Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33529767
06/06/02
Marketing the Uniqueness of Small Towns
Western Rural Development Center
Oregon State University
WREP 57
In recent decades, the rural-urban migration trend has
reversed. People are moving back to small communities in
increasing numbers. Likewise, non-metropolitan
communities are attracting an increasing percentage of
new industrial plant locations. Some small communities
have capitalized on this national trend; others have not.
This publication relates the science of marketing to
communities. A small town can strengthen its local
economy as a result of business people and concerned
citizens collectively identifying that community's
special uniqueness and then capitalizing on it. Seven
simple techniques are provided in this publication to
help residents of a small town identify and market what
is unique about their community. A case example is
included.
Marketing is a new but rapidly growing field. As recently
as the 1950's, there was no established definition for
marketing, though many managers were beginning to see the
importance of what advocates of this new field were
teaching. Large companies began to restructure their
organizational charts to include marketing divisions.
Over the past 20 years, the field of marketing has
developed rapidly to become one of the most important
areas of modern business activity.
More recently, creative managers have begun to apply
modern marketing techniques to the nonprofit sector. The
American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the
performance of business activities that direct the flow
of goods and services from producer to consumer,"
Hospital directors, museum managers, political campaign
managers, and college presidents are all beginning to
realize that they are in the marketing business. Hospital
directors market health care; museum managers market
historical education and nostalgia; political campaign
managers market their candidates; college presidents
market education.
Community leaders must recognize that they, too, are
engaged in a marketing enterprise-that of marketing their
towns to prospective "customers" who could make use of
what the town, its people, and its businesses have to
offer.
The Differential Advantage
Potential customers often are faced with a wide range of
alternative products, all very similar to each other. It
is the marketer's job to create in the customer's mind an
idea that a particular product is different in an
important way, so that the product will have a
competitive edge over others in the marketplace. This
uniqueness or competitive edge is what is known in the
marketing field as a differential advantage,
In the context of community development, it is the job of
the community leaders to persuade potential tourists,
residents, and outside businesses that your town is
unique--or has a differential advantage--in a way that
could be important to them in their decision of where to
visit or where to locate. This creation of a differential
advantage could turn out to be the deciding factor for a
family considering where to spend their next vacation. It
could influence a family who is thinking of moving to
another community, or it could steer a business to locate
in your town over other towns which don't appear to have
anything unique to offer. In cases where other towns
offer similar features, if your community leaders have
created a differential advantage in the potential
customer's mind, your town is more likely to win out.
A marketing strategy is designed to create and nurture a
differential advantage. "The Four P's" of the marketing
mix--product, place, price, and promotion--form the
center of marketing strategy.
In marketing a town, the various features of the town
itself become the product. The concept of the town as a
product encompasses the town's scenery, natural
resources, friendly atmosphere, transportation routes,
history, architecture, educational facilities, shopping
areas, and much more. All of these aspects help to
determine the individual character of a given town.
Often, some of these features will be unique to that town
alone but they can sometimes characterize an area of the
country as well. For towns in the southwestern United
States, an advantage often cited is the excellent
climate. This feature helps to make towns in the
Southwest different from those in other parts of the
country.
Place refers to the physical channel--for example, a
grocery store or a lumber company- through which a
product is sold. For some marketers, selection of the
outlet through which the product will be sold can have a
major impact upon the ultimate success or failure of the
product in the marketplace.
When we speak of price as an element of a community's
marketing mix, we are referring to costs that the
community imposes upon residents, tourists, and resident
businesses for the privilege of carrying out activities
in the town--cost of living, taxes, transportation costs,
value of real estate, etc. Often, small towns have
distinct price advantages over other locations. These
price advantages can become an integral part of a town's
marketable uniqueness.
Finally, differential advantages of product and price
must be promoted effectively. Essentially, promotion is
communication, Community leaders must communicate the
message of their town's uniqueness to prospective
customers. Reaching the right audience is often the most
difficult task, because promotion costs money and most
small towns are constrained by a tight promotional
budget, But a low-cost promotion program can be effective
if it is well-conceived.
In review, community leaders are engaged in marketing a
complex product--their town. Principles of marketing tell
us that community marketers should develop and nurture a
differential advantage for their product, based on the
uniqueness of the product itself and the price of the
product. This differential advantage must then be
promoted to a target audience within applicable budget
constraints. Though the steps in developing and carrying
out a marketing plan can be time-consuming, they can pay
off in the form of a broadened economic base for your
community.
Identifying Your Town's Differential Advantage
Your town's competitive edge is a composite of all the
factors that make the town unique. Too often, towns try
to be successful by copying marketing strategies that
have worked for others, only to find that the program
they borrowed doesn't work as well as they thought it
would.
Each town is unique, and what works for one town will not
necessarily work for another. As a basis for your town's
marketing program, community leaders must identify and
capitalize upon the town's special uniqueness. That
uniqueness may be the presence of a valuable natural
resource such as rich farmland or thermo-wells, or the
community may have a strategic location in serving a
given population, or it may have scenic beauty, or
historical significance, or a famous native son, or
pleasant climate, or pleasing architecture, or a
combination of these and other aesthetic values.
Often, those who live and work in the community lose
sight of their community's uniqueness or they take it for
granted.
To bring your town's uniqueness into focus, solicit ideas
from many different sources- residents, newcomers,
visitors, and others, Each group can offer a different
perspective, and each different perspective can
contribute in building your town's differential
advantage.
Too often, community-leaders assume that they already
know what is unique and marketable about their town. They
don't take the time to test out these assumptions with
their town's customers, and when they do, it is done in a
very unscientific manner. ("A couple from Michigan
stopped in here last month and they said. . . ")
Many of us overlook the fact that the overall uniqueness
of a community is usually the result of a combination of
elements rather than one or two big things.
In identifying your community's uniqueness, be specific
and be realistic. Vague generalities and intangible
adjectives are of limited value. Remember, uniqueness
lies in the eye of the beholder. What is beautiful to one
person may be boring and unexciting to another.
The following techniques are designed to help communities
gain important insights in the development of a town's
competitive edge. Any of these exercises will help you
develop a solid marketing program for your town.
Naturally, the more of these projects your town can do,
the more it will be. able to sharpen its competitive
edge. If you have questions or if you need assistance
regarding these techniques, your county Extension office
can put you in touch with a community development
specialist in your state. (Another WRDC publication,
entitled "Coping with Growth: Community Needs Assessment
Techniques," might also be of interest to you.)
Brainstorming Session
The most basic method of zeroing in on your town's
differential advantage is a brainstorming session
involving people who know your community. The session can
be held at any convenient time and location. It will be
more beneficial if you choose a cross section of the
community so that different viewpoints can be brought
into the discussion. It is equally important that there
be a group facilitator chosen in advance to steer the
session when it gets off the track.
The brainstorming session should be designed to find out
what the participants feel is unique about your town.
Plan to have the session take at least an hour. (These
sessions tend to run more smoothly when refreshments are
provided.) Appoint someone to record the ideas as they
are presented on large sheets of newsprint or a
blackboard. Then review these ideas after the session is
over to decide which are the most promising. Be sure to
thank all participants.
The facilitator's first responsibility is the orientation
of the brainstorming group. After everyone has been
introduced and refreshments have been served, the
facilitator should explain that the group is gathered to
brainstorm about the uniqueness of the town. Explain that
the group's ideas will be used in the development of a
marketing package. The assignment to the group might be:
In your opinion, what makes this community unique? What
do you particularly like about this community? Keep the
brainstorming going by asking questions such as: What
else is special about this community?
Brainstorming rules are fairly simple:
* List every idea mentioned.
* Do not discuss ideas.
* Do not judge ideas.
* Do not worry about repetition.
* Do not worry about spelling as ideas are recorded.
These rules must be strictly followed so that no
potentially good ideas will be held back by any of the
participants. No put-downs or arguments are allowed! The
difficulty of the facilitator's job lies not in
acquainting participants with these guidelines, but in
enforcing them as the exercise continues.
After a list of unique characteristics has been
developed, the facilitator may wish to challenge the
group to be more specific: What specifically do you mean
by "friendly people"? Please explain what you meant by
"good climate."
The end result of your brainstorming session should be a
usable list of unique, marketable community
characteristics. These characteristics, along with other
unique aspects of the town uncovered through some
combination of the following six techniques, should be
stressed in promotions directed to outsiders. If this
uniqueness is properly communicated, the town will create
for itself a true competitive edge.
Visitor Questionnaire
It is also important and relatively inexpensive to find
out what visitors believe is unique about your town. This
insight is a valuable aid in the development of the
town's competitive edge,
Most towns have a location where visitors can come to ask
questions and get information about the area. Usually,
this is a visitors' center or chamber of commerce office.
Most people who visit these centers are there to gain
information for themselves, but smart community leaders
can balance this exchange by asking visitors to fill out
a brief questionnaire.
First, the questionnaire should find out the visitor's
place of residence. Name and address should be optional
since this is personal information, but it is important
that respondents give their home town and state. With
this information, you can pinpoint those areas currently
contributing a heavy concentration of visitors to your
town. These areas can then become prime targets for
promotional activity.
Secondly, the questionnaire should ask the purpose
(business or pleasure) and the destination of the
visitor's trip. These questions should yield a brief
profile of what brings visitors into the community. If a
large proportion of the questionnaires show similar
responses of one type or another, you can gain insight
valuable as you plan your approach for the promotional
campaign. For example, if you found that many visitors
were passing through your town on the way from New Mexico
to California vacation spots, you would select a
promotional medium that would reach prospective
vacationers from New Mexico, and you would tailor the
promotional message to appeal to that audience.
Another question that should be included: What have you
particularly noticed that you like about our town? This
question will draw a variety of responses. If a pattern
develops such as "good road service" or "historical
sites" or "that big cactus on the road into town," then
you will be armed with a feature of the community that
is, in the opinion of outsiders, unique and marketable.
Add more questions if you feel they are necessary, but
remember: the more questions on the form, the more likely
it is that prospective respondents will leave blanks or
refuse to bother with the questionnaire. Keep it short.
One side of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper is least
intimidating-to both the respondent and the person
analyzing the completed questionnaires. (A sample
questionnaire is provided in the case study section at
the end of this publication.)
If you don't want to use a questionnaire, a guest
registry is a good source of location information. The
easiest way to compile location information is with a map
and pins. This will give a visual display of the results.
Whatever method you use, something along these lines
should be instituted. It is a good, inexpensive source of
information that will help you plan an effective
promotional campaign.
Photography Contest
Photography is an integral part of any good promotional
presentation. But good pictures of interesting sights
around town can be hard to come by.
Nearly everyone will have a different idea of what
particular sight is interesting and unique to a town.
Through a well-publicized photography contest, these
individual perspectives can be recorded. Some of the
pictures could surprise you!
The purpose of such a contest is two-fold. A photography
contest can provide a number of quality photographs for
use in the town's promotional literature. But just as
importantly, it can be an inexpensive way to boost
community pride and get residents thinking about their
town in a positive way.
Most often, such a photography contest is sponsored by
the chamber of commerce, though other groups could
undertake it. It is important that one group coordinate
the project to avoid wasteful, confusing, and possibly
disastrous duplication of efforts. The coordinating body
must have an address where entries can be sent, and it
must have at least one volunteer, or employee who is
willing to keep track of entries as they come in.
Rules are specified by the contest coordinators. The
contest will run more smoothly if a few simple guidelines
are followed:
* Inform contestants that all entries will become the
sole property of the contest coordinators and might be
used in promotional literature or other promotional
activities.
* Stipulate in detail how entries must be submitted, and
to what address. State whether entries should be color or
black/white prints. This will, of course, depend upon
whether or not you plan to use color photographs in your
brochure. Full-color printing is expensive but often
necessary to show of f local scenery to its best
advantage. (If slide/tape presentations have a place in
your marketing scheme, consider a category for color
slides as well.) Also outline what size entries must be.
A standard size is 8" x 1 0" , and it is helpful and more
fair if all prints are the same size. All entries should
include a brief description of when and where the photo
was taken, in addition to the entrant's name, address,
and phone number. Encourage multiple entries.
* Set a beginning date and an ending date for the
contest. Give people plenty of time to have film
developed and duplicates made, but don't let it drag out
for so long that it loses momentum. Six weeks should be a
comfortable time limit.
* Inform contestants how their photographs will be
judged. Most contests judge entries on technical quality
and on subject matter. In this case, the subject should
be: "scenes, faces, and activities that are unique to our
town."
* Entries should be judged in at least two, preferably
three categories. So that amateurs will not be
discouraged, amateur entries should be judged separately
from entries sent in by professional photographers. In a
small town, there may be only a couple of professional
entries (consequently all professionals may win a prize).
These contributions are worth special consideration
because they are often among the best of the contest.
Some communities may also want to include a junior
category for those 16 years old and under to encourage
participation by younger citizens.
* The rules must state that the decision of the judges
will be final. This will avoid unnecessary headaches
after the contest is over.
Promotion for the contest should be as wide as possible,
at the least possible cost. Here are some suggestions:
* Newspapers. Such a contest is newsworthy to local
residents. A well-written, concise press release sent to
the newspaper's city editor has the best chance of
getting printed as a news story (as opposed to a piece of
purchased advertising).
* Radio/TV. Local stations are often willing to announce
such items for no charge- either as news or as a public
service message. This is a great way to let people know
about the contest.
* Posters, Handbill-sized posters can be printed for a
nominal charge. Such posters should include contest
details and can usually be posted in stores and other
conspicuous spots around town.
* Schools. If you include a junior division in the
contest, speak with local school officials about having
the contest announced in the schools.
* Newspaper advertising. It maybe necessary to run a
newspaper ad describing the details of the contest, but
this type of advertising is usually expensive.
Judges should be chosen before the contest begins. The
basic criteria for selecting judges are impartiality and
an understanding of the contest's purpose. Judges and
their families may not enter.
Prizes should include, recognition and monetary rewards.
The following guidelines may be helpful:
* Recognition. Plaques should be offered for first,
second, and third place in each division. These can be
small and relatively inexpensive, but they should have
the name and date of the contest inscribed on them.
(Note: Winners of the professional division probably
would prefer plaques to hang in their places of
business.)
* Credits. The photographer should be credited for all
photos used in promotional material.
* Monetary rewards may be found inexpensively. Check with
local photo shops to see if they would be willing to
donate gift certificates as prizes. Other merchants may
also wish to participate. If no donors can be found,
remember that U.S. savings bonds can be purchased for
less than face value, and they make good, patriotic
prizes.
Using the photos. When the contest is over, the
sponsoring organization will hopefully have a good
selection of usable photographs of unique aspects of the
local community. They can be put to use in a number of
ways.
* Use the pictures as illustrations in any promotional
brochure or printed flyer that is published for
distribution to the town's prospective "customers."
* Make a montage of the more interesting photos and
display it at the visitors' center, the chamber of
commerce, or some other location where visitors and
residents will be likely to see them. Photographs are the
best way for visitors to become acquainted with the town
in a very short time.
* Increase community awareness by using some of the best
photos in a supplement to the town newspaper. Papers will
sometimes run such a supplement free, in the community
interest, but you will probably have to find advertisers
to-sponsor the insert, Finding sponsors can take some
effort, but advertisers are often happy for the good
exposure that comes f rom participating in such a
project. Arrangements should be made with the newspaper
to print at least 500 or 1000 additional copies of the
supplement.
* Develop a slide presentation from the photographs.
Slide shows (with either live or taped narration) can be
presented to service clubs and civic organizations to
help rekindle interest in the community. If the program
is well-received, you might, consider showing it in
neighboring cities or wherever your customers are coming
from.
* Use either a black/white or a color photo for a poster,
depending on your budget. A professional-quality poster
can provide excellent exposure for your community when
displayed in offices, tourist locations, and travel
agencies.
* Develop a "town tour" brochure with your black/white
photographs. Pictures can be supplemented with
explanations and a map showing locations of the various
points of interest, A small, single-color brochure is not
very expensive to produce, and it can be a big help to
visitors in your community.
Interview New Businesses
To promote expansion by attracting new businesses, this
exercise is a must. When a new enterprise locates in
town, the chamber of commerce or the city/town council
should have a member visit the newcomers to welcome them
to the community. If your group is not doing this
already, you are missing an opportunity to pick up some
valuable marketing information, as well as a chance to
help the newcomers feel at home. In this initial contact,
no effort should be made to solicit membership in civic
organizations. This will detract from the interview.
This interview should be designed to gather pertinent
information on why the business person moved to your
town. The interview should determine:
1) How the business person found out about the town; and
2) Why they decided to move to town.
If you find through these interviews that certain
promotional channels have been effective in bringing in
new businesses, then you may want to expand your efforts
through these channels. For example, if a business person
found out about the community in a newspaper article
published in Phoenix, then the town should try even
harder to get similar newspaper publicity run in
newspapers in other towns, and even rerun in Phoenix.
These interviews can uncover marketing strategies that
have already been proven to work for your town.
Little preparation is required for these interviews; the
interviewer is only interested in the answers to two
questions. The first question should be asked after the
interviewer has visited with the newcomer for awhile to
break the ice. Before asking any questions, assure the
respondent that all information received will be treated
confidentially, and that you are merely trying to get a
general idea of how to improve the town's marketing
strategies. A straightforward "How did you first come to
learn about our town?" will do nicely, As the subject
stops talking, follow up with some probing questions,
like "Had you ever heard about our town anywhere else?"
and "Why did you decide to read (listen to, etc.) this
particular source?"
When you are satisfied that the first basic question has
been answered thoroughly, ask the second question: "What
made you decide to move your business here, rather than
somewhere else?" This can also be followed up until you
are satisfied with the detail of the answer. The entire
interview should take only about 15 minutes.
Ideally, the interviews should be tape-recorded and
transcribed later. The tape recorder should be introduced
casually so that your respondent will not become
flustered or apprehensive. Respondents talk much faster
than you can probably write. The thoughts you miss while
writing may turn out to be important later on, even it
they seemed to be trivial during the interview. If the
interview cannot be recorded, it is essential to take
notes while the subject is talking, Notes will be sketchy
at best; details should be fleshed in as soon as possible
after the interview, while the information is still fresh
in your mind. After a few such interviews, the results
should be compared to find similarities. If certain
statements show up repeatedly, community leaders will be
armed with some valuable information that will help make
your town's marketing strategy even more effective.
Focus Groups
Focus groups are basically group discussion sessions run
by a trained professional who attempts to "focus" group
discussion on a specific topic. For small-town marketers,
focus groups can help to bring up and evaluate new ideas
about the town through intensive interaction among 8 to
12 individuals. Such sessions could also be used to
uncover marketable aspects of the town's uniqueness that
may not otherwise surface.
Focus groups can be important because they gather input
from townspeople in an environment of free discussion.
The flexibility of these groups allows them to probe
various subjects as they arise--even subjects that
weren't considered important before the discussion
started. Because of the interaction of participants, the
focus groups uncover more detail than individual
interviews do.
The group must be run by someone who has experience with
focus group techniques. A discussion run by an untrained
moderator will likely be no more than an interesting (or
perhaps chaotic) coffee klatch that yields little or no
usable information. Likewise, improper makeup of the
group (a poor cross section, or one participant who is
loud or short-tempered) can drastically affect the
results.
The session, which should last about an hour, is
tape-recorded and transcribed later. This allows the
moderator to reflect on every detail of the group
discussion, and it provides the town with a detailed
summary of participants' key statements. Participants
should be informed that community leaders will only see
the transcript, not hear the tape, and that no names will
be used. The tape itself will become the property of the
moderator, who will be responsible for protecting the
anonymity of the participants.
If your town decides that it would like to conduct a
focus group, there are two sources to contact for help.
You could contact a marketing research firm or an
advertising agency that has the expertise to conduct
focus groups. (Not all firms can offer this service.) It
would be helpful to get a list of references for whom the
company has conducted focus groups, and call these
references. Choose a firm only after you establish that
they have performed satisfactorily in the past. As a less
expensive alternative, you can contact the community
development specialists with your Cooperative Extension
Service. They will use the resources available to them to
help you get your focus group underway. (Also see the
list of references at the end of this publication.)
School Essay Contest
Another inexpensive method of uncovering your town's
differential advantage is a school essay contest. Such a
contest is most easily run where the community has its
own school, but with proper coordination it can also be
run in a school that serves several different
communities.
Contact school officials to determine the feasibility of
such a contest, The contest could be announced in English
classes as an assignment (optional or otherwise) to write
a 200-word essay entitled "What Is Unique about My Town."
All age groups should be encouraged to participate.
When the papers are handed in, they should first be
graded by the English teachers for style and grammar,
then sent to the sponsoring organization for judging.
Essays should be divided by grade level and judged on
content.
Ideally, winners should be awarded prizes by
representatives of the community at an assembly of the
student body, Scholarships or savings bonds make
excellent prizes, but they should be given in addition
to, not instead of, small plaques or trophies.
The essay contest would be healthy competition for the
students, and it would help community leaders acquire yet
another perspective of what is unique about their town.
Professional Visitation
Those who live in and drive through your town can provide
you with some insight into its differential advantage,
but a team of visiting professionals can give you
information you might not get from any other source.
Your Extension community development specialist is in
contact with university and other resources that you
might put to work for your town, Through your community
development specialist, you might arrange for, say, an
urban planner, a geographer, a historian, a marketer, and
a business executive to visit your community and report
on their observations. The visit is not difficult to
arrange. The outsiders can come to town in the morning
and can be given a guided tour for orientation purposes.
They need to know what you believe is important about
your town. The tour can finish with lunch at a local
restaurant. At lunch, the visitors will have an
opportunity to ask questions and talk with community
leaders about the town. After lunch, the professionals
should be free to look around on their own to become as
familiar as possible with your community. Some of them
may wish to arrange special interviews with business
representatives, utility managers, city officials, the
industrial development authority, or the planning
commission for more in-depth questioning in their
specialty areas.
The professionals will have been instructed to write
summary reports describing what they liked about your
community and what they believe to be the marketable
uniqueness of your town. They will also be invited to
comment on any conditions they feel need improvement.
This is all valuable marketing information and it can be
obtained for a relatively modest cost. It is a good
opportunity for you to get input on what your town is
doing right, what it may be doing wrong, and where it
could improve.
Promotion
Once your town has identified its differential advantage,
you must successfully promote this uniqueness to
prospective customers. Community marketers have four
distinct areas from which to create a promotional mix. As
mentioned earlier in this publication, these elements are
advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and
publicity.
Advertising
Advertising is the promotional medium that communities
use most often. It includes paid presentations in
brochures, trade publications, magazines and newspapers,
billboards, and other advertising media. Information on
the community's uniqueness and its potential customers,
gained through the techniques outlined in this
publication, can help the community fine-tune its
advertising to make it more efficient than before.
For example, let's say that a town is trying to attract
tourist trade. Its visitor questionnaire has revealed
that many of the town's guests are vacationers from large
cities in the same state who are en route to a nearby
resort area. This would suggest that the town buy ads in
advertising media that will be seen by these prospective
customers.
There are many advertising alternatives available. Use
common sense in deciding how to spend your advertising
dollar to communicate your message as efficiently as
possible.
Personal Selling
The next element of the promotional mix, personal
selling, consists of verbal conversation with prospective
customers. Community residents are using personal selling
every time they speak with others about their town. It is
important for community leaders to realize that employees
in contact with the public must conduct themselves as the
town's sales representatives-because that is really what
they are.
Another type of personal selling happens away from home.
For example, if your town were to find that it had the
ideal conditions and labor force to support electrical
assembly operation, it could seek out a trade association
serving this industry. Since most such organizations hold
conventions, it might be possible for the town to rent a
small booth in a trade mail at the association's next
convention. If community salespeople were armed with good
sales presentations, their personal selling efforts at
the convention could pay off.
Likewise, a weekend booth at a shopping center in one of
the larger cities in the state may be effective in
attracting in-state visitors to your town.
Sales Promotion
The third element of the promotional mix is called sales
promotion. It consists of coupons, trading stamps,
balloons, bumper stickers, free entertainment, and other
promotional items paid for by the marketer. Many towns
already use some form of sales promotion, but these
promotions are often not well-planned. Many communities
hastily jump into a general advertising and promotion
campaign before they have identified unique marketable
products, and before they have identified their best
potential customers.
When deciding to use a sales promotion, ask yourself two
questions:
1) Will this promotion reach our prospective customers?
and
2) Will this promotion make a lasting impression upon our
prospective customers--or will it soon be forgotten?
There is no specific formula for promotional success, but
if you screen your activities in this fashion, you will
probably eliminate most unwise sales promotions before
they become unwise expenditures.
Publicity
Publicity differs from the first three elements of the
promotional mix in a very important way--it's free. For
small towns with small budgets, publicity can be an
effective way to reach prospective customers who could
never be reached through paid promotion.
Publicity usually materializes when some event or
characteristic of a town becomes "newsworthy" in the eyes
of the media-radio, television, magazine, or newspaper.
Smart marketers know that many news stories exist only
because someone put forth the effort to write a press
release. A press release can often tie in with some of
the town's other promotional activities. But the story
won't be run if nobody writes it!
Familiarize yourself with techniques for writing good,
concise press releases. This can greatly increase the
chances of your press release resulting in a story on the
front page of the newspaper's community section rather
than in the editor's wastebasket.
Make sure your town has a well managed publicity program
to take advantage of this least expensive element of your
promotional mix.
Most towns know that promotion is essential for growth to
occur. By knowing who your customers are, and by knowing
the unique features of your town, you can design a
promotional message that can have a far greater impact
than one designed on guesswork. By utilizing all four
elements of the promotional mix to push your differential
advantage, your town will be assured of running the most
successful marketing campaign possible.
It Really Works: The Case of Willcox, Arizona
The Willcox Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture knew that
they had to take some positive, aggressive steps to
stimulate business in the Willcox area. Their final
decision turned out to be not only creative, but also
successful.
Using a visitor questionnaire similar to the one
described in this publication, the Willcox Chamber
discovered that many of the tourists visiting and staying
in Willcox were from rural areas in the Midwest. Such
visitors felt Willcox was unique because it so closely
resembled a Midwestern farming town, but was located in
Arizona's mild climate. According to Chamber manager
Ellen Clark, "We found that over half the visitors
stopping at the Chamber office for information have a
rural farm interest or background. They are the ones the
area really seems to appeal to."
In response to this information, the Chamber decided to
concentrate its limited tourism budget on promoting
Willcox to rural residents of the Midwest. Chamber
tourism chairman Dick Seidel proposed a "Spend a Fun
'Farmer's Holiday' in Sunny Arizona" ad that was run in a
Midwestern farm magazine. The ad was jointly sponsored by
the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona State
Department of Tourism.
To aid the visitors when they arrive, the chamber
developed a self-guided tour of area farms and ranches
and a brief fact sheet on the economics of local
agriculture. According to Seidel, "We've decided to
target our advertising rather than use the shotgun
approach."
To supplement this advertising, the Chamber developed a
"Stay a Day in Willcox" packet that tourists can pick up
at various locations around town. It is actually a folder
with pockets containing single-page descriptions of
historical sites and scenic areas, along with good
directions to help newcomers visit these areas of
interest. The packet also includes biographic sketches on
the area's Chiricahua Apaches, Apache Chief Cochise, and
Indian agent Tom Jeffords who lived near Willcox in his
days of glory. A biographic sketch of favorite son Rex
Allen is included, along with directions to the Rex Allen
Museum. The packet contains maps of Willcox and the
surrounding area, and self-guided tours of the Willcox
area that tourists staying in Willcox can complete in one
day.
Expensive, you say? The packet is financed entirely by
advertising on the folder.
"We have found that the packet is less expensive than a
color brochure and is much more effective," explained
Chamber manager Clark. "It gives much more information on
the area, and individual sheets can be pulled or added in
tailoring the packet to the individual tourist's needs.
The packet has gotten much greater response than our
prior brochure."
By identifying its differential advantage and the needs
of its customers, Willcox, Arizona, has now begun to
benefit from its marketing efforts. These activities take
time, effort, and money, but they can result in better
efficiency and a greater economic reward for the entire
community.
Following is a sample questionnaire:
Welcome to Willcox
Visitor Registry
We are very pleased that you have decided to visit
Willcox. We wish to do all we can to make your visit a
pleasant one.
Please provide us with the following information that we
might continue to do a better job at serving our
visitors.
1. Your Name (optional):
2. Your City and State of Residence:
3. What made you decide to visit Willcox?
4. What is the final destination of your trip?
5. What have you particularly liked about the Willcox
area?
6. What could we have done to make your stay more
pleasant?
Thank you!
References
American Association of Agricultural College Editors.
Communications Handbook. 3rd ed.
The Interstate Printers & Publishers, Inc., Danville,
Illinois.
Goldman, Alfred E.
1962 "The Group Depth Interview."
Journal of Marketing 26:61-68, July 1962.
Hansen, Louie, and Richard Maxon
"The Group Depth Interview in Extension Programming."
Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University.
Kotler, Philip
1982 Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations.
2nd ed. Prentice Hall.
-------------
Prepared by David H. Hogg, formerly of the Department of
Marketing, and Douglas Dunn, Extension Rural Development
Program, University of Arizona. This publication is part
of the Small Town Strategy series produced by the Western
Rural Development Center. Other titles in the series
include:
* Helping Small Towns Grow
* To Grow or Not to Grow: Questions on Economic
Development
* Hiring a Consultant
* Identifying Problems and Establishing Objectives
* Basic Grantsmanship
* Socioeconomic Indicators for Small Towns
* Community Evaluation for Economic Development
Copies may be obtained from the Extension Service at
cooperating universities or from the Western Rural
Development Center, Oregon State University, Corvallis,
Oregon 97331. Two related series of WRDC publications
might also be of interest: the Coping with Growth series
and the Municipal Bonds series. Please write to WRDC for
a complete list of available publications. WRDC programs
are available equally to all people.
June 1982
WREP 57
A Western Regional Extension Publication
Price: 50 cents ($4.00 for 8-part series)
This information is for educational purposes only. References
to commercial products or trade names does not imply
endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not
mentioned. This information becomes public property upon
publication and may be printed verbatim with credit to MSU
Extension. Reprinting cannot be used to endorse or advertise
a commercial product or company.
This file was generated from data base TD on 09/30/03.
Data base TD was last revised on 06/06/02.
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