Our Site Selection Journey: Where, Oh Where, Are the IPAs?

We revealed in part I of our own site selection journey that perceptions drove the formation of our short list of locations for C Studios. That said, there was research conducted to see if there were any other places we missed that should be included, and we also wanted to find out more about the places we had already focused on.

The Almighty Google Machine

Like all good researchers, we naturally started on Google to see what we could find. And we found a lot – there’s no shortage of content on doing business in various countries. Our search terms were a mix of broad keywords (“best countries to do business in Europe”) and specific ones (“what’s it like to do business in {country}”). 

With some exceptions, it was astounding that this is the very subject that investment promotion agencies should own, yet in search after search, there was an almost complete absence of IPA content appearing on page 1 of the search results. (See our story on what IPAs commonly do wrong with SEO, which is one reason why.) While that makes sense for broader keyword queries, it’s unfortunate for the more specific ones that included countries in the query. 

One challenge is certainly the wealth of content from websites and brands that have higher domain authority, from the major accounting and legal firms to long-standing blogs and subject matter experts on related topics. But that shouldn’t be an excuse for IPAs that need to get in front of such prospects; it’s important to share your solution and how you solve problems for companies instead of letting somehow else share it for you.

One Problem, Three Solutions

Not having search results for keywords about which IPAs are experts is a chronic issue, but one with multiple solutions. To start, all great marketing begins with research and insights, and then the content created from those.  

IPAs are in contact with companies daily, answering common questions and facing consistent issues that need to be resolved. That’s where the insights come from; every conversation with an executive is “research” with take-aways that can be repurposed (without breaking confidentiality, of course).

These make excellent starting points for content and shouldn’t be guarded behind a contact form. Give it away for free and be a valuable resource to those companies searching for information without your knowledge. Getting insights from the business development team can help with this.

With the content created, it should be combined with a data-driven SEO strategy. Which keywords are already driving content to your site? Which keywords about your location have moderate search volume, but aren’t yet driving traffic? Which pages on your site are ranking in the teens or 20s, but with some extra care, could catapult your IPA to one of the top search results?

While search volume around site selection isn’t enormous, incremental improvements across dozens of keywords and over the course of a year or more can help your IPA generate more quality and relevant traffic from interested businesses.

A third way to scale search traffic – and one that can be done in conjunction with the first two – is through paid search. Quite simply, a top 3 organic ranking for every search term isn’t possible, especially for terms that might be about a larger geography (such as all of Europe) or ones where competition with the EY’s and PwC’s of the world is too robust. However, search ads can achieve this for a relatively efficient spend, appearing before organic results and with surprising effectiveness.

The best part about search is that it aligns well with the prioritisation of lead generation by IPAs – search content is usually delivered to those that are actively in the market about a particular subject matter, as we were during our site selection process. This often leads to more conversion behavior and more inquiries as a result of such activities. That’s one reason search is at the foundation of almost every digital marketing program for C Studios and its parent agency DCI. It’s also why we offer online reputation audits, putting ourselves in the seat of an executive and evaluating your reputation through that lens.

Interested in learning more? Schedule a meeting with Steve Duncan, Managing Director of C Studios. And don’t miss the rest of series; Part III is here.