Community Marketing Board launches with new director

In one of the first steps in the city’s effort to improve community marketing, Danielle Rogers was hired as the Community Marketing Manager at the end of December.

The manager position was created following several discussions by city council about the direction of the city’s marketing plan and its decision to bring the responsibilities within the Newton city government.

“I’m thrilled to start this new opportunity,” Rogers said. “It’s the perfect combination of my passion for this community, my marketing knowledge and my communications background. I can’t wait to work with the different entities in Newton to promote, market and share the great things that are happening in our city.”

In this role, Rogers works to advance the goals of the city and its partner agencies through the implementation of a cohesive approach to city branding, marketing and outreach.

Since Rogers took her new position, she said a lot of what she’s been doing has been with Newton Main Street, working on redoing the city’s website and making a plan on how to promote different community events.

“There is Newton Fest and Bowlful of Blues coming up,” Rogers said. “I have been stepping from the outside and into the inside, and I’m learning the ins and outs.”

Council also approved the five member Community Marketing Board, who will work with Rogers in the manager position. On the board is Mark Allen, Angie Bolinger, Ken Barthelman, Mike Farley and Cindy Smith.

At a recent meeting the board discussed a brand and communication strategy for Newton, reviewed the current city logo and discussed 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.

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.

“I hope that I can share the good news about things that are happening in Newton,” Rogers said. “There are so many good things happening in our community. I want to make sure to be present at a lot of these activities, and I want to make sure the growth of our community is alive and thriving.”

The boards meets at 5 p.m. every third Thursday of the month.

Contact Kayla Langmaid at
641-792-3121 ext. 6513 or
klangmaid@newtondailynews.com