Livability Marshalltown magazine showcases local activities and amenities
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The Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce is always looking for ways to showcase everything the community has to offer, and the Livability Marshalltown magazine is just the latest way the chamber is promoting it.
The magazine highlights many pieces of Marshalltown, including the 13th Street District, the numerous art installations throughout town, and the different outdoor recreational areas available for people to explore. Chamber Tourism Director Andrew Potter said it was created because they were in need of a new visitors guide, but the idea expanded from there.
"We also kind of wanted to have a guide that kind of doubled as a community marketing guide for livability, to show Marshalltown as not only a place to visit, but a place to live, and then all the amenities that it offers," Potter said.
To create the magazine, the chamber partnered with Livability Media, a company that specializes in creating community marketing content. In addition to providing an overview of the recreational layout of Marshalltown, the Livability magazine goes into detail about cost of living as well as educational opportunities and health care options.
Hard copies of the magazine are available along with digital copies, something that Potter felt would give it a wider reach and make it even more useful in reaching individuals outside of the community, especially because a link to the magazine is available on Livability Media's website.
Many different communities have Livability magazines that showcase local amenities, and all of those guides are on their website. So as people browse through the page, it's possible that Livability Marshalltown will pique their interest.
Potter said the hard copies of the magazine would be helpful to pass out to visiting conferences and conventions, and having them available at the library, hotels and other public places will spread awareness of the numerous activities and accommodations that are within the community.
"The people that visit town can learn about what Marshalltown has to offer and then, also, residents can kind of take pride in what's here and kind of help spread the positive messages about Marshalltown," Potter said.
Potter said the chamber aims to use tools like the Livability Marshalltown magazine and the promotional "This is Marshalltown" video, released earlier this summer, as a way to show community members and visitors that Marshalltown has a lot going for it.
"In any community that you've lived in, there's always some detractors. Well, we want to kind of drown those out. We want to have people know what Marshalltown is really about and know that it's a great place to live and a great place to raise a family," Potter said. "That's why it's kind of important to get the word out about what Marshalltown has to offer. So many people seem to, you know, if they're from the community, it's natural that they say 'Oh , there's nothing to do here,' but we want to show that, hey, there's trails, hey, there's lots of great facilities for athletic events. Marshalltown has a lot to offer."
Residents have the power to be Marshalltown's biggest cheerleaders, in Potter's opinion, and showing community members what's available to them is one of the best ways to get people to see that. Potter also felt that the storytelling aspect of the magazine was a definite positive, because readers have the opportunity to read about people who actually live in the community and have had good experiences.
In addition to this year's Livability Marshalltown magazine, Potter said there will be two more magazines published in the next couple of years to keep up with the ever-growing community.
Hard copies of the magazine are available at the chamber office, located at 1011 S. 3rd Ave., and a digital copy can be found at https://livability.com/marshalltown-ia-chamber-of-commerce?fbclid=IwAR2e9an7bkXtSC0cN4wkm5NatZ8iYV16rkiTvqxo3Ny7n-wQ0otha9F6cc0.
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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or
smeyer@timesrepublican.com.