From Blank Slate to Belonging: Making the Undefined Undeniable
The hardest part of economic development isn’t chasing funding or wrangling policy; it’s that most places don’t even register in people’s minds. Ask a roomful of people about your region, and you’ll get polite nods, maybe a vague “I’ve heard it’s nice,” or perhaps a tired cliché. Translation: they have no idea. Blank slate. No essence. No story.
That’s the quiet challenge of place marketing: not fighting competitors, but fighting obscurity. And that’s exactly where intentional brand strategy (not luck) makes the difference.
Detroit understood this challenge last week as the host city of the International Economic Development Council’s annual conference. The Motor City rolled out its best version of itself: the sun bounced off GM’s mirrored headquarters, the Detroit River sparkled, the Tigers and Lions won. Attendees who arrived with punchlines left with glowing reviews. Moments like these prove the potential every place holds, but only if they’re harnessed and amplified with consistency.
But here’s the catch: surprise alone isn’t a strategy. Left on its own, it fades as quickly as it appears. The real work of place marketing is transforming surprise into substance, anchoring fleeting delight into lasting identity. To create an image so definite and distinct that it occupies space in someone’s mind, whether that someone is a site selector, a convention planner or a tourist deciding between your city and another.
And you can’t market your way there alone. It takes cooperation, vision and discipline. Leaders who stop apologizing for what their city isn’t and start amplifying what it is. Communities willing to plant bold stakes about who they are and what they offer.
At Hart we’ve seen this play out time and again – from Toledo, Ohio, to Prince George’s County, Maryland. Visitors or site selectors arrive with low expectations, or none at all, only to be surprised by what they discover. That surprise is powerful. It creates an emotional shift, a new story they’re eager to retell. At Hart, we don’t just capture that surprise, we turn it into momentum that fuels economic growth, tourism and community pride.
So how do you do that, too? Here are four lessons we apply in our work with cities, regions and destinations:
Name your assets, boldly. Don’t assume people already know them. Say it. Show it. Repeat it until it sticks.
Sweat the moments of surprise. A sparkling river, a vibrant festival, a winning ball team – those moments add up to momentum. Package them. Momentum spawns reputation.
Align the storytellers. Economic developers, tourism boards, chambers, marketers know that fragmented stories vanish and unified stories endure.
Play the long game. Reputation isn’t built in a news cycle or a single convention. The real payoff comes when people start telling your story as if it’s their own.
The throughline here is simple, but demanding: identity isn’t discovered by accident. It’s built with intention. Surprise might open the door, but discipline keeps it open. When assets are named, when moments are harnessed, when storytellers are aligned, a region shifts from “undefined” to “undeniable.” That’s when place marketing stops being about chasing attention and starts being about earning investments, pride and lasting momentum.
From the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic to the most unexpected places, Hart has helped communities redefine their story. Let’s find yours.
If your region is ready to move from blank slate to belonging, let’s talk about how we can build the strategy, alignment and momentum to get there. Connect with us today to start shaping your place’s story into one that inspires investment, pride and belonging.
