Revamped Web site introduces Toledo

The Web site toledoregion.com features information about living and working in the Toledo area. A Facebook page is in the works.

Toledo isn’t just a city, it’s a brand.

The Toledo Region Brand’s manager has been busy revamping the group’s Web site and social media marketing since taking her job in September. Andi Roman said it’s her job to help people see what’s great about the Toledo area.

“It’s easy for me to do it,” she said, adding that she grew up in Toledo.

Ms. Roman is launching the Toledo Region Brand Facebook page this year and said it’s just one of the many tools she’ll use to reach people all over the world.

Its Web site, toledoregion.com, is a virtual introduction to the community and features information about living and working in the area.

The group is an offshoot of the Northwest Ohio Brand Council, which promotes doing business and living in Ohio. The council was formed in 2009 by an assortment of businesses that wanted to showcase the triumphs of the state.

Joe Napoli, president of the Toledo Mud Hens and Toledo Walleye, was one of the people who formed it and said he’s extremely pleased with the Toledo Region Brand’s progress.

The information on the group’s site isn’t meaningless promotion, he said. The facts offered by the Toledo Region Brand are just that, facts, Mr. Napoli said.

Creating an accurate picture of what’s happening here was important, he added.

“We have so much to be proud of and we weren’t doing a good job of effectively representing that information in an appropriate manner,” he said. “With the advent of the Internet, Web sites, and social media, we do have a low-cost, efficient alternative outlet for us to speak not only to our community and the Toledo region but the rest of the world.”

Toledo Region Brand has an annual budget of about $500,000; it is funded by businesses from the Toledo region and money from the state.

“Whatever we need to do to build up our region, we have what it takes to do it,” Ms. Roman said.

Contact Kris Turner at: kturner@theblade.com or 419-724-6103.