When C Studios was researching potential locations for its office in Europe, it was fascinating that investment promotion agency content rarely surfaced in our Google searches. This is concerning, as most companies do much of their own research well before contacting an IPA, with 72% of executives in our Winning Strategies in Investment Promotion report indicating that they won't contact such an organization until at least the short-listing process.

It is a simiar experience for talents, where “internet research” ranked as the No. 1 influence on perceptions of a place in our What Talent Wants study. This all begs the question...

"When is the last time you evaluated your IPA's digital reputation?"

The strength of a city or country’s online reputation can make or break its success in place marketing. We live in a world that makes snap judgements (less than one second in some cases), so everything from your location's visuals that show up in an online search to the information someone is NOT able to find quickly can have outsized implications.

Often times as place marketers, we spend so much time curating our message, trying to get our key points in, and building out our digital ecosystems to be as perfect as can be that we forget that we are on the inside of a jar looking out; not the other way around as our target audiences see it. (As a marketing agency ourselves, we fall victim to the same issues all the time, by the way.)

So then, what do you do about it?

Ask Your Target Audiences for Their Feedback

Whether you are targeting executives or talents, just ask for their observations and don't take their first answer as fact. Dig deep to explore what their online experience revealed and how their perceptions have been impacted by what they've seen.

When asking someone for feedback who doesn't live this industry every day, the insights can be eye-opening.

For instance, when surveying executives many years ago for the U.S. state of Utah, we found that its beautiful images of red rock canyons and white-capped mountains were lovely for driving visitors. However, from a business perspective, these same visuals were leading executives to believe that the state was isolated, indicating it’d be a challenge recruiting talent and getting around to other major markets.

Try Some Role Play with a Trusted Third-Party

Next, find an independent third party you can trust to play the role of executive or talent, conducting a much more thorough online search and providing feedback to your team. It's amazing some of the good and bad you can find when asking someone with an outside perspective to help.

For example, when we did an online reputation audit for one city in Virginia (USA), we found an old blog on page one of Google that had been written years before. By a current employee. It wasn't exactly a positive take on living in the city, leading to a damaging review of living there; a simple request to take it down was all that was needed.

Give Your Existing Content the Love It Needs to Shine

Lastly, it's not just about what you find on the surface that matters. Often times, there is really good content on the second or third page of Google that — with some love and care — could make it onto page one where nearly all clicks from search originate.

From previous analyses, this is actually where a good amount of IPA content tends to live; not optimized enough to rank highly, but close and with plenty of potential. Finding such instances gives IPAs the chance to update place promotion content and increase its ranking, thus addressing the issue I mentioned at the very beginning of this article — staying visible in front of an audience that is actively researching online.

As place marketers, IPAs should monitor their digital reputation and the power it has in attracting talent and business. By auditing and monitoring the online footprint beyond just putting out new content, they can create a positive experience that furthers their mission of promoting themselves as an attractive location for businesses and individuals alike.

Looking for help on this? In 60 days, C Studios can assess your online reputation with our custom audits specilized for business attraction and/or talent attraction. Complete with a search sentiment index that grades your overall reputation, we'll outline specific action items to elevate your perception online. Inquire here for more .