by Ron Starner, executive director, Industrial Asset Management CouncilWhat is true of companies is equally true of communities. It is one thing to brag about yourself; it is entirely another if your clients do it for you.
This thought was reinforced the other day by reading two recent works on economic development marketing. One is the book Destination Branding for Small Cities: The Essentials for Successful Place Branding by Bill Baker.
The second is an article, "The Calf Rarely Brands Itself," written by Andy Levine for The IEDC Economic Development Journal.
Baker, president of Total Destination Management, has advised communities for more than 30 years on economic development branding and marketing. Levine, president and chief creative officer of Development Counselors International, supports economic development efforts through both marketing and public relations.
What the two have in common is the notion that successful place branding happens by design, requires a multi-faceted approach, and is best supported by the evidence of happy customers.
Baker says it well when he writes, "While local opinions are very important, it is vital for leaders to understand that their external customers are the final arbiters on what will define the most potent brand."
Levine puts it more bluntly: "What others say about you — not what you say about yourself — will build your brand," he writes in the winter 2008 edition of the Journal.
Successful companies have understood and practiced this truth for a long time. Campbell’s Soup, an Active member firm of IAMC, has for decades built a loyal following around its "Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!" advertising campaign. It’s hard to find a better testimonial than the satisfied taste of a smiling eater.
That is why the words of an influential corporate executive can be so valuable to a state or city. When a site selector endorses a location, the testimonial carries tremendous weight.
Consider this recent quote in Site Selection magazine from a satisfied company leader: "We like the location here in Merrimack Valley. We are located in the heart of a strategic biotech corridor that stretches from Southern New Hampshire to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This allows companies like ours to learn from each other, and it provides supporting infrastructure for our industry. This is a good location. We intend to stay here."
Chris Perley, managing director for IAMC Active member firm Wyeth in Andover, made those comments about Merrimack Valley, Mass., a region that is attempting to brand itself as a life-science destination on par with Boston and Cambridge. Whether or not Merrimack Valley ever reaches that "destination," it has accomplished a great deal in securing the endorsement of a global pharmaceutical leader like Wyeth.
Branding expert Baker is extremely perceptive when he writes, "A city’s most valuable real estate asset is usually not the largest buildings that form its skyline. Rather, it is the space in the hearts and minds of its customers where they store all of their thoughts, feelings and perceptions about the place."
This is true whether those thoughts are good or bad. One life-science executive told Site Selection last year that his firm chose to bypass a community for a project because "we were looking for some clarifications … and they were either not responsive or the answers were not what we wanted." Needless to say, those comments were not what the community wanted to hear.
Still, much can be learned from such feedback. In fact, one could make a convincing case that communities learn far more from frank assessments like the one above than they do from flowery words of praise. After all, how does one learn to change and improve if the target customers never point out what a community, region or state is doing wrong? Either way, notes DCI’s Levine, "in today’s world, there is nothing more powerful and credible than ‘word of mouth.’”
Think of it this way. When Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, Calif., "There is no ‘there’ there," those words stuck like glue to that community. The stigma may be grossly unfair, but the unflattering portrait lingers today in the minds of many.
That is why Rule No. 1 for effective place branding ought to be — interview your key customers, your leading employers, and find out what they really think about your area. A great place to start this dialogue is at an IAMC Professional Forum, where Active members often provide such feedback, whether as part of a session or in informal networking.
The Active members whom I interview regularly are quick to point out that they welcome these discussions with economic development professionals. After all, corporate real estate executives desire the best possible facility locations for their companies, and they know what it takes to turn a potential site into a done deal.
They also want to see their own communities be known as successful destinations, because they take great pride in their hometowns. If you doubt that, just ask Anheuser-Busch’s Scott Reed, past chair of IAMC, to talk about St. Louis.
His words, like those of his colleagues, can be worth their weight in gold.
