feature article

Marketing a Community – Telling the World What’s Cool About You
By Tonja Richards

You are traveling back home after a week-long vacation to Aunt Linda’s house three states away, traveling on a highway that, according to the map, looks like a short cut, when you see a sign for a local winery. A winery? In what seems to be the middle of little but cornfields and highways? You wind into town, and are surprised to find a quaint little hamlet snuggled into the hills with small retail shops, a lovely historic downtown district and little-known hole-in-the-walls that offer the best homemade pie you’ve ever stuck a fork into. And the town itself looks so inviting! You know it’s that certain something but you can’t quite put your finger on it… Oh! Could it be the planters on the street corner? The large, new band shell in the middle of the square? Or the community’s major employer sponsoring a Saturday walk/run to benefit the local cancer society? These things and more make this a place that you will DEFINITELY visit again!

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Sounds great, doesn’t it? And, now that you’re home, how can YOUR community evoke this kind of home-town, I-MUST-tell-my-friends-about-this-NOW feeling?

It’s doable… by creating a marketing and communication mix that incorporates both the economic development portion of community growth with the quality of life amenities that attract and retain residents, many communities nationwide are seeing an upswing in their ability to attract businesses, families and visitors.

Marketing a community – Where to start?

Where are YOU from? Remember, your community does not exist in a vacuum. And you, nor the communities around you, have unlimited resources to use for marketing. People travel through other communities to get to you. Why not work with those in your region to find ways to market yourselves together, to get a “bigger bang for your buck?”

Howdy Partner! This means bringing together community leaders from the retail/tourism and industrial business areas of your city. It involves the chamber, the breakfast clubs, and the local Moose Lodge members. Again, the more heads working together to create a community rich with activity and vibrancy, the better.

Not the same as consumer marketing — but it’s close. As with any entity, the only way you can make yourself understood is to know your benefits, know your audience and select the best tools to tell your story. This is the basic framework that is the foundation of a communication plan or marketing plan for toothpaste, a coffee shop in the Midwest, or for selling Dyersville, Tennessee, to major employers looking to relocate a major technology business to the South.

How to say it inside and out: internal and external messaging. Remember, you must communicate the same messages both outside and within a community. That means talking to your target audiences (members, donors, volunteers, employers, citizens, visitors), as well as to your community (chambers, residents, retail owners, major employers, schools). If everyone understands the value of the community and is able to articulate it, visitors and citizens alike will understand what your community stands for and can help move it toward its future goals.

I Can Identify With That! – Mixing community interests to achieve an integrated community identity. From an economic development standpoint, selling your community to major employers (or encouraging your current employers to expand their business) “takes a village.” Community economic leaders, utility companies and professional associations can work together to communicate the benefits of the community that appeal most to employers wanting to build a foundation in your community. Such things as workforce availability, available building sites, tax and government incentives and things that make for a great quality of life all matter to business leaders. Just as important is the community’s identity from a retail and service perspective. What types of shopping and services are available to residents? How affordable are they? Overlapping messaging that communicates these things to both audiences is paramount to a city’s growth.

Tools and Techniques - NOW We’re Talking! Once a community identifies who they are, what makes them unique and overall goals, it’s time to get the word out. This is what the average person knows as “marketing” – newsletters, logos, direct mail, advertising, Web sites, tradeshows, bus tours and state advertising co-ops are all ways to market your community. Other things that are highly visible, but are often overlooked in community marketing are signage to (and within) the community pointing out shopping areas, historic sites and other things a visitor to your town would be interesting in seeing or doing. For retail business, smaller tools such as business cards, stationary and order forms all tell your customer who you are without spending a lot of money.

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Again, back in the car, community brochure in hand, a receipt from that Meal & Three Diner in your pocket and that perfect gift for your mother nestled in the back seat, and you’re feeling pretty content. And, now that you understand the benefit of all the little details that make a community a great destination… whether you’re an employer, a resident or a visitor, you can take these nuggets back to your hometown and get the ball rolling!

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