"The New Urbanism Blog http://newurbanismblog.com is something we really wanted to do for a while, mainly as a way to get the word out more about not just what we think the virtues of walkable communities are, but to educate, advocate and promote our company," says Kevin Klinkenberg, Principal of 180ð Design Studio. Klinkenberg has seen the blog as a great tool to reach out and speak to the larger community interested in urban design. It allows Klinkenberg the opportunity to do short pieces that are very topic oriented to see if there is a response to them out of the community. Klinkenberg really likes the ability to use the blog from an advocacy standpoint and has found it to be a better way to connect with the online community. Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing http://www.jenningssocialmedia.com, found a lot of outcomes early on that led to believe the site could be transformed into an online community due to the type of posts Kevin was contributing to the site and the tremendous amount of comments that were coming in. In many aspects, the site has not only been positioned as an online community, but it is also a resource for those in the industry who are particularly interested in walkable communities. As a result, Jennings has a launch pad to position the company, Kevin and his business partner as thought leaders. Jennings will move forward launching the site as a thought leader in the industry as well as incorporate more videos, more social media releases and more blog posts.
