Either:
a) The inward investment marketing agency more or less disregards the issue of Website SEO. (Or, you could say, the Agency hasn't yet recognised the potential of its website as a powerful investment lead generation tool - it still thinks of its website as an old-style brochure, except that it's online).
or:
b) The inward investment marketing agency suddenly realises that its website isn't 'getting found' by prospective investors, decides that action needs to be taken, and contracts an 'SEO Expert' to sort the problem out, often at significant expense.
The problem with 'a' is simple. Most companies with investment projects now research potential locations and sites online (just as they research all their other procurement needs online). The Agency needs to get with the programme and sort out its online marketing!
The problem with 'b' is slightly more subtle. As discussed in that recent post, SEO is no longer (if it ever was) about the technical aspects of your website. It's about content. And so-called SEO Experts, unfortunately, aren't experts in the specific kinds of website content that prospective inward investors are searching for online.
Which leads me to the following conclusions regarding inward investment marketing agencies, their marketing, and their websites:
Either:
a) Investment Promotion Agencies have well developed Inward Investment Value Propositions, which they present in customised Proposals to inward investors.
In which case, all they need to do is communicate those Value Propositions through their website content, and keep communicating them through regular blogging (while paying the required attention to keywords, layout and so on.)
b) Investment Promotion Agencies have poor Inward Investment Value Propositions, which fail to address the needs of investors. In which case they need to work on:
- Understanding Investor Drivers (and how they Align with their Location Benefits)
- Developing their Inward Investment Value Propositions
- Their Website Content (as the key determinant of Website SEO)
Or you could put it this way:
Understanding Investor Drivers (and how they Align with your Location Benefits) = A Strong Inward Investment Value Proposition = Great Website Content = Effective SEO
It's all or nothing.
And the only reason an inward investment marketing agency would have a great inward investment value proposition in its investor proposals but poorly optimised website content and SEO is because the Business Development and Marketing teams don't talk to each other!
And the only reason an inward investment marketing agency would have a great inward investment value proposition in its investor proposals but poorly optimised website content and SEO is because the Business Development and Marketing teams don't talk to each other!
And that's a whole other story...
