BIG RAPIDS — The Big Rapids city commission approved a resolution adopting a marketing strategy for the city during a recent meeting.
The resolution states the marketing plan was created as part of the city’s efforts to obtain status as a certified Redevelopment Ready Community through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The marketing plan aims to guide the city’s marketing efforts through 2027 with the first half of the plan evaluating the physical assets, resources, partners and branding guidelines that are currently in place. The latter half of the plan recommends goals and actions that can be implemented to expand the city’s marketing efforts.
“This is something that city staff has talked about a number of times, and is a step forward for the city,” city manager Mark Gifford said.
Community development fellow Jesse Black spearheaded the development of the marketing plan, along with a steering committee consisting of city staff, representatives of Ferris State University and community business leaders.
Black told the board the steering committee gathered input and feedback related to resident’s patronage of the downtown businesses, including a survey, which asked questions about resident’s favorite aspects of the downtown area, shopping habits in downtown shops and recommendations for improvements.
“The input from the 193 respondents provided insights and helped shaped the development of the marketing plan,” Black said.
Some recommendations from the marketing strategy include hiring a marketing director, coordinating with the Downtown Development Authority, and coordinating with the FSU marketing program to implement and continually evaluate the plan.
The marketing strategy contains a series of goals and action items to guide the city’s development decisions.
Goals:
- Attract new residents to the city with a focus on younger families and professionals; encourage existing residents to be active in their community.
- Increase communication between the city and residents on essential updates, community events, etc.
- Support existing businesses, attract new businesses and increase awareness of downtown vacancies for businesses looking to relocate/expand.
- Attract new visitors to the city with a focus on outdoor recreation enthusiasts and university constituents.
- Attract new development to downtown Big Rapids with a focusing on retail, dining, and activity-based businesses; encourage additional investment from existing businesses.
Action Items:
- Continue to work toward completion of the Redevelopment Ready Communities certification through the MEDC. Once completed, work with the Mecosta County Area Chamber of Commerce and Mecosta County Development Corporation to spread the word via the website, social media, traditional media.
- Create an economic development webpage on cityofbr.org for marketing the Redevelopment Ready Sites. Market priority redevelopment sites via the Mecosta County Development Corporation and MEDC.
- Facilitate coordination between the Downtown Development Authority, the Downtown Business Association, the Big Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the Mecosta County Development Corporation.
- Coordinate events calendars to be housed on the Big Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau website; engage with social media amnd create professional photos and videos to promote the area.
- Engage with the Michigan Main Street Program and as a newly designated Pure Michigan Trail Town, work with MDNR, Friends of the White Pine, and others to promote this designation and create a plan for installing Pure Michigan signage.
- Update the city’s master plan to include the development strategy.
The board approved city staff looking into hiring a marketing director during a meeting in October.
To view the city’s Marketing Strategy visit cityofbr.org.
