and investors that this is a place that has its act together and will be easy to work with. Successful branding initiatives must have the support and buy-in of the city’s leadership and spokespeople to succeed in the long term.

4. Appoint ambassadors

A U.S. consultancy, Development Counsellors Inc., released the results of a survey of top executives responsible for site selection. The survey has been conducted five times since 1996, and asks the question: “What sources of information influence your perception of a city’s business climate?” The top response was “Dialogue with industry peers”, with 61% of respondents citing it as a factor.

To take advantage of this channel in a formal way, many communities are creating ambassador programs as a component of their branding initiatives. The idea behind these programs is simple: In a world of too much information, a message has more credibility when it is delivered by a trusted source. Advice and personal experience from an industry peer can strengthen the brand of a community and reach deep into networks that economic development professionals may have a difficult time accessing. Structured ambassador programs ensure that professional networks become a forum to further promote your city’s brand.

5. The launch is a beginning, not an end

It’s baffling to watch a community unveil a new logo and tagline as if it marks the completion of their re-branding initiative. Although the launch is a significant milestone, it is only the beginning of sustainable branding. This is where the hard work starts, where every communication must reinforce the brand, where every stakeholder must adopt and nurture it. According to Placebrands:

“In traditional approaches to local and regional economic development, developing a brand for a place is still seen too often in graphic design and slogan- led marketing terms, involving the design of an attractive logo and the coining of a catchy phrase. Rarely has the brand of a place been recognized as the summation of the way it operates, how it behaves and what it aspires to be and do. Even more rarely has branding a place been recognized as a key component of its overall economic development strategy to maintain its competitiveness and as a tool to help develop its people, companies and institutions.”

Communities that are successful have a strategy in place for sustaining momentum after the launch. They recognize that the true power of their brand lies in how they live it day to day.

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This is an excerpt from the Economic Development Marketing White Paper series. Click here to download all our free whitepapers.