The one thing that has been consistent with every community I have worked with is a desire for “more” and “better.” Seems simple enough, right? I sure wish it was. This one area of Poquoson’s governmental mission is unlike most traditional government services and in almost every instance, smaller localities are woefully under-resourced.

Poquoson is a small coastal city located on a peninsula in Virginia literally at the end of the road. When I accepted the position of city manager six years ago in the midst of the Great Recession, one of my main responsibilities was to jump-start its economic development program.

Like any good applicant would, I had studied the comprehensive plan, read the pertinent economic development plans, and was eager to hit the ground running. What I discovered, however, was that the city had no dedicated staff, no resources to speak of, and economic development efforts were almost completely reactive.

For the past several years, city staff and I, working closely with the city council and the economic development authority, have made great strides in the areas of economic development and marketing. Poquoson recently received the Virginia Municipal League’s Communications Award for community rebranding efforts.

If you, like me, are called upon to essentially create a high-quality economic development program in an extremely constrained resources environment, it is my hope that our experience, which I have broken into six overlapping stages here, offers helpful insights.

Stage One: Strategic/Resource Alignment. The birth of the city’s current program began at a council retreat. With the support of the mayor, I asked for the opportunity to engage the councilmembers in a discussion of their priorities, specifically economic development.

In my discussions with them, it was clear that economic development was in the top three priorities for each member. But unlike the other two, education and public safety, which were the city’s two largest budgetary priorities, economic development had essentially no dedicated resources.

If we were going to be successful in meeting the council’s expectations, we needed at least a small bundle of dedicated resources. The importance of this step cannot be overvalued. It required the staff and me to do something that can be unusual in the local government management profession. That is, admit that we would not succeed without help. To their credit, councilmembers responded affirmatively.

Stage Two: Assessment. We took a critical look at our efforts up to that time, changed unproductive strategies, and clarified goals and objectives. The main marketing strategy, for example, had been placing signs on properties and hoping someone would drive by and call with an economic development initiative. While this might be an effective strategy if Poquoson was located on a major highway, it is not particularly powerful when the property is in a remote location.

In another instance, we were meeting with an important prospect and much to my chagrin, our marketing materials consisted solely of a photocopied magazine article someone else wrote about Poquoson a few years prior. Clearly, marketing efforts had room for improvement and so did planning documents.

The economic development authority had a strategic plan located “somewhere,” and a marketing study and plan conducted a few years before for a main development area was on a shelf gathering dust. It was critical that before we moved forward, we carefully studied these previous efforts.

At the conclusion of this assessment, we brought forward a plan for economic development, which the council endorsed. This plan included implementation strategies for marketing, outreach, land development, and performance measurement.

Stage Three: Branding. One key aspect of any successful economic development marketing campaign is branding. What about your smaller-sized community is special, unique, or highly competitive? Whose attention are you trying to attract? What is attractive to this constituency? These are important questions to ask when establishing a community brand.

Ask yourself, or better yet, ask your residents and business owners: What is great about your community? Do this enough times and your brand will emerge. In this case, we learned that Poquoson itself was the brand.

Just as we had “developed” this brand ourselves, we also realized that given our limited resources we would need to develop all the supporting marketing materials in-house. Though you may not have a team of marketing professionals on staff, chances are staff members have experience marketing your community.

They could be employed anywhere in your organization, but I suggest you start looking first in the parks and recreation department, local library, and school system. I am proud to say that Poquoson’s award-winning marketing program was developed on several large pieces of butcher paper by the assistant director of parks and recreation.

Stage Four: Outreach. As noted previously, Poquoson is an end-of-the-road location on a peninsula. During my settling-in period as the new manager, I was often struck by the number of people I met who said they had never been to Poquoson even though, in many cases, they lived within a 15-minute drive.

Clearly, we were located close to a large, untapped market area. We began by reaching out to two groups—the commercial development community and residential realtors. In separate events, we invited them to the community to unveil our marketing program and to discuss the unique and special aspects of the community.

One of the highlights of the realtor event was a bus tour of the city when I told them about the community’s history, which in turn helped them to relay it to their customers who would be our future residents. Both events now occur on an annual basis.

We also hosted an extended visit and tour with the editorial staff of the local newspaper, sharing with them the many positive and unique aspects of Poquoson, including our economic development and marketing plans. As a result, we received some outstanding regional press coverage.

Another important element of our outreach plan was to engage with business leaders, asking them to help us “champion” the community. We also asked for their candid feedback and suggestions on how best to achieve the city’s objectives. The first big economic development project was a direct result of a referral from one of these business leaders.

A final component was to reach out to landowners in the city’s planned development area and facilitate a nearly year-long dialogue intended to give them the information and tools necessary to develop their properties and just as importantly, create an opportunity for owner-to-owner dialogue. As I prepared this article, the council was in the midst of considering the city’s largest ever mixed-use development project in the primary development area that is a direct result of this dialogue.

It is important to note that one of the first things we had to do was make it clear that the city had no interest in or ability to buy landowners’ properties; meaning if their property was going to be developed, they would need to seek a private sector alternative. This understanding helped set the stage for all that has since occurred.

Stage Five: Marketing. As we began outreach efforts, we marketed our community as never before. We successfully built upon initial branding and marketing efforts by again looking for help internally to make things happen.

We were fortunate that one of the Economic Development Authority members happened to be an award-winning maker of short films. We used her expertise and contacts to produce high-quality aerial footage of Poquoson for which we have found many uses.

These include placement of short, quality-of-life spots in movie theatres across Virginia, promotional videos, and still images that capture our unique coastal community. We also expanded the city’s website and added the app EnjoyVA.com, which I encourage readers to try.

A little more information about the app: It was developed for about the same cost that was used in the past to print and mail a yearly business guide. My thinking was that most people would rather have something they can readily access from their cellphones rather than a guide left forgotten in a drawer.

Among other things, the app includes marketing videos, links to area businesses, an e-coupon section, a direct link to the city website, community recreation information, and residential and commercial property listings.

Since we had limited money to spend, we have had to be extremely careful in targeting marketing dollars. We have, for example, focused a good portion of our efforts on recreational boaters.

The thinking here is that water access is one of the community’s strengths, and we firmly believe that if recreational boaters visit us once, they’ll be hooked on our community. We are also keenly aware that in order for visitors to get to the waterfront, they must drive through the central business district.

One last word about marketing: The council and I recognize and appreciate the important role that every city employee contributed in making Poquoson a great place to visit and to live. The same can be said for residents and business owners. Everyone recognizes that collectively we are all ambassadors and cheerleaders for the city.

Stage Six: Organizational Alignment. During meetings with residents and business owners, we have actively sought feedback and suggestions on how we can better promote economic development. As a result we have changed ordinances, removed unnecessary barriers, and streamlined the development-review process.

The resultant changes have added speed and certainty to city processes. Another area of strategic alignment was in the tax code. A few years ago, the council eliminated the tax on boats. As a waterfront community that is heavily reliant on commercial and recreational boating, this was seen as an investment in Poquoson’s way of life rather than solely a tax issue.

Again, if your community is struggling with economic development, I hope this information will be helpful. My advice includes these priorities: Always look forward, use hidden talent within your organization, and change strategies that have not borne fruit.

Start first by clearly understanding the goal, be honest about the tools you need to achieve that goal, and build a coalition of the willing.