Community Marketing Board begins work on 2017 plans

The Newton Community Marketing Board set its sights on the 2017 marketing plan during is second meeting on Thursday. The group discussed various portions of the plan including target markets, a brand/communication strategy and marketing goals.

Identifying target markets for city marketing was up first for discussion. Three groups had been identified previously by work through the Get to Know Newton campaign. They consisted of young families and young professionals, potential businesses and current Newton residents.

The board decided a big focus should continue to be put on young professionals and young families. Another area they thought might benefit Newton are retirees.

“Are we missing the boat on 55 to 60 year olds that are looking for that first place to retire?” board member Mark Allen asked.

City Director of Finance and Development Bryan Friedman shared information he gathered stating Newton would be a prime location for older adults in that age range looking to be close to family, children and grandchildren in the Des Moines area, offering a more low key environment while still being in quick driving distance.

The brand and communication strategy of Newton was touched on, with the group reviewing the current city logo and discussing words or phrases the city uses while describing Newton. Some of those include fun, community, convenient, family-friendly, safe, location, education, recreation and unique. The board decided to add vibrant to the list of describing words.

The meeting concluded with a discussion of the city’s three marketing goals. The goals are to use Get to Know Newton to elevate the community’s presence with the Central Iowa region, encourage a vibrant sense of community by supporting community events through promotional assistance and encourage a vibrant sense of community by engaging Newton residents with positive information about the community.

Ten ideas were presented for the first goal and the board ranked them as most important to least desirable. The top three ideas were event-based marketing campaigns, digital marketing and development guide while advertising with HIRTA and a having a booth at the Iowa State Fair ranked the lowest.

To begin work on the second goal, the board showed enthusiasm toward the ideas of Getting to Know Rising Stars, which would profile a young professional on the rise in Newton and connecting people with people through Newton Influencers.

“I feel marketing is a lot, especially social media marketing and sometimes local marketing, is tied to people,” city marketing manager Danielle Rogers said. “It is that relationship, someone’s face comes to mind when they are thinking about this and they know they can go talk to them, they are an expert.”

The group plans to continue working on the goals and the entire marking picture during its regular meeting at 5 p.m. every third Thursday of the month.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com