Determining the city marketing potential of Çorum province

The concept of city marketing, which is one of the sub-branches of marketing discipline, is predominantly used in many academic studies today. City marketing could enable increasing the welfare level of a city, enhancing the life satisfaction of the city-dwellers, reducing the migration rates and thus turning the city into a more livable space. At the same time, city marketing offers domestic and foreign tourists a reason to visit the city, makes the city desirable for investors and businesses, thus attracting qualified manpower, thereby, providing competitive advantage with the perception of an investable and visitable city. For all these reasons specified above, the concept of city marketing has recently become a topic that is taken into account and examined by academicians, researchers and politicians. In this context, the objective of the study is to elicit the city marketing potential of Çorum province. In line with this purpose, SWOT analysis of Çorum province was conducted first and then the image of the city was assessed. In addition, suggestions were offered for the city logo and slogan of Çorum province within the scope of the study. As part of the study, firstly, the SWOT analysis of the city was conducted by interviewing the institutions and organizations in Çorum one-on-one. Then, a questionnaire was carried out with 1545 persons in order to assess the image of the city. Accordingly, four different sample groups were determined, and it was measured whether there were differences between these groups from the perspective of city image. Descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, ANOVA, regression analysis and cluster analysis were implemented on the data obtained. As a result of the analyzes conducted, it was found out that the perception of the city image of Çorum was moderate. It was determined that the variables with the highest average were nature, social relations and safety. It was detected that nature, cultural activities, tourism, entertainment and leisure, safety and emotional image, which are among the sub-dimensions of city image, differ according to four different sample groups, however, business life, economic development and social relations do not differ according to groups. It was identified that the city image of people, who are not from Çorum and who do not live in Çorum and are among four different sample groups, has an effect on the intention to visit the city. Furthermore, the participants noted that the colors of the city logo should include white and yellow as their first choice, and that they wanted to see the roasted chick-pea, Hittite Bronze Sun Course and Clock Tower as symbol of the city. In addition, they also stated that it would be appropriate to emphasize the history of the city in the possible city slogan.