Branding and marketing process of a city example of Çankırı province

Cities; In addition to being settlements, they also shaped the way of life of societies and increased their importance today. The first aims of city managers; to have more living and business areas, to increase the level of welfare by earning more income. Increasing the welfare level of a city means making it a more livable city; means more producers, investors, visitors and settlers. Cities in current time; They find themselves competing with other cities around the world. Cities have begun to adopt and use marketing-branding techniques and methods in order to achieve goals such as increasing tourism revenues, encouraging qualified people to live in the city, and attracting investors due to global competition. This research; It was conducted to examine the city brand and image of Çankırı from different perspectives of students coming to Çankırı from different provinces. Another aim of the research is to learn whether the brand and image of the city differ according to the descriptive characteristics of the students. Questionnaire forms created in line with this determined target; The study was carried out at Çankırı Karatekin University, which provides education in Çankırı, in the 2020-2021 academic year, among 370 students who study but do not have a hometown or residence in Çankırı. The data obtained from the survey were analyzed. Frequency and percentage analysis were used to determine the descriptive characteristics of the students, and mean and standard deviation statistics were used to determine their perceptions of the city brand and image of Çankırı province. While testing the hypothesis, t test, one-way ANOVA and Tukey test were used. According to the results of the research; The brand and image of the city of Çankırı are at a medium level (undecided) according to the students, the concepts that represent the city of Çankırı the most; Çankırı is an agricultural city, and then it is a livable city with a business and trade city. The first three words that come to mind when Çankırı is mentioned are; rock salt, Ilgaz Mountain and Yaran culture. It has been observed that there is no change in the perceptions of the city brand and image according to the gender of the students and the sources of their knowledge about Çankırı, but there are differences in the perceptions of the city brand and image of the city of Çankırı according to their age, length of residence in Çankırı and the regions where their families reside.