WAIPA Annual Report 2011

WAIPA Report of Activities 2011-2012
Regarding target markets, as
sources of FDI, IPA members
focussed on either growth markets
or traditional markets. Some IPAs
choose to focus on markets of
tomorrow – the rising stars, such as
Asia and Africa. Others choose to
focus on the markets of today – the
cash cows, such as the USA and
Western Europe.
Regarding the approach to reaching
out to these target markets, while
many IPA have the aspiration to
use social media as outreach
(and new digital techniques), the
majority still depends on traditional
relationship marketing. Given the
need to persuade investors of the
benefits of a location, this should
not be a surprise. Digital techniques
may be more suitable in consumer
markets, while business to business
markets are still largely relationship
based. But is business becoming
more digital A minority, though
significant, rated digital as equally
important as personal.