1. Marketing the Uniqueness of Small Towns. Revised.
- Author
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Western Rural Development Center, Corvallis, OR., Dunn, Douglas, and Hogg, David H.
- Abstract
The key to marketing a town is determining and promoting the town's "differential advantage" or uniqueness that would make people want to visit or live there. Exercises to help communities gain important insights into the town's competitive edge include a brainstorming session with knowledgeable community members, a visitor questionnaire, a photography contest to provide photographs for promotional literature, interviews with local businesses, focus groups, a school essay contest on "What I Believe Is Unique about My Town," and input from a team of visiting professionals. Once a town establishes its differential advantage, it must successfully promote this uniqueness to prospective customers. Community marketers have four distinct promotional areas to use in the creation of a promotional mix. These are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and publicity. In the case of Willcox, Arizona, the Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture took positive, aggressive steps to stimulate business in the area. They discovered through a visitor questionnaire that many of the tourists visiting and staying in Willcox were from rural areas in the Midwest with a rural farm interest. In response, the Chamber ran an ad in a midwestern farm magazine, developed a self-guided tour of area farms and ranches, and compiled a packet of information for tourists. (KS)
- Published
- 1995