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Youth Engagement Update
August 2013
In This Issue
Four Steps to Attract Residents
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In October, we begin a series of interactive webinars on attracting alumni and newcomers. For more information or to register, click here.
 
Nebraska Rural Living is an excellent example of a web-based people attraction strategy, which draws in more than 40,000 readers each month!
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Over the summer, I have witnessed a significant upward trend in the number of rural community leaders expressing the desire to focus on people recruitment. Simultaneously, there is growing interest emerging among urban residents who are exploring the quality of life that smaller communities can offer. Therefore, I want to talk this month about four steps that we recommend communities pursue in creating an effective people attraction strategy. 
 
Four Steps to Attract New Residents to Your Community

The first step is to evaluate what your community's greatest strengths are. What is it that people most appreciate about your community? Do you have outstanding schools or health care services? Do you offer unique recreational amenities or natural features such as lakes, mountains or beautiful sunsets? Is your pace of life slower and rush hour traffic at its peak after home football games? Are you located within driving distance of a city with a college, arts and entertainment? It is important to start with your strengths so you can make the strongest case possible in attracting alumni and newcomers.

 

The second step is to identify who may be most interested in what your community has to offer. If you have great schools, you may want to focus on young families. If your strength is health care and senior living, your proper focus may be on older adults who are seeking a slower pace of life. Linking your greatest strengths with the audience interested in those assets will greatly enhance your potential for attracting people to your community.

 

The third step is to create an effective brand for your community that positively conveys your strengths to your primary target. This brand should include an attractive visual image and a memorable slogan that appeals to your audience. Your brand should convey an authentic message that delivers on what is promised.

 

A fourth step is to determine what vehicles to use in sharing your brand and message. For example, is your target market more likely to use social media or open a letter received in the mail? Might they respond better to an email or a handwritten note from a former classmate? Also, how are you going to respond in a timely manner when people express the desire to visit or move to your community? Thinking through this last item before you start your marketing campaign is strongly encouraged. From our experience, we have seen too many communities put out their shingle without recruiting and preparing a group of ambassadors, and their efforts ultimately failed to produce the desired results due to lack of follow-through.

 

If your community is seeking to recruit new residents I encourage you to attend our upcoming webinar series on people attraction and community branding. The three sessions, beginning in October, will be interactive and help you complete the steps discussed above to develop a plan that your community can begin to apply immediately.

 

If you would like to learn more about how the Center can help you put an effective people attraction strategy in place, please send me an email and let's schedule a time to visit by phone.

For more information about anything you've read in this newsletter, please contact
 Craig Schroeder at [email protected].