Riding for the Brand – Not the Circus

Here in the West, “riding for the brand” means something. When cowhands sign on with an outfit, they carry that ranch’s reputation everywhere they go. Their word is the brand’s word. Their integrity is the brand’s integrity. It’s not a slogan or marketing play. It’s a code of accountability that builds trust across vast distances where a handshake is viewed as the only contract that matters. This is what authentic Western marketing should be.

That ethic still lives here in Cody – or at least, it should.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted. Not in who we are, but in how the world sees us. And maybe, in how some of us have started seeing ourselves.

Our team here at the Cody Journal has recently read some travel articles about our town written by outside journalists. The way they shared their experience from visiting our town was expressed as if it was all for show or like a “production” for entertainment. They frame the rodeo as no more than entertainment. That our work attire is just merely “cowboy get-up”. They depict us as just another town outside of Yellowstone National Park – just another “tourist attraction”.

This stings because those of us who cling to this western lifestyle and want to preserve its authenticity and tradition are being looked at as actors and pawns for entertainment. The true meaning of what they’re working towards is being lost in the strategies to gain more visitors. Simply helping someone with their bags now becomes an empty gesture to “add to the experience”.

We are Not a Theme Park

The ranches surrounding us are working operations where cattle actually need moving and horses aren’t props and pets. The folks competing in the rodeo aren’t just performers, they’re athletes competing for their livelihood and continuing tradition. The cowboy you see at the coffee shop isn’t in costume, he’s dressed for work.

So, here’s an uncomfortable question – Can we really blame outsiders for getting it wrong when we might be sending mixed signals ourselves?

Cody sits at a crossroads that many tourism-dependent communities face. We rely on visitor revenue – that’s our economic reality. Our proximity to Yellowstone puts us on the map in a unique way.

This may be a gift, but when tourism becomes the primary lens through which a community views itself, something subtle starts to happen. Businesses begin orienting everything towards the visitor. Marketing speaks only to the out-of-towner. The local customers – the ones who live here, who built this community, who will still be here when the snow and winter winds comes – they become an afterthought.

And when that happens, we stop riding for the brand and we start performing for the circus.

The Easy Way is Not Always the Best Way

In a tourism town, it’s easy for our businesses to default into curating marketing strategies around tourists. This doesn’t mean it’s strategically sound. When we don’t do the deeper work of defining who we really are, what our values are, who our actual audience is, and our unique position within our community, we default to superficial strategies that muddy our traditions and culture.

When we market exclusively to tourists, we position ourselves as a commodity – an experience to be consumed. We invite the very perception those outside writers captured: that this is all a show.

What’s worse is that we end up neglecting the relationships that actually sustain us. Tourism is seasonal and subjected to gas prices and economic downturns. Our local community is the bedrock. These are the relationships that compound over years that generate word-of-mouth you could never buy. They’ll show up for you when times get hard because you showed up for them.

Isn’t that what we want to promote? Our culture, community, and loyalty instead of throwing up an image of Steamboat or a cattle drive and call it western? What about showcasing the story behind the multi-generational rancher and how they support or provide for their community? Or the local business who puts on Bingo every week for a local charity or fundraiser?

The True Western Lifestyle

The true western lifestyle – Cody’s lifestyle – is what we saw with a local equestrian center who lost everything to a fire and the whole community showed up to fundraisers, offered help, and showed support. There are so many of these stories to be told about this community. So many quiet acts of kindness and genuine care that the world doesn’t get to read about because we’re too focused on the production of the show.

As a disclaimer – I truly believe that most of our local businesses are community focused. They are strong and hard working. Marketing is such a nuanced element to running a business that sometimes it’s easier to just default to what’s easiest to put out. My encouragement to you is that you have strong values, ethics, and brand. Don’t let it get muddied and lost through superficial tourism marketing. Your story means something and has the ability to give your marketing the super power it needs to authentically drive growth and sustainability.

How to Market the Real West

The good news here is that we don’t necessarily have to add any more to our budgets or create a new ad campaign.

We simply need to take a moment to define our brand. That way we can truly ride for the brand by marketing it authentically all the while preserving our true western culture.

It starts with doing the internal work that too many businesses skip. Defining your brand isn’t about creating a clever tagline or picking pretty colors. It’s about getting honest with yourself: What do you actually stand for? What promises do you make and keep? Who do you serve, and why does serving them matter to you beyond the transaction?

This clarity becomes your filter for every decision and makes marketing so much easier.

You may already know in your heart who you are and what your brand stands for. But when you actually write out and define who you are at the core, you can make decisions easier, your brand stays cohesive, and you can engage tourists without performing for them.

Another way to begin showing the TRUE western culture is by sharing your own stories. The gritty, hard, and real stories that show the challenges and how you overcame them. The emotional ties that were built because of how the community came together.

What if by shifting our strategies and focus towards this concept, it actually begins to ripple into strengthening our overall economy where people actually stay, work, and thrive here?

Now more than ever, especially with the growth of AI and fake news and images, consumers are craving real, authentic, genuine stories.

Cody has something most places can’t manufacture: a living culture with genuine roots. Multi-generational families. Working ranches. Real traditions that weren’t invented by a marketing committee.

That’s not a circus. That’s a legacy.

Stories become your marketing – and we’re here to help map that out with you. The Cody Journal is a team of dedicated people who want to preserve and promote the TRUE Western lifestyle of Cody. We’re here to help you curate the strategy that is uniquely yours – that no one else can replicate and stands out against the AI generated nonsense.

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