Help Uncover Our Community’s Authentic Story
The Branding Project
Gaston County Tourism (GoGastonNC) has recently begun a county-wide tourism branding and marketing initiative. Why? GoGastonNC seeks to enhance the County’s reputation, attract visitors, support economic growth, and foster community pride.
In an increasingly competitive world, destinations must clearly convey what they stand for—not only to visitors choosing the destination but also to residents and businesses. Doing so ensures long-term economic health and vibrancy, giving each audience confidence in their choice.
While this is a branding project for GoGastonNC as an organization, the brand must reflect Gaston County’s identity both as a destination and as a community.
The Gaston County story is defined by the people who spend their time here—living, working, and exploring. Each individual plays a part in defining this community, and their stories help us uncover the unique identity of Gaston County.
As we build the GoGastonNC brand, we will rely on a strong foundation of research to inform creative outcomes and implementation planning. We are currently in the Research portion of the project and look forward to uncovering and creating the GoGastonNC brand.
The Process
Research
We start by conducting research inside and outside of the community to uncover perceptions, attitudes, and what's unique about Gaston County as a destination.
WE ARE HERE
Creativity
We then transform the research data into compelling creative tools that tell the Gaston County tourism story and connect with residents, stakeholders, and visitors.
Action
Lastly, we will roll out the brand into the marketplace over time. The purpose of the brand extends beyond the tourism space and will be a point of pride and buy-in for local stakeholders, businesses, and Gaston County residents.
“How people think of a place is less tangible but more important than just about anything else.”
- Richard Florida,
Author & Leading Urbanist
FAQs
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Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not around. In other words, your reputation! Just like people or products, destinations and communities have reputations based on all the different experiences people have had with that community over time. Branding is the process of changing, clarifying, refining, or improving that reputation.
The first step in our destination branding initiative is conducting research to figure out what Gaston County’s existing reputation is. At the same time, we will conduct research to determine what Gaston County's greatest tourism strengths are. What makes this community special and unique? This allows us to look at what our reputation is and what we want it to be. Then, we come up with creative tools, strategies, and advocacy programs that help close the gap between the two.
A new brand won't solve all our problems. What branding can do is focus people on the positive differentiators in Gaston County, which can help us stand out as a preferred destination. The stronger and more defined our reputation, the more people will want to visit, spend, and live here.
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A brand may include a logo and tagline, but it is much more than that. Our brand is our unique story. It sets an expectation of what our destination is about and shapes what people think of Gaston County—from inside and outside of the community.
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People have opinions about Gaston County. We want to hear them all. And the only way to do that is to gather lots of data about the community. That data then becomes the primary driver for uncovering GoGastonNC’s brand. A statistically significant body of quantitative and qualitative research ensures the brand represents the perceptions of all audiences inside and outside the community.
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You can see numerous examples of destination and community branding on the website of North Star Place Branding + Marketing. This agency is GoGastonNC’s branding partner.
Get Involved
At the heart of Gaston County are the stories of the people who spend their time here—and we want to hear them all! Here are two ways for you to get involved throughout the branding process.
#AuthenticGoGastonNC
If pictures are your preferred way to tell your story, post a picture of you, your family, and friends at a favorite Gaston County hangout. Post pictures on Instagram or Facebook with #AuthenticGoGastonNC. The best pictures might even be used in a social media campaign associated with the rollout of the new brand!
Become a Brand Ambassador
If you have a passion to help with this process, sign up to become a GoGastonNC Brand Ambassador below. Ambassadors are kept updated on the project and given the tools to spread the good word about Gaston County within their own personal spheres of influence.
