Place marketing is a general term that includes the work of many government and non-government organizations. What it comes down to is promoting economic development, by encouraging people to spend time and money in a specific location. That location can be anything from a small business district, to an entire country. These promotions can take many forms and include events, branding, promotional campaigns, and recruitment of conventions, cruise ships and large festivals.
Examples Of Place Marketing
Events
Holiday and shopping events are often used in business districts. Here’s an example of a holiday shopping event in Bellevue, Washington, SnowflakeLane.
Advertising for leisure travelers
Marketing campaigns that raise awareness of a place to potential visitors. Along with these campaigns comes the important responsibility of branding. Place branding is closely tied with place marketing. (Example: Pure Michigan Ads).
Convention recruitment
Conventions often bring many visitors for overnight visits and can last multiple days. There are business conventions for every hobby, professional specialty and religious and political affiliation imaginable. These conventions are often competitive to recruit. Here’s an example of convention marketing from Tacoma, Washington.
Who Does Place Marketing?
The most recognizable kinds of organizations that do place marketing are Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). These have also been referred to as Convention and Visitor Bureaus. These organizations’ mission is to drive tourism to their locations, with an emphasis on increasing overnight stays. While many people have little awareness of these organizations, there is almost certainly one working on your behalf, be it at the country, state, or county/parish level.
While these organizations are unique in that increasing visitor demand is their main focus, they are not alone in trying to grow tourism. Many public and private groups play a role.
City and County Economic Development Departments have a mission to promote business development in their areas. Part of this can be supporting district events and campaigns that encourage spending.
These organizations, along with Destination Marketing Organizations emphasize promoting local activities to “out of town” visitors. However, the definition of what is meant by “out of town” can vary. For Destination Marketing Organizations the rule of thumb is that the person must live at least 50 miles away to be considered a visitor. The rational being that they are more likely to spend the night, rather than be a day-trip visitor. This brings in spending from people outside the area.
Chambers of Commerce are also frequently involved in place marketing campaigns and events that encourage local shopping. Here there is not an emphasis on out-of-town groups. But insteadthe mission is to growcommercial andfinancialsuccuss forall businessesin their area.
Finally, business districts themselves often join together in coalitions to self-organize to create neighborhood business districts. These canbeinformal groupsofbusinessownerslocated in the same area. They can also be more formal groups,such as abusiness improvement district,ametropolitan district, anarts districtora recognizedneighborhood business district.
The main distinction between these organizations and Destination Marketing Organizations, is that their work is not as tied to overnight stays. But instead, they focus on building a vibrant community by helping brick-and-mortar storefronts gain customers.
