Why Did You Choose Indy?

My day job as a marketing guru for the Indy Chamber has led me down several rabbit holes of inquiry over the last six years. But there's one question that has filtered its way to the top of my mind on numerous occasions: how do we effectively share the story of the Indy region to those unfamiliar?

At face value, this appears a cut-and-dry scenario: increase earned media in other markets, develop messaging that can be shared and utilized by the community, collaborate with numerous partners, build more content assets to address story gaps. All these things are important and necessary, but by themselves miss the essence of the exercise. My friends at IndyHub continually note that "people make the city," and this is absolutely true. The only true way to connect with those unfamiliar with Indy is to share the stories of our amazing people.

Hoosiers (sidenote: we really need a word for citizens of the Indy region) are generally a humble people. This attribute is admirable and respected. Yet as we prepare to share our collective stories with the masses to show others how great life in Indy can be, we need to let our civic pride shine through. This doesn't mean thumping our chest at every opportunity (though we could stand to do a little more of this), but prioritizing genuine personal storytelling.

Earlier this week myself and the incomparable Liz Huldin challenged the Indy Chamber staff to take 15 minutes from their week and think about why they chose the Indy region. I then followed up with an action item: choose a social media platform they're comfortable with and create a post that shares a piece of this story using the hashtags #LoveIndy, #IndyRegion, or #BeAnIndyFluencer. This is a simple exercise, but an opportunity to connect their peer network with their personal narrative and inspire others to do the same. Here's an example of my journey. I was overwhelmed and encouraged with the thoughtful and engaged responses from our staff.

So here's the point of this article: why did you choose Indy? Take 15 minutes, consider all the facets of your story, and share a piece on the social media platform of your choosing. Many of us didn't grow up here, and some of us have seen the change in this community from childhood to adulthood. No matter the perspective, your story is valuable. I'd encourage you to share it.

Bonus: check out this amazing video on the daily life of Joshua Driver of Selfless.ly pulled together by Techpoint: