City Marketing: How Cities Stand Out In 2026

Not long ago, city marketing was mostly about tourism. A nice logo, a catchy slogan, and some pretty photos to convince people to visit. But from 2026 on, that’s not enough.

Cities aren’t only trying to attract tourists anymore. They’re also trying to attract new residents, remote workers, students, startups, big companies, and events. And they’re doing all of this while trying to keep the city a great place to live for the people who are already there.

City marketing aims at making people feel something about the city, building trust, and showing clearly what makes the place worth choosing. The most interesting fact about this is that practically every city around the world, no matter the size, is trying to adapt strategies and tactics to succeed on this discipline.

In this guide, we’ll explain what city marketing really means, how it’s different from city branding, what cities should focus on from 2026 on, and what trends will shape city marketing until 2030.

In this article

What Is City Marketing and Why It Matters

City marketing refers to the coordinated, long-term effort to shape, communicate, and manage a city’s image and value proposition to specific audiences. It’s about influencing behavior: getting people to visit, invest, live, work, study, or host events in your city rather than somewhere else.

Think of it as treating your city as a multidimensional product. Just like a consumer brand, a city has attributes that can be designed, positioned, and promoted. But unlike a consumer brand, cities involve countless stakeholders, diverse audiences, and long-term social consequences that extend far beyond quarterly sales figures.

City marketing in this era goes well beyond attracting visitors. Modern strategies focus on:

Attracting startups and corporate headquarters to strengthen the local economy
Drawing students and researchers to build knowledge clusters
Securing major events like UEFA EURO 2028
Retaining and attracting new residents in an era of remote work mobility
Improving global rankings such as the Global Power City Index

Why City Marketing Matters More From 2026 On

When city marketing is done well, the impact is very real. Cities see more visitor spending, a stronger tax base, new jobs, and, most importantly, a better quality of life for the people who live there. At its best, city marketing stops being just a communication effort and becomes a tool for long-term urban growth that benefits the whole community.

From 2026 onward, this role becomes even more important because cities are competing harder than ever. People can move more freely thanks to remote work and flexible lifestyles, which means cities are now something to choose, not something you’re tied to. At the same time, talent has become one of the main engines of economic growth. Cities that manage to attract skilled people often end up attracting startups, innovative companies, and investment as well. Add to that the speed at which reputations spread today through social media, reviews, videos, and constant online conversation. City marketing is no longer about “selling” a place; it’s about building trust, earning attention, and creating a reputation that holds up over time.

City Branding vs. City Marketing vs. Destination Marketing

These terms often get confused, but the distinctions matter for strategy and budgeting.

City branding is the strategic foundation that defines the city’s identity, values, and unique positioning. It answers the question: “What does this city stand for?”. Also known as place branding is the strategic process of building and managing the identity of a geographic location.

City marketing is the ongoing activity of promoting that brand to target audiences through campaigns, events, partnerships, and communications. It answers: “How do we reach people and influence their decisions?”

Destination marketing typically focuses specifically on tourism promotion, often at a regional or national level. It’s a subset of the broader place marketing discipline.

Understanding City Marketing: Scope, Audiences, and Goals

City marketing builds long-term reputation that positions a city favorably in the minds of multiple audiences, each with different needs and decision criteria.

The Main Audiences

Leisure tourists remain a core audience, but they’re just the beginning. Consider the full spectrum of people a city needs to attract and retain:

Business travelers and MICE attendees (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) who bring high per-day spending and often return as leisure visitors
Students and researchers, such as Erasmus students flocking to Lisbon or international graduate students choosing Melbourne
Remote workers and digital nomads seeking cities with good infrastructure, affordable living, and lifestyle appeal
Investors and businesses, like fintech firms evaluating Dublin or Berlin for European headquarters
Current residents who need reasons to stay, engage, and become ambassadors for their city

Each segment requires tailored messaging. What attracts a 25-year-old software developer to relocate differs dramatically from what draws a family looking for quality schools or a retiree seeking cultural amenities.

Some Examples of City Marketing Goals

Effective city marketing strategies set specific, measurable objectives rather than vague aspirations. Some examples might include:

Increase annual overnight stays by 15% by 2028
Attract 50 new technology companies within five years
Raise resident satisfaction scores from 72% to 85%
Improve a specific international Index ranking by 10 positions by 2030
Increase international student enrollment by 25%

Practical City Marketing Strategies from 2026 looking ahead to 2030

From 2026 on, city marketing will increasingly function as a long-term public strategy rather than a set of isolated promotional actions. Cities entering the next decade will need marketing approaches that support economic development, talent attraction, investment, cultural vitality, and quality of life, while remaining aligned with public policy goals and resident interests.

The following strategies outline how city marketing can be structured and strengthened between 2026 and 2030, with a focus on coordination, clarity, and long-term impact.

Defining and Communicating a City’s Value Proposition

A strong city marketing strategy begins with a clear value proposition: a shared understanding of what differentiates the city and why it is relevant to specific audiences. This positioning should be based on real characteristics that can be experienced and sustained over time, rather than aspirational claims.

Developing this value proposition typically involves assessing existing perceptions of the city, both externally and internally. Public surveys, media analysis, social listening, and visitor feedback can help clarify how the city is currently perceived and where gaps or misunderstandings exist. In parallel, mapping the city’s tangible and intangible assets such as cultural heritage, education, industry clusters, natural environment, infrastructure, and lifestyle helps identify themes that are both authentic and distinctive.

Cities that succeed in repositioning often align communication with visible urban change. Rotterdam, for example, gradually shifted international perception from a purely industrial port to a city known for contemporary architecture and design, supported by long-term investment in the built environment and cultural programming. This illustrates how positioning is most effective when it reflects lived reality and is reinforced by policy and planning.

Establishing Target Audiences and Clear Segmentation

City marketing is most effective when it is guided by defined priority audiences rather than a single, generalized message. Different groups engage with cities for different reasons, and each evaluates a city through its own criteria.

Short-stay visitors often prioritize accessibility, culture, and the ability to experience the city efficiently. Long-stay visitors and remote workers tend to focus on everyday conditions such as housing, mobility, safety, connectivity, and community life. Students assess academic quality, affordability, language, and future career opportunities. Investors and corporate decision-makers look for stability, talent availability, infrastructure, and quality of life for employees. Residents themselves are also a key audience, as their satisfaction and engagement strongly influence the city’s overall reputation.

Clarifying which audiences are most relevant to the city’s strategic goals helps guide content, channels, partnerships, and investment decisions, while reducing the risk of unfocused or contradictory messaging.

Building a Coherent City Brand: Identity and Narrative

A city brand is most effective when it functions as a shared system rather than a standalone visual exercise. This system typically includes a core narrative, visual identity, tone of voice, and clear guidelines that can be used consistently across public departments, tourism bodies, investment agencies, and external partners.

Successful city identities usually feel closely connected to the city’s character. Design choices, language, and storytelling tend to work best when they reflect values already present in the city, rather than introducing an abstract or imposed image. A consistent narrative helps external audiences understand the city more quickly, while internal alignment helps ensure credibility.

Documenting brand guidelines plays a key role in public-sector city marketing, as it allows multiple stakeholders to communicate within a shared framework. Without this structure, city messaging often becomes fragmented, weakening recognition and trust over time.

Strengthening Digital Foundations: Websites, SEO, and Search Visibility

Digital channels have become central to how cities are discovered, compared, and evaluated. Official city websites often serve as the main reference point for visitors, residents, students, and investors, and therefore need to function as reliable, accessible, and well-structured platforms.

From 2026 onward, effective city websites are expected to prioritize mobile usability, fast loading times, accessibility standards, and multilingual content. Structuring content around clear user needs, such as visiting, living, studying, or investing, helps different audiences find relevant information more easily.

Search visibility is increasingly important, as people tend to research cities through practical questions rather than promotional messages. Content that addresses real concerns supports long-term visibility and trust. While paid search can be useful around major events, sustained performance is usually driven by content quality and consistency.

Supporting Social Media and User-Generated Content

Social media plays a significant role in shaping how cities are perceived, particularly through informal and visual content. Rather than focusing exclusively on iconic landmarks, many cities are shifting toward everyday perspectives that highlight neighborhoods, local culture, food, seasonal rhythms, and community life.

Collaboration with local creators, cultural organizations, and residents often leads to content that feels more authentic and representative of the city’s identity. Encouraging user-generated content through shared hashtags or thematic campaigns can further amplify these voices, while also helping distribute attention beyond the most visited areas.

This approach not only supports more balanced tourism patterns but also strengthens the sense that the city’s story is shared rather than centrally controlled.

Maintaining Offline and On-the-Ground City Marketing

Despite the importance of digital channels, physical experience remains a key component of city marketing. Visitor information services, clear signage, and effective wayfinding contribute directly to how a city is experienced and remembered. Printed materials, city passes, and walking routes can still play a role when they are well-designed and integrated with digital tools.

Outdoor promotion in selected markets may support awareness around specific objectives, such as new transport connections or major cultural seasons. However, the most influential offline “marketing” is often the quality of the urban environment itself, including public spaces, transport systems, safety, and hospitality.

Using Events and Partnerships to Build Long-Term Reputation

Events and partnerships can significantly influence how a city is positioned internationally. Conferences, festivals, sporting events, and cultural programs create tangible experiences that generate media coverage, visitor flows, and long-term associations.

When events are aligned with the city’s broader positioning such as innovation, culture, sustainability, or education they can become recurring anchors that reinforce the city’s identity over time. This long-term approach tends to be more effective than one-off promotional campaigns, particularly when events also deliver value for residents and local economies.

Examples of Famous City Marketing Campaigns

Let’s examine specific campaigns that delivered measurable results.

“I Love NY”

Launched in 1977, “I Love NY” remains one of the most recognized place brands globally. The Milton Glaser-designed logo achieved something remarkable: making emotional connection with a city feel universal and accessible.

But the campaign evolved significantly after 2010. Facing competition from other cities and managing Instagram-driven overcrowding at iconic locations, New York shifted messaging toward diverse neighborhood experiences. The “I Love NY” umbrella now encompasses upstate tourism and outer-borough exploration, spreading visitors beyond Manhattan’s most congested sites.

Results: The campaign has generated billions in tourism revenue over its lifetime and inspired countless imitators. Its longevity proves that strong city branding can endure for decades with thoughtful adaptation.

“I amsterdam”

Amsterdam’s “I amsterdam” campaign launched in 2004 and quickly became one of Europe’s most successful city brands. The physical letters in front of the Rijksmuseum became an Instagram sensation.

By 2018, however, the city removed the letters. Overtourism had become unsustainable, and residents felt the marketing attracted the wrong visitors. Amsterdam pivoted toward messaging that discouraged bachelor parties and budget tourism while welcoming visitors who respect local quality of life.

Lesson: Even highly successful campaigns may need fundamental rethinking when circumstances change. The best city marketers listen to residents and adjust accordingly.

Building City Brands That Work for People and for the Future

City marketing is not a one-off campaign or a short-term fix. It is a long-term, cross-sector effort that sits at the intersection of economic development, communication, urban policy, and everyday life. The cities that succeed are those that manage to attract visitors, talent, and investment while protecting livability, supporting sustainability goals, and keeping residents at the center of the story. This kind of balance takes time, coordination, and consistent action.

For city governments, public agencies, and local stakeholders, effective city marketing means approaching communication as an ongoing process of listening, adapting, and working together. Promotion alone is never enough. Real progress comes from investing in the city itself (in infrastructure, digital services, culture, mobility, and quality of life) and then communicating those improvements clearly and honestly. Measuring success also requires looking beyond surface-level metrics, focusing instead on meaningful outcomes such as reputation, engagement, economic impact, and resident satisfaction.

From 2026 toward 2030, cities that combine ethical, data-informed marketing with inclusive urban development will be better positioned to stand out in a crowded global landscape. At SublimeStart, we support this approach by helping cities and place-based organizations turn strategy into action through strong digital foundations: SEO-driven content, clear messaging, user-focused websites, and performance-led digital campaigns. By aligning digital marketing execution with long-term city goals, city marketing can become a driver of sustainable growth and better urban life.

The future of city marketing is built step by step. The choices made today about positioning, digital presence, and how stories are told will shape how cities are perceived, experienced, and remembered in the decade ahead.

To explore how SublimeStart supports city marketing initiatives through digital strategy, content, SEO, and performance marketing, discover our full range of services here.