Branding Small Municipalities: Visitor Attraction

What does it take to get visitors to stop in your town? Better yet, what does it take to get them to make your town a destination?

As with all other brands, your town must deliver each of the following to become a strong brand:

•    Awareness
•    Relevant differentiation
•    Value
•    Convenience
•    Emotional connection

Let’s start with relevant differentiation. That is the most important driver of strong brands. Why should someone stop in your town or, better yet, plan a trip to your town? What makes your town unique or more compelling than others?

To determine relevant differentiation, you must first identify your municipality’s assets. Is it near a lake, a mountain or a cave? Does it have a large waterfall? Is there a whitewater river nearby? Is the weather particularly nice at certain times of year (or year-round)? Does it have a well-known golf course? Does it have a unique museum? Does it have an interesting history? Did a famous person grow up or live there? Does it have unusual architecture? Does it have a rich cultural life? Is it the home of an annual fair? Does it have an annual art, music or film festival? Does it have an annual sporting event? Does it have interesting ethnic neighborhoods?

Next you must determine what types of people are most likely to be attracted by your municipality’s assets.

Are they fly fishermen, jazz enthusiasts, people who appreciate wine, farmers, skiers, leaf peepers, hikers, NASCAR fans, motorcyclists, families with young children, retirees, college students, single people or someone else?

Now consider the types of people who are most likely to be attracted to your town in greater depth. Which types are the most desirable? To which types can you best cater? To which types do you offer the biggest competitive advantage? Which types have more people and more money? Can your town appeal to all of these types of people at once or will the type of person change by season?

What other amenities would your town need to add to better appeal to the types of people it intends to have the most success in attracting? Does it need more restaurants, hotels, motels, campgrounds, trash receptacles, public toilets, picnic areas, public parking, public boat ramps, ATM machines, WI-FI access, bars and nightclubs, gift stores, or something else?

Does the traffic flow smoothly? Are there ample wayfinding signs so that people do not get lost? Are your citizens friendly?  Are the streets and other public spaces aesthetically pleasing?

Finally, what should your town stand for? Gilroy, CA is known for its Garlic Festival. Las Vegas, NV is Sin City. Lake Placid, NY is the Winter Olympic town. Nashville is known for its country music. Woodstock, NY focuses on its hippie heritage. Ely, MN is known as the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. Rochester, MN is the home of the Mayo Clinic. Roswell, NM is the home of Area 51, UFOs and space aliens. Napa, CA is known for its wine. Palmyra, NY is where Joseph Smith received the vision that led to the Mormon Church. Ketchum, ID is the home of the Sun Valley ski resort. And Branson, MO is known as a family vacation town that features country music.

Once you have figured out to whom your town should most appeal, what it offers to attract those people and what it stands for, then you must begin the work of reinforcing the brand’s promise at each point of customer contact. This can be done in many ways.

Signs and street banners can reinforce your municipality’s unique promise. So can additional amenities that deliver on the promise. Lake Placid uses the following to reinforce that it is the Winter Olympic town. The ski jumps can be seen from miles around. Tourists can ride a bobsled or a luge rocket year-round. The shared Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain logo is a stylized Olympic torch and the road to the Whiteface Mountain ski area is lined by flags from countries throughout the world. Lake Placid has the 1932 & 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Museum and an Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) store. Its Olympic Center features four ice skating rinks and tells the story of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.” There are widespread rumors that many former Olympians either have homes in or visit Lake Placid. (I know this to be true.) And, of course, local merchants sell Olympic oriented souvenirs, even today.

In upcoming posts, we will focus on the awareness, value, convenience and emotional connection components of building strong small municipality brands.

For more on Place Branding visit here.

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