For the past 4 months, we have been advertising in other mountain communities, Banff, Canmore and Whistler, promoting Revelstoke as an “affordable and safe” city to enjoy mountain living. In addition to our spectacular natural scenery, one of our most attractive features as a community is our relatively inexpensive cost of living. In communities such as Canmore and Whistler, property values are extremely high, making it difficult for many residents to buy a house or even rent accommodation. Affordability is one of our key market advantages, and we are promoting this fact in markets we think will respond. We have already experienced success with this initiative, and have had several inquiries from people living in Canmore who are interested in relocating to Revelstoke. Our marketing campaign also led to a very favourable article which was printed in one of the Canmore newspapers earlier this month, and helped spread the word about our community as a great place to live.

In terms of business attraction, we have sent letters out to around 20 businesses located throughout the Kootenays and the Okanagan promoting Revelstoke as a good place to do business. The intent is not to “steal” businesses away from other communities, but to let businesses know that we are a good location to do business and are very interested in
working with them if they are thinking of expanding. We have also placed advertisements in several trade and investment publications which are distributed both provincially and nationally, again emphasizing our interest in bringing additional business and industry to Revelstoke.

With respect to international promotion, over the past year we have received several inquiries from people in other countries, Germany, England, Australia, the U.S., who are interested in moving to Revelstoke and setting up businesses. We think this is another good market in which to promote the community, and we have placed advertisements in several publications in different countries which promote immigration to Canada. We hope to expand this marketing initiative to other non-English speaking countries by translating our advertising materials and placing ads in other publications. We have also sent information packages about Revelstoke to a number of Canadian embassies around the world, highlighting the advantages of living and doing business in Revelstoke. Earlier this month, Mayor Mark McKee travelled to Korea and met with a number of investors and business owners and provided them with information on possible business opportunities in Revelstoke. We are looking forward to return visits from these businessmen to further explore these opportunities.

To be successful in any marketing effort requires persistence and consistent messaging. We are already starting to see the benefits of our marketing initiatives in the form of increasing inquiries to the Community Economic Development office and Chamber of Commerce about relocation and business opportunities in Revelstoke. We look forward to continuing and expanding our efforts to let the world know about all our community has to offer!

For further information on this initiative, or if you have other suggestions to help promote Revelstoke, please contact Alan Mason, Director of Community Economic Development, at 837-5345 or by e-mail at redc@revelstoke.net.

Alan Mason