Knowledge Center
Marketing, Communications and Events
Place managers narrate and communicate the identity and outward facing mission of the place to residents, tourists, businesses, and other stakeholder groups, thereby communicating the place’s unique brand. By expressing the identity of the place, the brand should invoke a sense of place, leaving individuals with the intangible feelings that one gets when engaging with the authenticity of the place.
The brand is used to market the place to these various stakeholder groups, attracting and inviting them to live, work, play and invest in the place. A diversity of tactics are used to market a place ranging from events, messaging, online engagement, street-level activation and more.
South Side Pittsburgh Advisory Panel: Mission Update and Solving Community Challenges
IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel focused on creating a strategic framework for the South Side Local Development Company, assessing the viability of an improvement district, and providing expert insight on best practices for economic vitality. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.
Read MoreFresno Advisory Panel: Demand for a PBID
IDA’s Advisory Panels are a time-tested way to explore new ideas, solve difficult problems, and rally the board, staff and community around priority projects or topics. This panel was tasked with weighing the demand for a PBID and assessing the benefits and challenges of implementation. The report details the panel’s findings and recommendations.
Read MorePlace Branding Top Issues Council: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
More than merely marketing campaigns, Place Branding explores the features that make your downtown or urban space unique among others: those quirky spaces and interesting places that define your urban experience. The best practices, lessons learned, and surprising tips can assist planners in defining strategies for physical manifestations of their community’s cultures in public spaces.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!
Retro Districts: Leveraging Arts, Culture, and Heritage
In the resurgence of downtowns, cultural districts have become a highly effective catalyst for cultivating authentic mixed-use districts that encourage the people who have historically lived and worked in a place to be part of its future. Cultural districts can take many forms, but ultimately are successful because they are true to a place and its people. Learn about cultural districts augmenting the downtowns of San Antonio, Charlotte and Denver.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!
User-Tailored Tracking: From Data Collection to Stakeholder Presentation
Urban district management organizations do not always have technology staff capable of in-depth analyses and database development; if they do, they might collaborate with less tech-savvy partners who are responsible for data collection and tracking. This presentation explores simple and creative methods of collecting and sharing data that can be tailored to the individual user, while holding the safety and security of sensitive data to high standards.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!
Engaging Millennials and Shoppers in the Digital Age
Millennials have built a reputation as the digital generation and although convenience and price are critical to keeping these customers, their spending patterns and lifestyle preferences suggest they also place value on personalized experiences and brand authenticity, both, in-store and online. This session brings together experts in the field of downtown marketing, website development, and Facebook marketing science to share best practice on successful downtown and small business marketing.
Read MoreIf You Build It, They Will Come – Building and Promoting Your Retail Destinations
This session delves into attracting a consumer base in the changing retail environment through the creation of specific economic development initiatives and strategic destination marketing to drive traffic. Using two case studies, the Selden Market and Glebe Spree 150, Speakers will discuss the relationship between building retail spaces and promoting those places to draw consumers again and again.
Read MoreThe Neighborhood Your Brand Built
Managing a brand is just as complex, challenging, and occasionally joyful as managing a place is. In the age of social media and global competition, districts rely on brand to communicate their character and deliver impressions. Though varied in scale, geography, and governance, these districts share a common understanding of the vital role place brands play in expressing the essence of a location.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!
To Outsource or Not to Outsource: How to Monetize Events
Does your organization produce numerous events? Is it labor intensive and are you asking yourself should we be doing these events in house or outsource to a vendor? Attend this session and learn from practitioners with different perspectives on why they do events in house and/or outsource.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!
Trash Talks: Approaches for a Waste-Free Public Realm
The cleanliness of a neighborhood’s streets and sidewalks is one of the most visible metrics by which urban place management organizations are evaluated. BIDs get firsthand experience with the impacts of too much trash on budgets, pedestrian activity, and business retention. Practitioners will share learnings on moving towards a sustainable and waste-free public realm by partnering with property owners and businesses and implementing innovative solutions.
We’d love for you to see this member-only resource to help make a difference in your district. Make sure you are logged in or join IDA to learn more about how members get sh*t done!