The key to successful district marketing is the local businesses. We partnered with Economic Development staff and created the Lakefront Accelerator to assist local shops and restaurants and help them each step up their own branding and marketing. We held regular business owner roundtables to uncover ways we could help and coordinate with them, and each month businesses could apply and be selected to receive free consulting and $1,500 in marketing services. This included professional photography, graphic design and digital marketing — giving them the tools they needed to continue marketing on their own.
