Every corporate marketing executive knows the importance of partnerships and building alliances in the communities where they do business. With blocks and blocks of empty storefronts in cities across America, marketing professionals have an opportunity to participate in city revitalization projects in a meaningful way. By doing so marketers can create short- and long-term benefits for residents, businesses and visitors while reinforcing brand awareness and trust.
As strategists, we understand that getting involved means getting involved. That means holding conversations with community leaders – civic and business – to find out the history of the city and the residential and tourist demographic changes it has experienced over the years. This information is vital to get a picture of what investments will make a difference to have a meaningful impact.
Below are steps to take when considering a B2City marketing program to expand brand awareness and reinforce consumer trust.
Identify unused ground floor space.
Whether you control this real estate or not, your brand can benefit if you sponsor permanent or rotating tenants. Depending on the square footage, parking access or proximity to public transportation, this space can be rejuvenated to be utilized in a few different ways from creating popup programs or micro-retail businesses or as available space for groups to hold community events. Utilize what you can!
Participate in small business organizations.
Senior level marketing execs must find out for themselves what is going on. Reach out to leadership for one-on-one discussions and by attending meetings of local business groups like Rotary Clubs, Chamber of Commerce, CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions), minority business owner coalitions, and more. By learning first-hand what they need to overcome will make it possible to create opportunities for more people to build wealth in the community.
Design and invest in training and grant programs.
Most people want an exciting and vibrant downtown but don’t know how to have one! Help them learn by providing the investment for business owners, home-based entrepreneurs, employees and volunteers to be trained through an existing program by a recognized organization which may even have co-branding opportunities for your company to offer in multiple cities.
Engage with local officials.
Meet with local officials to learn their vision and to share your expertise. Bring your creative genius on the ways they could fill space with small-scale manufacturing and artisan businesses to food and beverage production like a neighborhood brewery. Encourage outside-of-the-box thinking and review policies to determine what modifications may be required to make the city economy vibrant again. Sponsor multiple annual and seasonal community events like day and night markets, artisan festivals and annual youth programs. Put your money where your mouth is to create a win-win partnership that will help bring their downtowns back!
Being part of a successful city revitalization will reinforce your brand and enhance your competitive positioning in hiring by making the area a great place to live, work and visit. Attracting top talent to your company is an excellent by-product of this B2City marketing initiative. It also has the potential to become part of the brand promise (and delivering on that promise) for major corporations who step up and take action. The time is now for B2B marketers to partner with cities and help lead the change.
Author
Get our newsletter and digital focus reports
Stay current on learning and development trends, best practices, research, new products and technologies, case studies and much more.
