City of Blaine participates in online marketing program

The city of Blaine has partnered with a marketing firm to advertise the city online to potential visitors, tourists, residents and investors.

Earlier this year, the city entered into a partnership with CGI Communications, a marketing firm based in Rochester, New York. According to its website, CGI Communications helps municipalities get noticed by creating online video tours of cities and their local businesses.

CGI Communications recently created a series of five short videos about Blaine that can be viewed online at bit.ly/34p7IJq. The videos feature mayor Bonnie Onyon and city staff discussing reasons to visit or move to Blaine. The videos highlight Blaine’s economic growth, seaside location and proximity to major cities as well as its schools, community organizations and attractions.

According to Blaine city manager Michael Jones, there were no direct costs to the city to participate in CGI’s marketing program. The program is financially supported by local businesses, which can pay to place their logos on the webpages that the videos about Blaine are featured on. The companies’ logos link to their own websites or videos.

“It’s all part of our marketing effort for encouraging more people to come spend time in Blaine,” said Jones. “The videos are part of our ongoing effort for increasing our presence online to help with economic development and tourism and to help growth in the city.”

City staff spent time participating in the program by reviewing scripts, appearing on camera and overseeing CGI’s work in the city. Jones estimated that 30 to 40 hours of staff time were dedicated to the program in total.