Fort Collins is going to be branded. The objective is to send a consistent message to the world beyond why Fort Collins is a fantastic destination.
Some might consider this a silly exercise. Shouldn’t a great city sell itself? Do we really need spin doctors, slick advertisements, slogans or mascots to convince people to visit, spend their vacation dollars, and perhaps even stick around to invest in our community?
The marketing of Fort Collins need not be slick, nor suggest anything but the truth about our city. Still, given the energies and dollars spent promoting our community, the story we tell the world about our town needs to be impressive, and most important, told consistently.
It’s a worthwhile goal. Anyone with a stake in this community would benefit by more people knowing about Fort Collins and having a positive impression. Cities do have images, some positive and some negative, that influence whether people decide to visit, reside or otherwise make an investment.
Consider a few examples. As you read this list, focus on the first impression that pops into your mind: Orlando, Fargo, Akron, Santa Fe, Boulder, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Memphis, Des Moines, Cincinnati, Galveston, Branson, Colorado Springs and Birmingham. Your instant impression might be positive, negative, truth or fiction, and perhaps related to popular culture, history, a personal experience or a current event. Here are my first impressions of that list, but scrambled, just for fun: chili poured over spaghetti, hurricanes, civil rights, lefties, primary politics, wood chipper, Western art, the Blues, nothing, 500, Mickey Mouse, righties, “my city was gone”, subs, and big hair (curious about my mapping of cities to impressions? Visit www.gmackinney.blogspot.com)
What about Fort Collins? We might be surprised at the overwhelming majority of Americans with no impression whatsoever. From that thin slice of people with an impression, however accurate or erroneous, we might hear: dreadful winters, college town, Denver suburb, Rush Limbaugh and Dan’s Bake Sale, Rocky Mountains, military log fort, bomb in the bleachers, and greatest number of microbreweries per capita.
We know we are so much more. I’m bothered by the hodgepodge of impressions “outsiders” have of our town, if they have one at all. We are “under-understood” and misunderstood. That’s why it’s a good thing that the city, in partnership with a long list of local entities, hired a Nashville agency that focuses exclusively on the marketing of communities. Their process will determine what distinctive aspects of Fort Collins might form our identity to the world. I eagerly look forward to their findings, but meanwhile, I have a few distinguishing characteristics to throw into the discussion: mild winters, bike trails, crisp blue skies, active outdoorsy people, and the one-of-a-kind Old Town area.
As someone who does marketing for his day job, I’d like to make a suggestion to City Manager Darin Atteberry, who plays an important role in the branding project: get everybody on board. This community is riddled with government entities, associations, development authorities, bureaus and well-funded business people who all market Fort Collins in one way or another — all with the very best of intentions — but largely without coordinating their efforts.
If all of these groups support the outcome of this branding exercise, and commit themselves to tell a consistent story in their various communications, this project could be immensely successful. But if they ignore the findings and spin their own unique stories, as they’ve been doing so far, this will have been a wasted effort. As location-location-location is the number one rule in real estate, the number one secret for success in marketing is consistency-consistency-consistency.
