The Chamber, EDC, CVB, and City walk into a downtown bar. No punchline here. Each of these entities speaks on behalf of their community, albeit to different audiences. But the successful ones understand a universal truth in community branding: Audiences just don’t care. In fact, audiences assume and expect a community’s message to be cohesive and consistent, especially site selectors who want to see that you can get along and deliver certainty. They don’t care about politics, egos, creative individualism, or boundaries. If you spark their interest, they want to learn more, and they want it to be easy. If you don’t deliver, they move on. And that’s not funny.

With resources usually scarce, all of these entities need to maximize their efforts. So why not get a collective head start by having everyone advance each other without all the heavy lifting?  North Star has been facilitating this for decades with communities. Community brands that are the most successful are those which are based on a strong strategic foundation. And among those, we find that communities that can integrate as many partners as possible enjoy the greatest momentum and longevity. It’s math really. If it takes 6 times for a message to resonate, then 6 integrated, collective voices will accelerate your return on message enhancement.

North Star has witnessed over the years that a byproduct of coming together is working together. But as we all learned in grade school — Don’t tell me. Show AND tell me. So we will step out of the way and let communities make the case. Last summer, we introduced you to the Sioux Falls “Where Extra Is Ordinary” brand. Get a refresher here:

https://northstarideas.com/case-studies/sioux-falls-sd/

https://northstarideas.com/with-a-little-self-promotion-sioux-falls-will-change-the-headlines/

We learned in the Research phase with Sioux Falls about their commitment to One Sioux Falls: teamwork on behalf of the entire community which was demonstrated in spades in 2020 with leadership and entities and residents coming together to help with housing, food, job assistance, and all of the challenges laid bare in the pandemic.

Back to Show and Tell. Take a listen to Sioux Falls partners talk about their commitment and collaboration in celebrating One Sioux Falls. We are proud of the strong Sioux Falls family brand.

https://www.facebook.com/70732361648/videos/642872916553564