If you build it, they will come?

By on February 16th, 2011 In Marketing, PR Fail

Cityscape: Is it the new Arizona Center? (As in FAIL).

This question was brought up to me last night when talking about Downtown Phoenix. It’s a valid concern, and timely in the light of the recent blog post in the New Times about the LGO Public House pulling out.  I hear mixed opinions about Cityscape’s opening, especially from downtowners.

Some people say it’s going to bring more life downtown, more business, boost the economy- it’s great.  Others say the price point of the retail shops and restaurants is too high for the people that live downtown, and aren’t just there to visit. I guess that begs the question: Do they want more visitors, residents, or both? Should malls like Cityscape and the Arizona Center be built first in order to increase downtown home sales? Or should the homes themselves be built first in order to attract people to the malls?

Since that question probably has many answers and opinions- let me divert this entry a little bit to something that I can lend some insight to. This same question can also be applied in the agency world. When it comes to an agency, is it better to build up or out?

This is something I’ve been thinking about since beginning work at a PR agency. Is is better to expand our client list or to instead maybe jump on additional services we can provide to them? For example; talk an existing advertising client into adding a PR retainer, asking a PR client to add on social media services, or maybe advising a client who has all three to use us for SEO services- instead of an outside company. OR what if we asked a client to add VIDEO services to a PR CAMPAIGN. Imagine that! Maybe expanding  services  (for more money of course), rather than expanding the number of clients would actually be better for the bottom-line. This concept (along with the concept of serving a wide-range of clients) is something I hope to learn more about as I move forward in PR.

As far as Cityscape goes- the only thing I can say is, if we criticize something over and over (Downtown Phoenix) and want it to change, then we need to support that change when we finally see it. In marketing, we know that nothing is as powerful as word of mouth.  Instead of bashing Cityscape right away… saying it’s too this or not enough that, I hope people will give it a chance. Then maybe the next time around Downtown Phoenix will be what they want it to be.  Kind of like that Ghandi quote.

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