The last FDI Excellence Series training course in 2019 was held from 3-4 December 2019 in Rome, Italy and hosted by WAIPA member ITA – Italian Trade Agency.

WAIPA had a pleasure to welcome investment promotion professionals from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Mauritius, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, and Uruguay who have joined us to update their marketing and promotion skills.

The sessions which were led by FDI Expert Andreas Dressler focused on the promotional activities that an IPA conducts to raise awareness of the location and communicate its advantages to potential investors. Topics that were covered include:

  • Integrating marketing effectively with investment attraction and the IPA’s other activities.
  • Developing and leveraging a location brand.
  • Positioning the location through persuasive “story-telling”
  • The effectiveness of different marketing channels and creating the optimal marketing mix
  • Using social media to achieve maximum impact.
  • Raising awareness of the location through public relations and communications.
  • Employing the latest digital marketing tools and techniques to drive results.

 

Guest speakers included Stefano Nigro, Director of the FDI Department at Italian Trade Agency who spoke about the structure and activities to attract FDI to Italy with emphasis on the role of marketing to position the country as an attractive investment location in difference international markets.

Julia Sakas, Director of Marketing and Communication at Toronto Global who touched on the social media marketing and addressed how can social media be used to promote awareness of your region and act as a lead generator for your sales team.

Furthermore, Ardi Eleveld the founder of The Place Project presented a user-centered approach in FDI Marketing and looked at different marketing channels to explore the benefits of user experience and design thinking techniques.

Claus Lonborg, CEO of Copenhagen Capacity spoke about how to build a leading business hub through digital marketing and described the costs and benefits of a digital approach.

Finally, we would like to thank to our host ITA- Italian Trade Agency for the warm hospitality in Rome, all the speakers to share their valuable experiences with us and all participants for their interest and participation.

We are looking forward to seeing you again in the FDI Excellence Series 2020 edition.