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Exploring how US cities use budget documents as marketing and public relations tools

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Abstract

Cities globally are focusing on place branding to set one locale apart from another. Normal touch points, such as websites, fliers, magazines, brochures, press releases and more are used often. One document not typically thought of as marketing or public relations piece that could extend the place brand is the municipal budget. The document, not the process necessarily, offers an opportunity to extend the place brand. In this study, 20 US cities were examined to understand variation among cities when presenting budgets. Findings revealed that, although cities are using the documents to a certain promotional extent, there still remains room for innovation in the area of budget book presentation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Mississippi State University, 190 Bowen Hall, Starkville, 39762, MS, USA

    Staci M Zavattaro

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  1. Staci M Zavattaro
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Correspondence to Staci M Zavattaro.

Appendix

Appendix

Budget websites for comparison

City of Albany, NY – http://www.albanyny.org/Government/MayorsOffice/Budget.aspx

City of Anaheim, CA – http://www.anaheim.net/title/Finance/Financial%2FBudget+Documents/

City of Billings, MT – http://ci.billings.mt.us/index.aspx?nid=475

City of Charlotte, NC – http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Budget/Documents/FY2011%20Strategic%20Operating%20Plan.pdf

City of Chicago, IL – http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/obm.html

City of Coral Springs, FL – http://coralsprings.org/Budget/index.cfm

City of Denver, CO – http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/9/documents/2012%20Adopted%20Budget/2012%20BBOOK-Final%20pdf%20online%20copy.pdf

City of Frankfort, KY – http://www.frankfort.ky.gov/city-budget-2012-13

City of Kingsport, TN – http://www.kingsporttn.gov/?q=budget-department

City of Las Vegas – http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/files/CLV_Final_FY_2012_Budget.pdf

City of New York, NY – http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/past_budget.shtml

City of Orlando, FL – http://www.cityoforlando.net/admin/omb/index.html

City of Parkland – http://www.cityofparkland.org/index.aspx?NID=93

City of Phoenix, AZ – http://phoenix.gov/budget/index.html

City of Reno, NV – http://www.reno.gov/index.aspx?page=2302

City of Roanoke, VA – http://www.roanokeva.gov/85256A8D0062AF37/CurrentBaseLink/N25LTPRK357CFIREN

City of St. Paul, MN – http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?nid=199

City of Sunnyvale – http://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/FIN/FY%2012-13a%20Volume%20II.pdf

City of Tamarac, FL – http://tamarac.org/index.aspx?NID=193

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Zavattaro, S. Exploring how US cities use budget documents as marketing and public relations tools. Place Brand Public Dipl 9, 31–47 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2012.26

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