LINCOLN, Maine — Come for the lakes. Stay for the lifestyle.
That’s the slogan designlab , a Medway graphic design and marketing firm, will use to shape an online, video and print advertising campaign dedicated to promoting Lincoln, town officials said Friday.
The Town Council voted 5-1 Monday to hire the company for two years for $44,000 to manage the campaign with guidance from town leaders. Councilor Jeff Gifford opposed and Councilor Curt Ring was absent. The money will be allocated from a TIF account, so the expenditure will have no impact on town taxes, council Chairman Steve Clay said.
Lincoln’s economy can use the boost the campaign will provide, Clay believes.
“In the way everything is going in the area, with paper mills and such, you have to be aggressive to try to attract people to come here,” Clay said Friday. “I think it will really open up the area to greater exposure.”
The population of Penobscot County has increased by 6.2 percent, from 144,919 to 153,923, since 2000, according to the 2010 census, but Lincoln’s population has declined since 1990. The town’s largest single employer, Lincoln Paper and Tissue LLC, laid off close to 200 workers in December 2013. Lincoln had 5,587 residents in 1990; 5,221 in 2000; and 5,085 in 2010, the census states.
Lincoln’s population decline is not as severe as in other nearby areas, and several stores have opened in town, but local businesses and populations are among the things that must grow continuously for the town to maintain a steady tax rate. Councilors cut nearly $600,000 from the town’s proposed $4.3 million operating budget this year to lower the town’s property tax rate only 56 cents, to $22.40 per $1,000 in property valuation, because of decreases in state aid.
They have said they don’t want to have to keep making such deep cuts.
Designlab will create a town advertising logo, a promotional video, brochures and a print and Web advertising campaign on social media featuring town attributes, such as its 13 lakes, prominent businesses and other tourism and economic development opportunities, according to Ruth Birtz, the town’s economic development coordinator. The town’s website, lincolnmaine.org, will also be redesigned.
“We want to have pics of people kayaking on lakes, bass fishing in the [Penobscot] river, snowmobiling on the trails or shopping someplace downtown,” Birtz said.
The idea, Birtz said, is to develop a theme by which the town would be known through Maine and beyond, much the way Ellsworth, Biddeford and Bangor have developed alluring identities. She said she hopes this effort would continue for many years.
“We have been told by marketing consultants that you have to have a consistent approach. You can’t just do a little bit here or there and expect it to stay in people’s memories,” Birtz said.
The company’s approach, Clay said, goes beyond promoting tourism in that it seeks to draw people here who likely would invest in the community if they like what they see. The company’s work will begin shortly.