How To Market Your Community

14 April 2015

What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value…Yi-Fu Tuan1

The human being, by his mere presence, imposes a schema on space…Yi-Fu Tuan1

…an unknown physical setting is a “blank space” that

only becomes a “place” as it is endowed with

meanings through lived experiences.

Place involves meanings and values that nurture intimate connections with particular geographical areas.

Community ConnectionsWhat connects people to your place?

…outside interests have a role in shaping cognition, through shaping the physical landscape, through interpretation of the

landscape…

Richard Stedman 20022

Interpretive planning constructs a thematic framework overlaying space and time.

The interpretive framework includes not only an inventory of places and resources

(such as rare species or biodiversity) within a space, but also identifies a diversity of

meanings and values associated with each place.

…the visitor’s chief interest is in whatever touches

his personality, his experiences, and his ideals…

Freeman Tilden3

“…to reveal the beautiful truths that

lie behind the appearances.”

Freeman Tilden

Interpretation Informs Marketing!

Community Connections

What makes your place special and like no other?

o Place attachment is a positive emotional bond with a setting.

o Place attachment is the extent to which an individual values or identifies with a particular environmental setting.

o Place theorists speculate that individuals who are emotionally, psychologically, or functionally attached to a place will act to protect that place.

place attachment

Place Satisfactiono Once of the factors that can play a role in the formation of place attachment is satisfaction with a place.

o If an individual is satisfied with a park, he or she will likely return to that park if the opportunity presents itself.

o Repeated visits build meanings and values associated with the park.

…individuals who are emotionally, cognitively, or functionally attached to a place will act to

protect that place.

Conservation and environmental actions are generally focused on environment rather than place.

…we are willing to fight for places that are more central to our identities…this is

especially true when important symbolic meanings are threatened by prospective

change…

Richard Stedman2

Community ConnectionsWhat are the symbolic meanings inherent to your place?

message and medium

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All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values…Marshall McLuhan

House Senate

The Political Paradox

Eight percent (8%) of likely U.S. voters thinkCongress is doing a good or excellent job.

Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be…

Marshall McLuhan

experiential branding

Brand

A unique and identifiable symbol, association, name, or trademark which serves to differentiate competing products or services. A brand is both a physical and emotional trigger to create a relationship between the public and a community.

experiential branding

• Brand Attributes

Functional or emotional associations that are assigned to a brand by its customers and prospects. Brand attributes can be either negative or positive and can have varying degrees of relevance and importance to different customer segments.

brand attributes

Brand Attributes portray a brand’s characteristics. They signify the basic nature of brand. Brand attributes are a bundle of features that highlight the physical and personality aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or presumptions. Brand attributes help in creating brand identity.

experiential branding

• Brand Elements

The characteristics of the brand. These are what the community or region aspires to or actually is. These include the brand name, logo, slogan, packaging etc.

experiential branding

• Brand Image

A unique set of associations within the minds of target customers which…

– represents what the brand currently stands for,

– and implies the current promise to customers.

Brand equity is the sum of all the hearts

and minds of every single person that

comes into contact with your [space]…

Christopher Betzter

experiential branding

• Brand

– A Brand is a Promise

– A Brand is a Guarantee

– A Brand is an Aspiration

– The Experience is the Brand

A brand name is more than a word. It is the

beginning of a conversation.

CONNECTING PEOPLE TO PLACE

We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us…Marshall McLuhan

The medium is the message…Marshall McLuhan

It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame...

Marshall

McLuhan

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Media

Message

Traditional Technologies

• Print

• Radio

• Television

• Interpretive Signage

• Interpretive print (guides, brochures, maps)

• Audio guides

Traditional Digital Media

• Web

• Weblog

– Itineraries

– Maps

– Guides

– Audio

– RSS Feeds

Emerging Media

• Google Earth

• Location-aware media

• SmartPhone apps

• Codes/Tags

• QR

• Streaming

• HTML 5

• Emerging hardware

• Transponders

Smart Phones

• Stream (web-based)

– Web

– Download (pdf)

• Apps

– IPhone

– Android

– Blackberry

the sustainable tourism cluster

Most of our assumptions have

outlived their uselessness.

Marshall McLuhan

Tourism is a means to an end

rather than an end in itself…

Sustainability is relative to your current

condition…

Ecology

EconomySociety

Sustainability

The Hedgehog Concept

Passion

Power

Proficiency

Profit

Venue/Resource

Food, Lodging, Transportation

Rental

Outfitter/GuideRetail

Wholesale

Manufacture

Tourism linkages

Tourism Sector

Primary G&S

(FL&T)

Secondary Goods & Services

Tertiary G&S

Peripheral G&S

Resources (linked)

• Outdoor Foundation Topline Report

• Measuring Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation

• US Cultural and Heritage Travel

• Economic Impacts of Tourism by Daniel J. Stynes

• 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation

Resources

• Anderson, Chris. 2006. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. Hyperion.

• Artz, G. (2003) Rural area brain drain: is it a reality? Choices, 4: 11–15.

• Florida, Richard. 2002. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life. Basic Books.

• Jacobs, Jane. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House.

• Liu, A. (2006). Tourism in rural areas: Kedah, Malaysia. Journal of Tourism Management, 27(5), 878-889.

• McGranahan, D.A., T.R. Wojan, & D.M. Lambertz. (2010). The rural growth trifecta: outdoor amenities, creative class and entrepreneurial contexts. Journal of Economic Geography, pp. 1–29.

Resources

• Plane, D. A., Henrie, C. J., Perry, M. J. (2005) Migration up and down the urban hierarchy and across the life course. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102: 15313–15318.

• Saiz, A. and G.A. Carlino. 2008. City Beautiful. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3778.

• Sebele, L. S. (2010). Community-based tourism ventures, benefits and challenges: Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust, Central District, Botswana. Journal of Tourism Management, 31(1), 136-146.

• Simpson, M. C. (2008). Community Benefit Tourism Initiatives - A conceptual oxymoron? Journal of Tourism Management, 29(1), 1- 18.

Resources

• 2Stedman, R.C. 2002. Toward a social psychology of place: predicting behavior from place-based cognitions, attitude, and identity. Environment and Behavior. 34(5): 561–581.

• 3Tilden, Freeman. 1957. Interpretiving Our Heritage. University of North Carolina Press.

• 1Tuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place. The Perspective of Experience. 1977. University of Minnesota Press.

• Wilson, S., Fesenmaier, D., Fesenmaier, J., & Van, J. C. (2001) Factors for Success in Rural Tourism Development. Journal of Travel Research, 40(2), 132-138.

Ted Lee Eubanks, Founder and President

PO 5485

Austin, Texas 78763-5485

(512) 391-0095

www.fermatainc.com

tedleeeubanks@fermatainc.com