Category:Electronic

Class:One

Vail Valley Partnership

Vail, Colorado

Synopsis:

Vail Valley Partnership, through our economic development efforts, sought to develop a strong business brand to attract and retain businesses in this unique area of the country well known for our tourism assets and ski mountains, but not recognized as a place to do business. The signature outcome of this effort is reflected on our new website

Our community never had a 'business' brand. Thus, the overarching goal of this project was to develop a cross-community brand that respects individual community identities while unifying the business brand message in Eagle County. The findings from this work helped to implement more successful brand messaging, marketing, and operational strategies for all the entities engaged in economic development throughout the County. Of note, the business brand encompasses and includes six different municipalities and three large non-incorporated communities.

The website tackles a few key issues facing our business community:

Several specific issues in Eagle County make it difficult to grow business in the valley. The obvious hardships of geography, terrain, weather, altitude, access to and cost of goods, access to affordable and qualified workforce all make conducting business here extremely challenging.

Two other significant challenges make business success in the valley especially hard. First is the extreme seasonality of the tourism and visitor economy, driven primarily by winter activities.

The second is more insipid but equally challenging. And that is the reluctance of the community to get attached to newcomers until they prove they are going to stay. That emotional investment from the community takes a number of years to earn. In the meantime, the newcomer is often on his/her own to figure out how to survive and thrive in this unique economy.

The budget of the branding exercise to develop the messaging and opportunity was $30,000; the budget to build the website itself was also $30,000.

Blog (newsroom) content is being utilized in targeted social media outreach and in chamber communications (newsletters, social media, newspaper columns) to drive awareness of the site and tools available.

Success in Eagle County requires adaptability and entrepreneurship. Staying power comes from access to resources and a deep, personal desire to make a life here in these mountains. VailValleyMeansBusiness.com - through resources (business services), storytelling (success stories and case studies), research (data center), and community spotlights - has helped build a business brand for the Vail Valley community and Eagle County as a place not only to vacation, but a place to grow a business, be successful, and provide access to the needed resources. Local towns and communities are embracing the "doing business" mantra and the site is attracting more visitors each month.