The City of Marshall has launched an intensive branding program designed to discover, define, and design the City of Marshall. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to attract businesses and visitors to the city and to promote quality of life for existing residents.

City branding is the use of marketing techniques to give a city a unique identity in the minds of citizens, visitors, companies and investors. The thoughts and associations that come to mind when people are exposed to your city’s name is heard or read can have huge financial, political, and social value. When the city’s image is not clear or may have a negative reputation, the loss of jobs, business or residents result.

Some essential questions that will be answered by branding are:

• What do we want to be known for?

• How can we stand out from other choices and be more competitive?

• What thoughts and feelings do we want to come to mind when people are exposed to our community’s name?

To bring outside objectivity to the project, the City of Marshall has partnered with Nashville-based North Star Destination Strategies. North Star has helped develop community brands for more than 200 communities in 45 states nationwide.

Branding is a staple in the business world that strengthens a company’s image, launches a new product, or builds customer loyalty to a service. Increasingly, the public sector is looking at branding tools beyond traditional marketing.

Many communities are including a branding component in development planning and economic development strategies. Incorporating branding strategies in development planning provides communities with a better way communicate community goals.

Engaging in a branding plan before development plans can be a strategy to align a community around a common vision. The public sector often battle the perception that communities are “reacting” to development proposals rather than being proactive about the future. Fortunately, a clear message about what a community is about can alleviate that concern.

Logos and taglines are merely tools to implement a brand. A true brand will guide the city in all aspects of the city’s marketing enabling residents, business owners, investors and visitors to speak with one voice consistently. To further this one voice, the partners supporting this branding campaign in addition to the city include our Economic Development Authority, the Convention Visitors Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce and key corporate and business supporters.

The branding process by Northstar includes research, strategy, and creative development. To begin, qualitative and quantitative research will be conducted. This research includes an assessment of the environment; perceptions of visitors, neighboring communities, residents, and stakeholders; and a review of current communications and the competition. North Star will also ask the community for their input via survey tools that will be made available to the public.

Cities and regions of all sizes now find themselves competing more fiercely for attention, relevance, and economic wellbeing.

Perceptions, whether accurate or not are the reality for external audiences who may be searching for a place to visit, study, invest, or relocate.

While community and civic leaders may debate and procrastinate over the issue of branding and marketing their community, those who actively value their city image soon recognize that developing and managing an attractive brand identity is not an option for their community, it is essential.

— Sharon Hanson is the city administrator for the city of Marshall