PROMOTION COMMITTEE

This element of the Main Street Four Points deals with marketing the district’s assets to residents, visitors, investors, and others through special events, retail promotion, and activities that improve the way the district is perceived.

Promoting Main Street takes many forms, but the ultimate goal is to position the downtown or commercial district as the center of the community and the hub of economic activity, while creating a positive image that showcases a community’s unique characteristics. To be effective this committee and/or project teams must move beyond cookie-cutter downtown promotion ideas. Specifically:

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 •  Understand the changing market - identifying both potential shoppers and the competition;

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 •  Identify downtown assets - including people, buildings, heritage and institutions;

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 •  Define Main Street’s market niche - its unique position in the marketplace;

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 •  Create new image campaigns, retail promotions and special events - to bring people back to downtown.

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 •  Create coordinated website, social media, and direct e-mail platforms

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 •  Develop, approve and publish a balanced annual calendar of promotional events that includes a mix of special events, retail and image events.

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 •  Evaluate promotional events - including information on number of attendees and impact in reaching program goals

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 •  Develop a media resource list

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 •  Conduct outreach / media relations activities including:

- Press releases  

- Print media columns

- Press liaison

- Feature articles

- Radio/TV talk shows

 •  Create a downtown business directory

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 •  Initiate and complete at least one special event

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 •  Initiate and complete at least one retail event

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 •  Conduct downtown image development activities including:

- Identify downtown’s assets

- Compile information about the marketplace

- Analyze data

- Match assets with market niches

- Write a positioning statement

- Conduct Image advertising (Examples: social media, newspaper, radio, TV, direct email, etc.)

- Develop collateral materials (Examples: entrance signs, banner, shopping bags, buttons, Tee-shirts w/ logo)

- Develop media relations (Examples: media kits, press releases, press receptions for major projects, TV, radio and newspaper interviews)

- Develop image-building events (Examples: downtown progress awards ceremonies, ribbon-cutting for new projects, “before and after” renovation displays)

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