As the city of Maple Valley grows it needs to be able to market itself particularly to businesses and developers.

Heath Anderson, chair of the city’s Economic Development Committee, said something to keep in mind while they develop the city’s brand is a lesson he tries to teach his 7-year-old son, Aidan.

“It is important to know who you are,” Anderson said. “Once we have developed the business plan and drawn out all that we are as a community, we will be able to use our brand in any way the city sees fit.”

Anderson and the rest of the EDC began working on the branding development in November and “since that time we have put a lot of time and energy into finally getting this nearly completed and ready to pass on to Council for discussion and hopefully approval.”

Through forums and discussions the EDC has had, including gathering input from the public, developers, property and business owners and so on, the committee has come up with a marketable identity for Maple Valley.

“The EDCE intends to tell the city story through the branding process,” Anderson said. “We really did a lot of research and then we broke it down to a subcommittee to do even more research and development of the brand between our monthly meetings.”

Early on the EDC decided to approach the branding process in the same way an aspiring entrepreneur would develop a business plan.

“That really helped us focus as we broke out six sections to concentrate on,” Anderson said. “The research and development team finished their work in June and as of July we will be completing it as a whole.”

At this point the committee is nearing completion of the branding process and in the coming weeks, Anderson explained, it will pass on the branding report to the Maple Valley City Council “and they will either adopt it or pass it back with suggested edits and/or further direction.”

“We are very close to completion since this is something the city as a whole has wanted to do for over 10 years now,” Anderson said. “It is great that our committee was able to focus on this and finally get it completed. Branding is a significantly important step to market the city and/or for use with future development.”

Anderson explained that creating a brand for Maple Valley is creative because it “can be used to entice, invite and unite.”

“For the current business base it helps define their role within the community,” he said. “For our community as a whole it defines who we are as a group and what we cherish. This will also help with the economic element to our city comp plan at some point in the near future.”

Part of the branding process included creating a slogan for the city, something that other neighboring cities such as Kent, Renton and Auburn have done in the past decade.

The slogan that could be adopted is “Where Community and Nature Unite,” Anderson said, with a descriptive line under it saying “Away from it all … In the middle of everything.”

“This slogan with the descriptive line will be used on future signs, marketing materials, Web sites, etc.,” he said.

This is just another step in the city’s growth, Anderson said, and it’s a process he’s been a part of for four years now as a part of the EDC since it was formed in late 2005.

“Together with the council and the planning commission we have accomplished some amazing things,” he said. “Now that we have the Branding of the city nearly complete I think as a committee we can all be very proud of our efforts and how we have contributed to the city over the past four years.  Branding, as well as the other accomplishments, sets up the city and the community very well for the future anticipated growth.”