At Brand Acceleration, we
work with cities, towns, regions, and states nationwide, helping them develop
strategies that grow awareness and drive economic activity. Often, the first
challenge put to us is to “create a new brand,” however, brands are not
“created,” they’re discovered. After some serious probing, we often find the
same thing.
Your community might have
the best connections, community college, sites and building inventory, and
fishing in the nation, but if nobody knows about it, what difference will it
make to future prosperity? As you might expect, I interview many community
leaders and almost everyone believes his or her place has a strong brand.
"We're an agriculture, manufacturing, military community." I hear it
all. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, when we ask site selectors, c-suite
executives, or real estate brokers what they believe, we often find that the
community is virtually unknown. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes a
clean slate is a great place to start. But it's important to get started.
You can have a great web site
and a really creative logo, but if you do nothing to effectively plant your
message in the minds of the most important prospects who can bring jobs and
investment, your community may be like the tree falling in the forest. No one
will know.
Being heard in a crowded space
The worldwide web is just
that, worldwide. It's a huge place where unsupported web sites get lost. Like
cyber-driftwood, they just float along hoping to bump into an unsuspecting soul
who might be working on a jobs project. Many community economic development web
sites are just like that, floating aimlessly....hoping....wishing....dreaming.
Making matters even worse
is the fact that search engines are making it more difficult every day. Google,
Bing, and Yahoo are ever-changing. Without warning, they make changes that make
it more difficult to navigate their algorithms. In the last eighteen months,
Google installed their Panda updates, dramatically increasing the need to
actively participate in social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,
YouTube, and blogs. Then, almost immediately, they installed their Penguin
update, punishing web site owners who intentionally stuffed key words into
their sites, seeking an advantage. Just a few days ago, they added the
Hummingbird update, recognizing searchers who use full sentences. For economic
developers, Hummingbird could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how well
they know their audiences search practices.
Failure to fund equals failure to thrive
I attend numerous economic
development meetings and conferences where I hear economic developers talk of
funding challenges. In addition to serving their primary role as marketer, they
often spend much of their time doing fundraising, being seen at community
events, serving on various boards, and kissing countless political backsides.
Some estimate their effective economic development time at 15%. My challenge to
elected officials and EDO board members to take over the fundraising role so
your economic developer can dedicate all of his or her time doing the primary
job of marketing and seeking jobs and investment.
Now what?
Assuming you have a great
web site (And I do mean great. Good is no longer good enough.), what should you
do next? In addition to your web site, which should be professionally produced
and optimized for search engines, you must find powerful ways to grow awareness
of your area, convincing key audiences to take a look. I like tactics that are
strategic and measurable. After all, you might have to prove to your board that
the money spent is working.
For Brand Acceleration
clients, we've had great success with a well-thought-out mix of tactics such as
e-mail marketing, online banner ads, videos, mission trips, direct mail, and
even occasional print ads. There are no silver bullets, though. If you think
you can market on the cheap, running a single ad, for example, you should keep
your money. That kind of marketing never works. In order to successfully grow
your community's brand and drive activity, you must consistently be in front of
highly-defined prospects with an on-going effort. It takes at least three
impressions just to stand a chance of being remembered.
Maybe your community has a
strong reputation. Maybe it has no reputation beyond the county line. In either
case, now is the time to get started with a strong promotional effort. If you're
not telling your story, who will?
I’d
love to hear from you. Feel free to share your thoughts and personal
experiences below.
Have a
great week and I’ll see you soon,
Jim Walton
CEO
Brand Acceleration, Inc.
Branding // Marketing Communications // Public
Relations
Indianapolis: 317.536.6255
Charlotte: 704:230:0394
Atlanta: 404.474.7980
Fax: 317.222.1425
Cell: 317.523.7380
Brand
Acceleration is a full-service marketing communications, brand management and
public relations firm with a focus on economic development, architecture,
engineering and construction.
