Source: Novyny Poltavshchyny
On January 24, Poltava City Council held a regular meeting of the working group on marketing strategy. Tetyana Yurchenko, Deputy Mayor on Economic and Social Affairs, held a meeting which was devoted to positioning of the modern image of the city.
Representatives of departments and divisions of the executive committee, City Development Institute, local public and business organizations were also involved in the discussions.
Poltava Marketing Strategy is represented by a set of actions aimed at implementing and promoting the interests of local residents, events that will contribute to the formation of Poltava’s positive image and creation of comfortable environment for the life of citizens. It is being developed together with the PLEDDG experts.
At the regular meeting of the working group, the structure of the city’s marketing strategy, the shaping of information products and basic key messages for certain target groups were discussed. The participants also identified appropriate communication channels and considered the issue of developing a comprehensive information policy for the development of the city.
In particular, Tetyana Yurchenko noted that development of the city’s marketing strategy is a powerful impetus for Poltava’s development, increasing its level of tourist attractiveness and recognition:
“Today, all experts and specialists demonstrate their achievements so that in the future it will be possible to implement the next part of the concept and, accordingly, implement the second step – the development of the city’s own brand. We try to create the best possible image of Poltava, which will contribute to the sustainable development of the city, attract internal and external investments, increase the number of jobs and increase the overall attractiveness of our city for both citizens and guests of Poltava”.
PLEDDG project consultant Volodymyr Proskurnin said that during the development of the city’s marketing strategy, various aspects of Poltava’s activities have been taken into account: investments, tourism, and internal identification of the city.
“We spent a lot of time developing the city’s brand concept. It is a significant part of the marketing strategy and includes: the city’s brand idea, values, and design”.
First Deputy Mayor Igor Fediy also joined the discussion. He noted that the marketing strategy should help Poltava not only increase the number of visitors to the city, but also solve the problem of comfort of life for Poltava residents.
“The city should position itself not only as an attractive tourist center, but also as a business center that is ready to cooperate, introduce innovations, attract not only sponsors, but also a wide range of the public to the formation of artistic and cultural life. To achieve this goal, marketing communication is important, because without this it will be difficult for us to present ourselves as an open and attractive city. In addition, by creating a bright and recognizable brand of the city, we will be able to develop an intercultural dialogue to demonstrate the advantages of Poltava successfully”.
Now the city’s marketing strategy provides for Poltava’s positioning, namely:
- urban environment and infrastructure (brand visualization);
- cultural environment of the city (consolidation and revival of the brand);
- regulatory and institutional environment (brand management).
The next stage is marketing communication and promotion of the city’s brand:
- creation of information products for marketing communication (tailoring of messages for target groups based on basic key messages; development of a system for visual and verbal identification of the city; development of targeted information products with a variety of content, in particular in foreign languages);
- communication with target groups (optimization of the target audience list; expansion of effective channels of influence on target audiences; development of promotion campaigns).
Moreover, the working group has discussed the creation of a slogan and unique symbols that will become successful components of Poltava brand.
The city’s marketing strategy is designed to increase the competitiveness of Poltava, identify the city and helps to create all the conditions for increasing the potential of Poltava and its residents.
