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Generate More Inward Investment Leads...

Download Clarity's e-book, The Inward Investment Marketing System: Advanced strategies to attract and engage more investing businesses, and generate more inward investment leads.

Inward Investment Marketing: How Location Brands Can Really Add Value for Investing Businesses

Alarm bells always start to ring when I hear inward investment professionals talking the language of brands (usually with reference to their investment promotion agency or location).

It's not that brands aren't important in marketing locations to businesses - they are. It's just that a preoccupation with brands is usually a sign of a misdirected inward investment marketing strategy.

What's the problem with brands in inward investment marketing?

The problem is this. In the world of consumer marketing, brands are promoted to persuade individuals to make buying decisions without researching them first - often by appealing to their emotions rather than their rationality. You see the beautiful people on bicycles, you read the strapline about health benefits, you buy the yogurt. The basic message is this:

'Don't ask questions, just believe and buy!'

But business-to-business marketing (B2B) is fundamentally different, especially when it comes to major procurement decisions like new locations, sites and properties. Only a negligent executive would consider a new location based on consumer-style brand communications (an advert offering 'the best location for his business', for example). That's why B2B companies are far more focused on selling 'solutions' and tangible 'benefits' to their customers (e.g. reduced 'whole life costs', based on reliable data) than on building their brands in the way consumer marketers do.

And yet, we still see plenty of consumer-style, brand-focused marketing in the field of inward investment promotion, effectively saying to businesses: 'trust us (just don't ask for the data)'. It hardly needs pointing out that investing businesses don't buy it.

When your location solutions are your location brand...

Compare that with the best B2B location marketers, which we often find in the commercial world (e.g. some site developers). Yes, they'll use a professionally developed brand identity (name, logo etc), but solutions for businesses will be front and centre of their marketing campaigns (e.g. how their site can reduce a company's costs and increase its profits). Today, most marketers would agree that your brand is everything your customers believe about you and your product (that's your brand image, not just you brand identity). And if cost-focused businesses believe your location's going to increase their profits by reducing their costs, that's your brand!

Effective Location Brands: Solutions, Stories and Satisfied Investors...

So, in the (B2B) world of inward investment marketing, your solutions for expanding businesses have to be at the heart of your marketing activities, and your brand. The good news is that modern content marketing strategies make it easier than ever before to project your location solutions to targeted investing businesses, thereby continually developing your brand image as a profitable business location.

But your location solutions aren't everything, either. Relevant stories about (e.g.) successful business expansions and case studies of satisfied investors all work together to build your brand image (as long as you never forget the fundamental importance of your location solutions!).

As an inward investment marketing consultancy, we like to start by identifying a location's solutions for investing businesses (i.e. the Inward Investment Value Proposition) before we develop the brand identity. In that way, the brand identity can encapsulate the value proposition, functioning as a 'container' for detailed, valuable location solutions, as well as informative stories and case studies. That really adds value for investing businesses, because the focus is on using the brand to deliver information that helps them - rather than just saying, 'trust me, I'm an inward investment marketer'.

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.
2016

Generate More Inward Investment Leads...

Download Clarity's e-book, The Inward Investment Marketing System: Advanced strategies to attract and engage more investing businesses, and generate more inward investment leads.

The Inward Investment Marketing Funnel - Strategies for More Effective Investor Targeting...

Today, investment promotion agencies have an unprecedented range of tools and techniques at their disposal to communicate their location advantages to expanding businesses. Online, content formats ranging from video to interactive data visualisations can help them to address the needs of prospective inward investors.

But, as always, a carefully considered strategy is essential; the starting point must be a clear understanding of which formats to use, and which messages to project, where and when.

The Inward Investment Marketing Funnel

This is where the well-known model of the 'marketing funnel' can help - or our variation of it - the Inward Investment Marketing Funnel. The funnel represents the various stages of the inward investment marketing and sales process, and it can help us to select our content formats, and target our messages more effectively, to businesses at the various stages in their location research and selection exercises.

It's a funnel (wider at the top than at the bottom) because were trying to attract as many investment prospects as possible, not all of which will become 'landed' inward investments.

1. Awareness Level Content (Investor 'Attraction')

Marketing activities at the 'top of the funnel' are all about creating awareness of our location amongst businesses that we don't yet know, and attracting them to us.

At this level, messages must address the 'location choice drivers' of expanding companies but will inevitably be generic (because we don't yet know the specific companies we're talking to). Suitable content formats at this level can include highly optimised website pages (SEO), overview 'blog' articles with attention-grabbing headlines (more SEO), video blogs and slide shows. (Projecting content via social media networks is, of course, a must).

2. Consideration Level Content (Investor 'Engagement')

Creating awareness of your location amongst expanding businesses and intermediaries is all well and good, but businesses can't make location decisions based on general, 'awareness level' content.

At the 'consideration' level, content must be more in depth and data-focused (and always reliable), providing companies with the high-quality material they need to develop location business cases (and to develop trust in you as a potential 'business partner'). Suitable content formats at this level can include interactive data visualisations, data sheets, location cost comparisons and interactive location maps.

With an effective 'inbound marketing' website, high-value 'consideration' content can be offered in return for contact details, as downloads. And when we know who we're dealing with, it becomes possible to target content based on their specific requirements (e.g. via email marketing).

3. Decision Level Content (Investor 'Conversion')

Towards the bottom of the Inward Investment Marketing Funnel we arrive at the point of direct 'sales' contact (which is far easier when business relationships have been 'nurtured' through high-value content further up the funnel).

At this level we're in the realms of tailored proposals and location/site solutions in response to known specific business needs. And, of course, dedicated account managment from the Inward Investment Manager, addressing key issues including planning, funding and recruitment.

4. Ongoing Support (Creating 'Advocates')

Modern iterations of the Marketing Funnel recognise that the 'sales' job isn't over when the business is won (or, in our case, the investment is 'landed'). With consumer goods (say, Apple phones), the objective at this stage is to create brand loyalty, advocacy ('my iPhone 6s is fantastic!') and repeat business. With inward investors, it's all about understanding and addressing their ongoing concerns (handling of issues like planning can make or break relationships between businesses and local authorities), creating advocates within local management teams ('we've had a great experience - the company should expand here!') and encouraging 'reinvestment'.

An important point to note is that, with modern internet marketing, we don't control the customer's journey though the marketing funnel - they do. An effective content marketing strategy will result in lots of 'awareness' and 'consideration' level content about your location being available to investing businesses online. But they are in control of where they enter your Inward Investment Marketing Funnel, and their journey through it.

The challenge for the inward investment marketer is to provide excellent content that targets businesses at specific stages in the expansion process, and make them want to engage with you - because you've successfully addressed their location selection needs.

Find Out More about Clarity's Innovative Content Marketing Solutions for Inward Investment Attraction

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.
February 2016

Inward Investment and Economic Development: It's all About Cities Now...Isn't It?

What many businesses want is to Locate in Hinterland...

Within the last three decades, our cities have gone from being decrepit centres of industrial decline to recognised engines of economic growth. Through their works on clustering, agglomeration and the 'New Economic Geography', academics like Michael Porter and Paul Krugman explained why. According to Bruce Katz,* 'Cities are the locus of the forces and assets that power trade: innovative firms, talented workers, supportive public and private institutions, and modern infrastructure.'

And now cities are at the heart of government strategy...

In the UK, this re-focusing on cities has been reflected in government strategy. Since 2010, Regions have been 'out' (along with their Regional Development Agencies) and City Regions have been 'in'. In the north of England, the Northern Powerhouse project emphasises improved connectivity between cities to create the agglomeration effects of a much larger city economy. Today, it's cities, cities, cities.

The loneliness of the (non-city) Inward Investment professional...

It's hardly surprising, therefore, that some inward investment professionals outside the cities are feeling a bit left out. In the north of England, representatives of towns and counties that we speak to worry about their locations being overlooked. And what about those high-value, high-technology corridors strung along the motorways of southern England? On the basis of column inches, you could be forgiven for thinking that the UK's high-tech story is all about cities too.

End of Story.

So there you have it. The cities have won the economic development argument. They're destined to drive growth, attract investment and win government support and funding in the process. End of story.

Except it isn't, is it?

No. Because the challenges facing city economic development and inward investment teams are just as frustrating as those facing their 'non-city' counterparts. Yes, their famous city names, leading universities, education infrastructure and large labour forces can be huge assets in attracting the interest of expanding companies. But city locations can then be faced with a host of barriers to actually landing inward investments: limited land supply, high land costs, congested roads and planning departments that prioritise housing over industrial development.

There are, of course, lots of companies that want, or even need, to be in the city (many, for example, in the creative, financial or professional services sectors). But there are just as many that want to combine access to all that the city has to offer (people, knowledge, services...) with the lower costs and improved connectivity of out-of-city locations. Large-scale industrial operations want big, easily developable, motorway-linked greenfield sites. Logistics businesses want access to freight terminals. High-technology companies may be attracted to (out-of-city) Science and Technology Parks.

In summary, what these businesses want is to Locate in Hinterland - where the benefits of city and out-of-city come together.

End of Story (Version 2).

The conclusions to draw from all this should be clear. The agglomeration advantages of cities are proven, and there's a powerful case for featuring high-profile city brands in inward investment marketing campaigns. But metropolitan ('city') economies comprise both the dynamic urban core and lower cost, well-connected 'hinterlands' - city fringes, satellite towns and transport corridors. Both are essential, inter-connected parts of the thriving 'city' economy, providing diverse location solutions for businesses with different needs. And it's only a problem for inward investment and economic development teams - city or 'hinterland' - when this essential inter-connectedness isn't acknowledged and accepted.

Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.

 *Brookings Institution, 2011

Is Your Location's Inward Investment Value Proposition Up To Date for 2016? Speak to Clarity for Expert Assistance.

Why Effective Inward Investment Marketing Must be Driven by Data...

Business decision makers are searching for robust location facts and data

Data and analytics are driving business location decisions...

More than ever before, data and business intelligence are driving strategic corporate decision making, as businesses seek to minimise costs and risks and maximise performance and profits. Today, large businesses are utilising sophisticated 'analytics' - information resulting from the systematic analysis of data - to develop their strategies, and the potential to apply analytics in the area of site and location selection  is increasingly being recognised. According to a recent report by Jones Lang Lasalle, 'there is a significant opportunity to apply analytics in portfolio and location strategy.' (Beyond Data: the opportunity for analytics in CRE, JLL, Sept 2014).

But even businesses without access to sophisticated analytics tools want reliable property and location data and intelligence, addressing key site selection criteria such as building rental costs, workforce demographics and transport connectivity. Their analyses may be less in-depth, but the same needs and principles apply.

...and the internet has empowered investing businesses...

The rise of the internet has, of course, made it far easier for businesses to access location and site data from an almost limitless number of sources. And - as with all buyer-seller relationships - it has transformed the relationship between investing businesses and the investment promotion and property agencies that are trying to sell them locations and properties.

Put simply, it has empowered the businesses - the buyers - because if they don't trust the data the location and site sellers are offering, they'll just find more trustworthy data elsewhere, at the click of a mouse. They'll be gone, along with their inward investment projects.

The data opportunity for Investment Promotion Agencies

But the rise of the internet, and the data it makes available to investing businesses, can present big opportunities for investment promotion agencies too. It's just that the rules of 'selling' have changed completely. The old sales techniques of spinning data to produce the best possible (albeit fake!) numbers simply don't work anymore. But if agencies help businesses by providing the reliable, accessible data they're looking for to make informed location decisions, businesses are more likely to trust them, utilise their data, and shortlist their locations.

What Investment Promotion Agencies need to do...

In practice, this means that investment promotion agencies need to identify the high-quality data that respond directly to the needs of investing businesses, and present them online in formats that make them accessible and useful. These could be location data sheets, comparison tables or interactive data visualisations. Then they need to develop a targeted content marketing strategy, to project their data to expanding businesses and intermediaries online in a structured way.

And if investment promotion agencies find that the genuine data suggests businesses would be better off investing elsewhere, it means reviewing their priority industry sectors and their location value propositions. Because, one thing's for sure, every location has the potential to present a powerful inward investment proposition to businesses without faking the data. It just requires communicating the right location solutions to the right types of companies.

Contact Clarity to Discuss Your Data-Driven Inward Investment Content Marketing Strategy

Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.

Inward Investment Managers: the Benefits of Blogging - for Your Location, Your Agency, and YOU

In recent months, it's been really good to see more Inward Investment Managers producing original blog posts - about their locations, and the advantages they offer to businesses. So, we thought it would be timely to highlight how 'Inward Investment Blogging' can deliver real value for locations and the inward investment agencies that promote them. 

But there's something else besides: blogging offers real benefits for Inward Investment Managers as individual professionals, and we'll explain why.

Why Blogging's Good for Your Location, and Your Investment Promotion Agency...

Lots of us know by now that blogging can be good for business - including the business of inward investment attraction. Done correctly (notably by informing, not 'selling') it can project your location's solutions for expanding businesses, establish you and your agency as trusted sources of knowledge and expertise, and boost your location's online profile massively. Search engines reward regular content publishers with higher search rankings; business social media thrives on high-quality, original, informative content.

In summary, blogging can be a highly effective, and cost-effective, means of attracting and engaging more expanding businesses online, as a basis for landing more inward investments.

The Value of Strategic 'Content Marketing'...

For the best results attracting investing businesses online, Investment Promotion Agencies really need an over-arching Content Marketing Strategy - a structured approach to creating, publishing and sharing 'blog' content that's valuable and relevant to businesses searching for their optimal locations. The strategy should include a publishing and distribution plan, and utilise multiple 'content formats' (e.g. video, text, data visualisations or infographics) that target businesses at different stages in the location evaluation process.

...the Value of Improvised Inward Investment Manager's Blogs... 

But an Inward Investment Manager's personal blogs can be hugely valuable additions to an Investment Promotion Agency's strategic Content Marketing campaign. They can be bang up to date (for example, highlighting new data demonstrating specific advantages of your location). And they can demonstrate the Inward Investment Manager's personal knowledge of, and passion for, their location - establishing them as the go-to person for the location solutions businesses are searching for.

...and Why Blogging Is Good for You - the Inward Investment Manager...

But there's something else that happens when an Inward Investment Manager writes a high-quality blog post (as some are now doing). To write a post that you can publish with confidence, you need to research your subject and analyse information and data - inevitably developing your 'product knowledge' - of your location, your priority industry sectors, or the international business environment - in the process.

Blogging is, as such, an incredibly effective way of staying on top of your game, continually updating your professional knowledge, and building your value as an inward investment and economic development professional. It offers the potential to establish you as an expert in your field, with all the potential that implies for your career development.

So, thanks to all the Inward Investment Bloggers out there for their research, insights and high-quality posts. And to those who haven't yet published:  why not have a go? You may be surprised just how much blogging can benefit your location, your Investment Promotion Agency, and you...

Work with Clarity to develop your winning Inward Investment Content Marketing Strategy

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity-Inward Investment Marketing

Inward Investment Agencies at MIPIM UK (Oct, 2015): Have You Identified Your Target Audience?

It's MIPIM time again (UK, this time) and the event's popularity with UK local authorities and regional inward investment agencies appears to be as strong as ever. At last count, almost 100 councils and agencies we're lined up to attend in London next week.


But have these investment promotion agencies successfully identified the 'investor' audiences they're targeting at MIPIM UK? And will they successfully present regional value propositions that align with the identified needs of those target audiences? Past evidence suggests that a few councils and investment agencies will be able to answer both these questions with a resounding 'yes!' But many won't, and here's why...

The right messages for the right 'investor' audience...

MIPIM UK is, of course, a property sector event - a place where you'll find property investors, developers, agents and service providers. It may therefore be the ideal event for regional agencies seeking to attract more property investment and development. And, if so, the required approach will be to highlight regional property opportunities, and the regional benefits that are likely to ensure a strong return on investment for property investors and developers (e.g. evidence of property demand and rents, funding assistance for site development, etc.)

Talking to the wrong people...

The problem is that inward investment agencies are typically focused on targeting 'end user' companies (potential 'inward investors') in priority sectors such as financial and professional services, advanced manufacturing or the creative industries. These companies have their own drivers of location choice and, one thing's for sure, they're not the same as those of property investors and developers.

'End user' companies are likely to want to know about (e.g.) your sector workforce and skills profile, or about the regional industry cluster that could provide them with supply chain partners. Even if property investors do want information about your priority sectors (because it provides evidence of potential property demand), much of this end user-focused information and data will be of little interest to them.

To put it simply, many investment promotion agencies turn up at property sector events like MIPIM UK with the wrong sales pitches - 'end user' industry sector offers that really belong at industry sector events.

Segmentation, segmentation, segmentation...

In marketing speak, this is all about audience segmentation - identifying your distinct target audiences (e.g. property investors and 'end user' investors) and targeting distinct marketing messages accordingly.

So, hats off to the inward investment agencies and local authorities that have identified their property sector target audience segment, and are planning to focus their MIPIM UK marketing messages accordingly. To the rest, I hope this is a friendly, timely reminder that not all 'investors' are alike!

Meet the Clarity team at MIPIM UK to talk about your winning Inward Investment Marketing Strategy

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity, Inward Investment Marketing

UK Business Rate Changes: What Do They Mean for Councils and Inward Investment Attraction?

We've seen some pretty excitable comments on social media regarding George Osborne's business rate changes and how they'll affect local authorities' ability to attract inward investment. You'd almost be forgiven for thinking that it's a simple as this: local authorities are going to reap a £26 billion bonanza, and they'll be set free to use business rates to incentivise investing businesses...

Unsurprisingly, it's not so simple. So let's consider what the changes are, and the likely consequences for regional inward investment attraction...


Business rates are a commercial property tax collected by local authorities and used to fund council services. Since 2013, 50% have been retained by the authorities that collected them. The other 50% have been pooled centrally and redistributed back to councils. In simple terms, councils that collected more than they needed to fund local services (because they had a large business base and/or lower costs) got less back, and those that needed more (because they had a small business base and/or higher costs) got more back.

Under the new system, councils will keep all the money they raise, rather than 50% being pooled central and redistributed. They'll also be allowed to reduce business rates to attract inward investment (although most won't be allowed to raise them).

What do the changes mean for local authorities?

Firstly, there is no £26 billion bonanza. What's changed is the 'pooling and redistributing' part of the system. This inevitably means that wealthier authorities will keep more (because they raise more) and less wealthy authorities will keep less (because they raise less).

But local authority areas can now reduce business rates to attract new inward investment, can't they? 

Yes, they can. And this will undoubtedly benefit areas that can fund their services with lower business rates (generally the wealthier areas with the largest business bases).

On the other hand, less wealthy areas with smaller business bases are likely to find it difficult to cut business rates to attract new investment (because they're collecting less money to fund their services in the first place).

In other words, the changes are most definitely a double-edge sword. There will be winners and losers, and the losers are likely to be the areas that have traditionally received the highest levels of support for economic development and inward investment attraction.

What do the changes mean for inward investment attraction?

1. Firstly, they will create a more competitive environment for inward investment attraction, with business rate levels becoming an important differentiator between regions.

2. Secondly, many local authorities are likely to find themselves having to do more to attract inward investment, with limited funding and without the advantage of reduced business rates.

Conclusions...

My conclusion from all this is that it's going to be a tough, competitive inward investment environment, especially for the local authority areas that don't benefit from these changes. But that doesn't mean they can't still be winners in the investment attraction stakes.

Business rates will continue to be just one indicator of an areas attractiveness to businesses. There are many others, including property costs and availability, workforce profiles and transport connectivity. Areas that can't offer the lowest business rates should still be able to present compelling location propositions based on these and other criteria.

However, for Investment Promotion Agencies, effectively identifying and communicating their locations' value propositions for businesses will be more important than ever before. Creative, innovative, targeted and cost-effective inward investment marketing strategies will, inevitably, be the key to success.

Work with Clarity to develop your winning Inward Investment Strategy

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity, Inward Investment Marketing

Why Your Inward Investment Agency Needs an Effective 'Content Marketing' Strategy...

                                                                                                                                                                     Copyright (c) Clarity, 2015

As a specialist Inward Investment Marketing company, we like to keep an eye on how Investment Promotion Agencies are marketing their countries, states or regions, including any new website developments.


And one thing that keeps surprising us is the number of agencies that are still launching 'static', 'brochure style' websites that ignore the importance of effective Content Marketing in modern marketing, including inward investment promotion.

What is Content Marketing for Inward Investment Promotion?

In summary, Content Marketing involves the creation and continual online distribution (via social media and e-mail) of valuable and relevant content (e.g. text, data, graphics or video) to attract your target audience, engage their interest and, ultimately, win their business (or, in our case, business investment).

It involves putting your 'Blog' or 'News' feed at the heart of your website (i.e. making it 'dynamic', not just 'static'). And it means having a clear content creation strategy - to communicate your location solutions to prospective inward investors systematically and effectively.

Why does Content Marketing work for Inward Investment Promotion?

Content Marketing works because it boosts your search engine profile (SEO) significantly, and focuses on projecting valuable 'solutions' (which businesses want), rather than traditional sales messages (which, increasingly, businesses ignore).

In the specific context of inward investment promotion, it helps national and regional agencies to nurture and build relationships with companies between meetings or trade shows, and to keep business decision makers continually up to date with your regional developments and location solutions. That's important, because landing inward investments can take some time, in the face of stiff competition. An effective Content Marketing campaign can be the best way of ensuring that business decision makers don't forget about your location, and why it aligns with their needs more effectively than your competitors.

Projecting your Location Solutions...

So, if you're an inward investment agency planning your new website or online strategy, remember than an old-style, static 'brochure' website will do nothing for your online profile. Instead, think of your website as the publishing platform you use to take your 'location solutions' to businesses - through an effective, sustained, Content Marketing strategy.

Find Out More about Clarity Content Marketing Solutions for Inward Investment Promotion

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity, Inward Investment Marketing

Inward Investment: Are Your Region's 'Priority Industry Sectors' Really All Your Priorities?

It's standard practice for regional Investment Promotion Agencies to focus on priority industry sectors, and with very good reason. In a highly competitive global market for business investment, locations need to focus on their areas of strength and differentiate their offers, to present credible value propositions to investing companies.

But in the case of many (not all) locations, theory and good intentions are as far as this commitment to targeting and differentiation goes. In practice, far too many locations claim - unconvincingly - to specialise in everything, highlighting multiple 'priority sectors' that look much like everywhere else's (the usual sector categories are familiar to all of us: Creative and Digital Industries, Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology etc...).

So what's the problem here? And what can regional inward investment agencies do to really differentiate themselves and target their marketing messages?

Problem 1: Pitching for Everything...

The first problem is a tendency to 'play it safe' - to pitch for everything rather than being focused. All the time, regional inward investment teams, and their political masters, are seeing competitor regions secure inward investments across all industry sectors. And to focus on a very limited number of specialist areas is to rule your region out of the race for many of them. That takes nerve, and some explaining when your agency's performance is evaluated at the end of the year.

But it's the right thing to do, because your region won't win investments anyway where it's proposition is weak, and claiming to be good at everything only diminishes your credibility in areas where you genuinely excel.

Problem 2: Trying to Please Everyone...

Here's another example of following the path of least resistance. Every region is home to businesses and industry organisations representing a broad range of sectors, and it takes some nerve to suggest, as a matter of policy, that a particular sector is 'not a priority'. But, again, it needs to be done.

To cite a realistic example, a small industrial town may be home to a limited 'creative' sector serving the local market - without the scale, distinctiveness, workforce strengths or lifestyle offer needed to atttract other, highly mobile companies in this sector. Meanwhile, the same location may benefit from the people, land availability and low costs required to attract companies in the manufacturing or logistics sectors. If so, those should be the areas to prioritise.

Problem 3: Following the Crowd...

The third problem is a widespread tendency to conform to standard or popular industry sector categorisations, for example those promoted by the national Investment Promotion Agency (UKTI in the UK).

Aligning with the national agency might make sense - after all, it may be an important source of investment enquiries. But the fact is that any regional inward investment agency that does marketing, especially online, is in the middle of a complex network of multiple businesses, influencers and intermediaries - not at the end of a rigid, linear pipeline with one source.

In this context, the right thing to do is to identify areas of strength and promote sectors on the basis of what make most sense to the people and business you're targeting (i.e. talking their language), not to align with any standard classifications or intermediaries, however important they might be.

So what's the lesson from all of this?

The lesson is that the same, sound marketing principles apply in Inward Investment Promotion as in any other area of business-to-business marketing. Region's need to identify their distinctive, niche areas of strength and align them with the identified needs of expanding businesses in the same niche areas. Don't be tempted to 'pitch for everything', 'please everyone' or focus on anything other than satisfying the needs of your target audience. To do so will simply lead to 'me too' propositions that fail to stand out from the competiton, get noticed or appeal to businesses that could, realistically, make your location their new home.

Work with Clarity to develop your winning Inward Investment Marketing Strategy

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.
Connect with Nick on LinkedIn

Inward Investment Marketing: Are Your Location Infographics Excellent, or Irrelevant?

Copyright (c) Clarity, 2014 

Infographics - graphic representations of information and data - are everywhere these days, nowhere more so than in the field of Inward Investment Marketing.

And there's a very good reason for this. The purpose of infographics is to communicate information and data quickly and clearly - and Inward Investment Marketing is all about demonstrating to investing companies that your location profile (often demonstrated through data) aligns with their business needs.

The Problem with Inward Investment Infographics

But there's a problem with the way infographics are typically applied in the area of inward investment promotion. Frequently, they fail to communicate location information and data accurately, reliably or clearly. Creative graphics might be used to represent (for example) industry sectors (test tubes or gears), property (offices or industrial sheds) or workers (in suits or high-vis vests). But all too often the numbers (data) accompanying the images are:

Irrelevant: because they don't align with the factors businesses are really likely to evaluate

Misleading: because they've been heavily spun to look better, or even made up!

Unreliable: because there's no source referencing to show where they came from, and why businesses should trust them

Do Infographics Really Matter Anyway?

(Surely infographics are just there to brighten up a web page or brochure, and to sell your location with figures that look good...)

The answer is yes, they matter a lot - if we're serious about effective inward investment promotion and the best possible use of our marketing budgets. Businesses planning relocations or expansions need reliable location data, and the more accessible we can make it, the better. When investment promotion agencies (or site marketers) present data in ways that are irrelevant, misleading or unreliable, businesses simply look elsewhere - and the agencies in question fail to add value for their locations.

How to Create Excellent Inward Investment Infographics

The starting point for high-value, data-focused inward investment infographics has to be understanding the needs of investing businesses and identifying the trustworthy data that demonstrates how your location responds to those needs.

When it comes to data presentation, the latest 'live', interactive, online data visualisation techniques can deliver real value for investing businesses, and investment promotion agencies. Because they're linked to databases, the data displayed can be 100% accurate, and easily updated when new data is produced. Because they're interactive, more detailed numbers can be revealed by interacting with (e.g. clicking or tapping on) them, while maintaining an uncluttered design for the clear presentation of core information. In all cases, source-referencing, to show the validity of the data, is essential.

In this (Clarity) example, hover over the segments to reveal the specific numbers of workers in each workforce category.

This (Clarity) interactive bar chart clearly demonstates workforce advantages of 'Location Y'. Hovering over the bars reveal the accurate percentage figures for each workforce category.

When it comes to communicating 'softer', qualitative information or simple data, more creative, design-based infographics can be appropriate - to make the information clear, memorable and impactful.

Example 1 below (Clarity) communicates a key location benefit (low, stable corporate income tax rates) through a simple, powerful image that requires a moment's thought - thereby engaging the viewer.

Example 2 below (Clarity) shows a location's transport connectivity benefits in a simplified, graphic form - but close attention has been paid to accurately reflecting drive times and directions from the location being promoted.

Excellent Inward Investment Infographics - Guiding Principles

To sum up, we might say that infographics and data visualisations for inward investment promotion must be relevant, accurate, reliable, informative, valuable, clear and engaging. Above all, they must be created with the needs of investing businesses in mind, and communicate information and data that will help them to develop location business cases. And, we hope, to discover that your location is the right one for them!

Find Out More about Clarity's comprehensive range of Content Marketing Solutions for Inward Investment Promotion

Author:
Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity, Inward Investment Marketing

The UK's Finance Sector is Changing - Creating Big Inward Investment Opportunities for UK Regions

Financial Services: other UK locations are available...

The UK's Financial Services sector is delivering growth, with recent surveys reporting business volumes and profits on the up. But it's also a sector that's undergoing radical transformations, creating significant inward investment opportunities for UK locations outside London.


Here's a summary of these key transformations, and the resulting Financial Services growth opportunities for the UK's cities and regions:

1. London Property Costs are Increasing

The return to growth has caused office supply constraints and increasing rents in London/The City. Sources including Savills and BNP Paribas are now reporting London prime office rents of up to £90 per sq ft (psf), with averages of around £60 psf. That compares with averages of less than £30 psf in the UK's major provincial cities, and well under £20 in smaller cities with established Financial Services capabilities.

And businesses need to see lots of added value to justify 100% higher rents!

2. New Business Models and 'Fintech' Technologies are Disrupting UK Finance 

In the words of Accenture, 'the digital revolution is well advanced in financial services, and its both a threat and an opportunity for banks'.

New, technology-focused business models are being adopted, and new 'challenger' businesses are entering the market, with the 'Fintech' (financial technologies) revolution transforming areas including payments and data analytics. As recent JLL blogs have highlighted, when the techies and their disruptive technologies move in, the landscape changes fundamentally.

Old certainties no longer apply, including those relating to business location.

3. Competition is Increasing in the UK's Finance Sector

According to a recent CBI/PwC survey, 'increased competition is one of the top concerns' for UK finance sector businesses in 2015. That's partly a result of new, disruptive business models and technologies. But its also because the UK government is committed to 'incentivising innovation and competition within the banking sector' as one of its key reforms in the wake of the banking crisis.

And more competition means more downward pressure on costs...

4. New Regulations are Creating New Business Structures

A key element of the UK's Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 is the 'ring fencing' of banks' 'high street' operations from riskier activities such as investment banking. These reforms will create new kinds of businesses, potentially with new location requirements. HSBC's decision to relocate its high street operation, along with 1000 jobs, from London to Birmingham, highlights the fact that these operations may not need to be based in London, as well as the scale of the opportunity for the UK's regions.

So How are UK Regional Locations Responding to the Financial Services Inward Investment Opportunity?

As always, the picture is mixed. Birmingham is one big city location that's making a strong play as an alternative finance centre, based on advantages including infrastructure, connectivity, reduced costs and high-quality, prime office developments. As well as HSBC, the city is attracting new, large-scale investment from Deutsche Bank which - significantly - includes 'front office' functions as well as the usual 'back office' relocations.

Elsewhere, smaller centres including Norwich and Bournemouth/Poole present strong propositions based on cost bases that are lower even than the UK's major provincial cities, combined with established finance clusters and workforce strengths. Essex is another 'challenger' location to watch - offering a highly distinctive combination of low property costs, a sizeable finance workforce (many of whom commute to London) and fast connectivity to the City of London hub.

There are other locations which, based on fundamentals including established finance clusters, sizeable labour forces and reduced cost bases, should be in pole position, but appear not to have yet arrived at the track.

What's for certain is that the Financial Services investment opportunity for the UK's regions is here and now.

Now is the time for the UK's regional investment promotion agencies to pin down their location value propositions and take them to market...

Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.
24/6/2015

Contact Clarity today to talk about your winning Inward Investment Marketing Strategy

3 Key Insights from 3 Years of Inward Investment Marketing...

It's been three fascinating years since we established Clarity specifically to focus on Inward Investment Marketing. So what have we learned during that time? And what insights can we offer about Inward Investment Marketing in 2015?


Here are three key insights from our three years specialising in Inward Investment Marketing:

1. 'Solutions Marketing' is the Way Forward

Over the last few years, many leading businesses have invested in blogs that aim to 'inform' and 'solve customers' problems' rather than 'sell' in the traditional way. It's an effective approach because it focuses on the needs of the customer, builds trust and highlights expertise as a basis for winning sales. Exemplary 'business-to-business' blogs include Caterpillar (construction equipment) and JLL (property).

We've found that inward investment agencies can host and deliver excellent, solutions-focused blogs that address the 'location choice drivers' of expanding businesses, especially when they team up with expert guest contributors from regional partner organisations and companies. The benefits include building the region's online profile significantly (working with partners creates scale and more informative content) and nurturing strong, on-going relationships with expanding businesses. We think more investment agencies and regional partnerships should seriously consider this approach.

2. It's All About the Data (and How it's Presented) 

More than ever before, businesses make investment decisions on the basis of reliable data - most obviously relating to costs - so communicating location data clearly and accessibly should be at the heart of effective Inward Investment Marketing. That's the rationale behind the ever-growing popularity of infographics and data visualisation.

Unfortunately, most of the 'infographics' we see fail to communicate the data (i.e. the numbers) clearly, or state where the data came from, thereby being of little or no use to expanding businesses. Inward investment marketers should therefore be wary of the attractive but useless infographic.

On the other hand, well implemented (i.e. accurate, clear, source-referenced) infographics can enable investment agencies to communicate powerful location data in a highly effective way. As a business, we're increasingly focused on developing interactive infographics driven by live data feeds (i.e. database-linked). The objective has to be more informative and valuable inward investment marketing content that communicates reliable location data in a way that's easy to consume, easy to update and great to look at at the same time.

3. Inward Investment Marketers Need to Keep Moving with the Times...

The world of marketing has moved extremely quickly over the last three years, sometimes making it difficult to keep up. What's certain is that the internet has driven the biggest changes, and that inward investment marketers need to keep moving with the times.

To cite just a couple of examples:

• Online Content Marketing (blogging) requires a new kind of solutions-driven content - it's not enough just to post old-style news press releases (written for editors not readers) to your blog.
• Social media is now a serious marketing tool, as increasing numbers of business decision makers engage on platforms such as LinkedIn. Inward investment marketers need to get social.

In Summary...

The priorities for inward investment marketers in 2015 should be to move from traditional 'sales' and 'PR' messages to location 'solutions marketing', underpinned by a higher quality of data that investors can confidently incorporate into location evaluations. And they need to project these more robust messages to prospective investors and intermediaries via up-to-date, online channels and networks. Agencies that do these things will be in a position to inform and influence business location decisions more than ever before, thereby delivering real added value for their locations.

We could go on, but 'Four Key Insights for Three Years' wouldn't have worked so well. So all that's left for us to say is Thank You to all the clients and collaborators we've had the pleasure of working with since 2012.


Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.
21/5/15

The 'Quality of Life' Factor in Inward Investment Marketing: Just How Important is it for Expanding Businesses?

Nice, but will it influence business loction decisions?

The 'quality of life' benefits of locations often feature prominently in inward investment agency marketing materials. But are they really important influencers of business location decisions? And, if so, how, where and when should they feature in inward investment agency marketing campaigns?

Firstly: what exactly is 'Quality of Life'?

A definition always helps, so here's how Oxford Dictionaries defines 'quality of life':

'the standard of health, comfort or happiness experienced by an individual or group.'

A broad range of factors can influence quality of life, but those frequently cited include health care, education or child care provision; personal safety; housing costs; the 'social environment'; recreational or cultural amenities and even climate.

Quality of life is, as such, something that relates to the individual needs of the people who work for expanding or relocating businesses, not, directly at least, the internal needs of businesses themselves. The question is, therefore, 'to what extent are business location decisions influenced or determined by the needs and desires of the people who work for them?'

It's all about knowing your audience...

There's actually quite an extensive body of literature on this specific subject, and while different authors reach different conclusions, a few consistent themes stand out. As always, the key is 'knowing your audience', because quality of life factors are very important for some specific types of businesses and of secondary or minimal importance for others. Fortunately, the themes that emerge align very nicely with commercial sense, so here are some of the important ones, and why they make sense for investing businesses:

Quality of Life can be a key location choice driver for 'knowledge-based' businesses

These are businesses whose major assets are the highly skilled people that work for them - for example in technology sectors or research and development functions.

This makes commercial sense because these workers are scarce, in high demand, and can therefore choose who to work for and where to live - they can have the job and the lifestyle they want. If businesses want them - to generate their profits - they have to listen to their needs and desires.

Quality of Life can be a key location choice driver for very 'footloose' businesses

'Footloose' businesses are those that are relatively unconstrained in their choice of location - for example they don't have to locate close to customer markets, suppliers, transport infrastructure or an existing, generally immobile workforce. Again this might apply to technology (e.g. internet) businesses with a young, highly skilled, mobile workforce.

This makes commercial sense because these business, and the workers within them, can demand an excellent quality of life without it being detrimental to the business (by imposing higher costs). It is, in fact, likely to be good for these companies, because quality of life benefits will help to attract and retain the best knowledge workers.

Quality of Life is generally more important for smaller businesses

Research* has shown that large companies typically focus on labour (e.g. cost and availability) and other cost factors more than quality of life factors. Meanwhile, quality of life is more important for smaller businesses. 

This makes commercial sense because generally (major 'knowledge-based' operations notwithstanding) this large-company focus on costs corresponds with a focus on profitability. On the other hand, the owner-managers of small businesses have the freedom to prioritise quality of life factors even if this involves some compromise with regard to profit maximisation.

This theme is related to the observation that quality of life is a more important factor when the ultimate decision maker relocates with the business. This can and sometimes does apply to large businesses, but is far more likely to apply to small firms. And it's worth remembering that most regions want to target large companies that will employ large numbers of people and make a significant economic impact - rather than small 'lifestyle' businesses.

So how does this relate to the ways inward investment agencies typically present their 'quality of life' offers?

My basic observation would be this:

A region's 'quality of life' offer should only be 'front and centre' of its proposition to investing businesses if it's targeting the types of business for which 'quality of life' is likely to be a key location choice driver. Otherwise, it should be addressed as a secondary factor, or as a factor that comes into play further along in the inward investment process (i.e. further down the 'inward investment marketing funnel').

But what we often find are agencies trying to attract businesses that are primarily driven by cost factors and local labour availability (e.g. industrial, distribution or call-centre operations) with a proposition that focuses strongly on their region's 'quality of life'.

The required remedy is, of course, for agencies to develop better understandings of the investor market segments they're targeting, and adjust accordingly how, where, when and to what extent they feature their 'quality of life' offers in their marketing.

Fortunately, all of this can all be summed very simply, using a great quote from one of the writers on this subject:

'using the concept of maximising profits may seem simplistic, but it works'**

Which, we think, really is the final word on the matter!

Partner with Clarity to develop your precision-targeted Inward Investment Marketing Strategy

Author:
Nick Smillie
Clarity Business Strategies Ltd, 2015


*e.g. see LL Love (1999)
**JA Ritter (1990)

Manufacturing 'Reshoring': What It Is, What's Driving It, and Why It's a Big Inward Investment Opportunity for UK Regions

Bringing it all back home: automotive manufacturing in the UK

There's been plenty of media coverage recently on the subject of manufacturing 'reshoring' (or 'onshoring'). So here's a summary of what it is, why it's happening, and the scale of the inward investment opportunity for the UK's producer regions.

What is manufacturing 'reshoring' (or 'onshoring')?

In brief, manufacturing reshoring is the process of companies returning production operations to the locations from which they were originally 'offshored' (i.e. removed to other, typically lower cost, overseas locations).

Why did offshoring happen?

To reduce production costs. Not so many years ago it seemed that the process of businesses relocating manufacturing operations was, in general, a one-way street to lower cost locations. The view was widely held that developed western countries like the UK were simply too high cost to be competitive for manufacturing. As a consequence, their manufacturing sectors were destined for inevitable, irreversible decline...

But nothing stays the same forever...

However, with the benefit of hindsight, it's clear that this belief was based on one or two false assumptions, including:

1. The assumption that the cost factors influencing manufacturing location decisions were unlikely to change significantly - notably the primary importance of cheap labour and the huge cost differentials between developed countries (e.g. UK) and developing countries (e.g. China)

2. The assumption that the benefits of reducing production costs overrode all the other, potentially negative, consequences of offshoring manufacturing operations.

So how have the cost calculations changed?

A number of cost factors have changed and combined to swing calcuations back in favour of producing in the UK and similiar 'high cost' economies. These include:

• Rising costs in developing countries such as China (e.g. Chinese workers aren't as cheap as they used to be)
• The increasing substitution of labour for capital (i.e. machinery) in the production of more advanced manufactured products (making labour a less critical part of the cost equation)
• An increasing focus within businesses on evaluating the 'full costs' of manufacturing operations (i.e. costs such as freight - which have also increased - as well as the direct costs of production)

And it's not just about production costs...

Meanwhile, manufacturers have become increasing aware of other significant, if less tangible, benefits of keeping manufacturing close to HQ and close to market. These include:

• Improved efficiences resulting from the co-location of product design, R&D and manufacture. (e.g. a 2007 CBI survey found that 64% of manufacturers said it was 'very important' to co-locate 'design and development' with 'production and assembly')
• Reduced risk resulting from shorter, more manageable supply chains
• The reduced risk of intellectual property theft (i.e. competitors far away from home stealing your inventions and designs..)
• The increased potential to produce goods flexibly and rapidly to very specific customer specifications (that white car with the red seats and the big black alloys you always wanted...)

The inward investment opportunity for the UK's 'producer' regions

Overall, it's clear that that factors influencing manufacturing location decisions have changed, as have the ways in which businesses evaluate them. For regions in the UK and other developed countries, the challenge is to develop an understanding of these manufacturing location choice drivers, align them with their location 'benefits', and effectively communicate the resulting location value propositions to investing businesses.

It should be pointed out that reshoring has its limitations - many low value-added manufacturing operations that have been offshored to access low-cost labour will inevitably stay where they are (or move on to somewhere even lower cost!). However, for higher value manufacturing operations, the UK's regions are presented with a significant opportunity - according to 2014 research by Lloyds Bank (recently cited in the Telegraph), 70% of car manufacturers or companies in their supply chains are planning to return production to the UK in the next 2 years, creating an estimated 50,000 new jobs. By any standards, that's an inward investment opportunity to be taken seriously.

Author:

Nick Smillie

MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.

Dec. 2014

Sources:

CBI (2007)

Lloyds Bank (2014)

The Telegraph (5th December, 2014)

Industry Sector Development and Marketing in the LEP Era: How Can We Make Partnerships Work?

Regional industry sectors: in search of perfect partnerships...

The Old UK Economic Development Landscape...

The economic development landscape in the UK has changed radically since the era of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). Back in those (pre-austerity) days, public sector bodies with big budgets, and the managers within them, developed and largely controlled regional development strategies, including those relating to key industry sectors.

While approaches and results inevitably varied, I think it's fair to say that private sector organisations often went along with industry sector strategies they didn't control and may not have agreed with, in the hope of securing regional funding and other support. That, of course, is very different from genuine integration and coordination of strategies between public and private sector organisations (e.g. development agencies and property developers).

And The New...

Now things are different. Today, UK central government wants the private sector to be in the driving seat of regional economic development. Private sector representatives are on LEP boards, and are actively steering industry sector strategies. Meanwhile, the LEPs have far smaller permanent teams and significantly reduced budgets.

So is this resulting in better coordination of public and private sector activities to develop and promote regional industry sectors?

Again, practices and results vary. In some regions, the LEPs have tiny permanent teams and local authorities are the key public sector players. Elsewhere, pre-existing public sector agencies have morphed into larger LEPs, through which government strategies are implemented. In some cases the private sector is taking a 'hands on' approach to sector strategy development and implementation. In other cases, not so much.

However, based on experience working and speaking with LEPs, local authorities and businesses across the UK, I think it's fair to say that the same old fundamental problem continues to prevent most regional sector partnerships from achieving their full potential.

And it must be emphasised: most sector partnership initiatives don't get off the ground, and many more don't flourish.

The problem is this: organisations from both the private and public sectors continue to enter into regional partnerships entirely focused on their own, internal, short-term, specific corporate objectives (e.g. securing funding, planning, or leads; or delivering against specific KPIs). All of these are, of course, fundamentally important to those organisations. But regional industry sector partnerships have to be about something far more ambitious.

When Industry Sector Partnerships Work...

Where sector partnerships are thriving (and some are, even though partnership working is rarely straightforward) it's because enough of the organisations involved have made a step change in their thinking, from:

How can we get [funding] [planning] [leads] [outputs] ?

to:

How can we help to create a thriving regional industry sector, that will, in turn, help our organisation to achieve its strategic objectives?

Because a thriving, effectively promoted regional sector will attract the best people, more R&D funding, and stronger supply chains. It will have more leverage over government policy, and it will attract more sales enquiries - which means more for us, even if it means more for everyone else, too. By committing fully to the partnership approach, these organisations have bought in to the idea that a successful whole benefits all of its parts (as distinct from 'what's good for our part alone').

The Benefits of Loose Affiliations...

It also needs to be emphasised that, in an equal partnership of influential private and public sector organisations, no single organisation can really be 'in charge'. There's much to be learned here from the concept of the 'network organisation', in which top-down, centralised control is ditched in favour of self-directing teams, working independently and flexibly towards shared goals (not coincidentally, it's an approach found in many of the world's most successful modern businesses).

In the context of industry sector partnerships, this can mean multiple independent organisations utilising a shared brand and communicating shared messages in a way that's coordinated but not controlled. Press releases don't all have to be signed off 'at the top'. Partners can take the initiative with marketing opportunities that aren't necessarily 'in the plan'. Overall, it means that more can be achieved more quickly and more effectively, utilising all the resources available to the partnership.

A positive conclusion...

Industry sector partnerships can achieve great things - to the benefit of regions and the businesses located within them. They just need the right kind of thinking, and the confidence to unleash 'the power of partnerships'.

Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.

Business Decision Makers Want Reliable Location Facts & Data: Inward Investment Marketers Should Provide Them.

Business decision makers are searching for robust location facts and data

Data and Analytics are Driving Business Location Decisions

More than ever before, data and business intelligence are driving strategic corporate decision making, as businesses seek to minimise costs and risks and maximise performance and profits. Today, major businesses are utilising sophisticated 'analytics' - information resulting from the systematic analysis of data - to develop their strategies, and the potential to apply analytics in the area of site and location selection  is increasingly being recognised. According to a recent report by Jones Lang Lasalle, 'there is a significant opportunity to apply analytics in portfolio and location strategy.' (Beyond Data: the opportunity for analytics in CRE, JLL, Sept 2014).

Even businesses without access to sophisticated analytics tools want reliable property and location data and intelligence, addressing key site selection criteria such as building running costs, workforce demographics and transport connectivity. Their analyses may be less in-depth, but the same needs and principles apply.

The key to all this is, of couse, reliable information.

Without access to robust data, the most sophisticated analytics tools are useless. And herein lies a major opportunity for inward investment and commercial property marketers. If, through their marketing campaigns, they can provide the high-quality data and factual information that expanding and relocating businesses are searching for, they can become trusted sources of valuable knowledge, and attract those businesses to their sites and regions.

It's all because of the internet...

Another key development supports the case for projecting robust, in-depth, factual information and data through inward investment and commercial property marketing campaigns: the rise of the internet. According to recent data, 97% of corporate site and location selectors now start with online research (source: GIS Planning). These researchers want facts, not sales patter, and they'll vote with their clicks if marketers don't provide them.

This trend has led to the growth of research-based 'content marketing' that provides online researchers with factual solutions - site and location solutions in our case - not the 'spun' sales messages that predominated in the pre-internet era. (And it's no coincidence that some of the major international property consultants excel at content marketing themselves, promoting their own expertise by informing - utilising their own research data - rather than selling).

But where can inward investment and commercial property marketers get all this robust data from?

In our experience, investment promotion agencies, developers and property agents shouldn't be short of high-quality data. Investment agencies commission detailed reports about their location benefits, usually complete with extensive economic and demographic data from verified sources.The major property consultants have excellent research teams dedicated to producing it.  It's just that the data isn't utilised in marketing campaigns, or, if it is, it's reduced to spun 'killer facts' that business location decision makers can't rely on.

All of which raises some important questions regarding inward investment and commercial property marketing, including:

A. Why does so much inward investment and commercial property marketing material still focus on design, image and 'brand', when site selectors are actually searching for reliable facts and data?

B. Why does so much inward investment and commercial property marketing material present carefully selected (and spun?) headline facts only, when site selectors are searching for in-depth, source-referenced information?

C. Why does so much inward investment and commercial property marketing material still employ 'sales patter', when site selectors don't want it, or trust it?

D. Why does so much inward investment and commercial property marketing budget still go on costly, bulky printed materials, when businesses and location consultants are nearly all conducting their research online (and online information can easily and continually be kept up to date)?

The conclusions are clear...

There's a clear mismatch between the information business location decision makers want, and what most inward investment and commercial property marketing material continues to give them. And many marketers are still tied to the methods of the 1990s, not the 2010s.

There's a need for a paradigm shift in inward investment and commercial property marketing, with a new emphasis on research-based site and location solutions with more power to influence business location decisions.

Nick Smillie
MD, Clarity Business Strategies Ltd.