Marketing a Rural Town | Ruthin
| Title | Services | Client | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitor Economy Building | Marketing | County & Town Council | Ruthin, North Wales |
Marketing a Charming Town
Ruthin, Denbighshire required a marketing action plan to invigorate and promote the Town to attract more visitors locally and afar. Ruthin is an old medieval market town, boasting the most historic buildings in Wales set within the most stunning landscape – but it was not attracting the visitor numbers it once did.
How
We set out with an action plan.
Firstly we set out forging new relationships with the labyrinth of different stakeholders in Ruthin, many of which were fractured and were not all working together. Together, and in agreement the stakeholders agreed the way forward for their town. This is always the essence behind how to create a great plan to drive footfall into the town like Ruthin, you always need the local people and ‘active’ local people to play a great part in the process.
What is special about your town? How we came to the strategy :
- research
- involving key people
- approaching community stakeholders
- organised workshops & focus groups
- action plan and consultation meetings
- place branding exercises
- mystery shoppers
- provided a support structure
We spread the word using PR, news articles, digital media, and local newsletters and word of mouth.
What We Delivered
A New Brand
A beautiful new brand was delivered through a consultation process involving all the community action groups, retailers, public surveys, town hall meetings and brand workshops. With this wide cross-section of the local community to unearth what was really special about their town and how they would like to see it presented to others.
What the Press said:
Vote for a new logo for historic North Wales town
New Events
If you want people to visit a place you need to give them reasons to come.
Therefore events became an important part of attracting more footfall to the Town. We revived the old Market and heavily promoted it, we worked on Christmas and we came up with new product concepts around Art & Artisan events to develop.
Results
As a result, a brand was delivered reflecting the town, and one which is owned by all. The brand and the marketing plan reflected the stunning landscape and townscape in a clear, contemporary and compelling identity.
The new publicity raised awareness of the town and helped put it on the map for tour groups and news visitors. Visit Ruthin Website
The new events helped local retailers with increase in footfall and sales.
The groups worked together and still do.
