“Manchester has Concord-envy.” Those words were spoken to me on Elm Street a week ago. And it was not too long ago that saying the Queen City, with its reborn Millyard, amazing eateries, and world-class museums, would ever be envious of Concord would seem possible. But, the times are changing. Concord’s Main Street Project was a leap of faith, and one I was proud to be a part of. Now, the next stage begins, to take the good news of what is going on in Concord and tell its story farther afield. We have what we need with a revitalized downtown, a fresh streetscape slowly filling with public art, new shops, apartments, cultural venues, a hotel and eateries. Yet, each weekend thousands of tourists drive by having no idea of the good things happening in Concord. To get the word out, the Concord Chamber’s Creative Concord Committee has done a great deal of work. We launched a wonderful new blog at www.visitconcord-nh.comhighlighting news, ideas and the art. We added Instagram to our field of social media of Twitter and Facebook. All told we are reaching more than 25,000 each week. Plus we created a promotional rack card to get the word out on the site and social media assets. Our outreach is not only helping people planning a trip to consider Concord, but also helping locals to feel and share a sense of pride in their community.
All this on a tiny budget and a lot of volunteer work. Impressive marketing results for a city that 10 years ago seemed a bit sleepy. So, what’s next? Well, we can use your help! We need blogs. Look at this as an article on some aspect of life in Concord, written in a variety of styles but with the same underlying positive message. We need help sharing and spreading our articles and posts around so others can see them. And, we need consistency of message – we need to get the word out in once clear voice that Concord is the capital of creativity, a fun and thriving city with a host of arts ventures, and great locally owned shops and eateries.
We built it, and they are coming – but the image and message are ours to craft or be created by others – so please pitch in, and lets share the good news.