The Downtown District is an advocate for businesses, residents, employees, developers and others-- our goal is to create a livable community and a destination for all. The marketing programs that we have in place are here to help you but it is critical that you, too, have a strategic and comprehensive marketing gameplan!

HoustonDowntown.com
The information source for what to do, where to go and how to get there. All DOWNTOWN restaurants, shops, bars and events are listed on our web portal for FREE. Information needed from you is address & phone number, business description, hours of operation and website link.

Interactive Map
Located on our webportal this interactive map shows the exact location of downtown businesses. You can pull up multiple layers to show the most convenient parking or hotel and more! Check it out!

Downtown Happenings eBlast
Our weekly eBlast reaches 13,000+. Businesses are encouraged to send us info to include such as new menu updates, events and specials-- basically anything that would be interesting to the consumer. The eBlast goes out on Thursday mornings, deadline for copy and an image is the Monday before by end of day. This is FREE to downtown businesses and event producers. Please sign up for these eBlasts on the homepage of our webportal HoustonDowntown.com. If you click on This Week located on our homepage you will see this week’s eBlast.

The Downtown Gift Card
The Downtown Gift Card Program is a prepaid, private label gift card that was originally designed for the shopping center industry—and is now breaking “out of  the box” and being used to generate traffic and spending in downtowns. The cards can only be redeemed at participating downtown merchants, meaning that funds are guaranteed to stay within our boundaries. The cards are processed using the MasterCard network so no changes to merchant point-of-sale (POS) registers are ever needed and there is no cost to participating businesses other than the credit card transaction fees. Current participants include downtown restaurants, shops, hotels and entertainment and theater venues.

Advertising/Promotion/PR
The Downtown District’s marketing plan varies from year to year, but always has an emphasis on promoting existing and new retail. In addition to the above programs, we produce the Above & Below Downtown Map, an Downtown Events Guide that is published in the Spring and Fall and a seasonal lifestyle promotional piece. We currently advertise in My Table Magaznie, Official Visitors Guide and Guestlife Magazine. As we move through 2008, we will evaluate what is working and what we can do better-- your input is very much appreciated!

If you are a downtown business and would like to participate in any of the above programs, please contact:

Angie Bertinot
Director of Marketing & Communications
Houston Downtown Management District
713-650-3022
angie@downtowndistrict.org