When Dee Bergschneider moved to Minnesota 15 years ago, she took a gamble on Hastings.

Bergschneider and her husband were searching for a place to call home after his sales job was relocated to the Twin Cities area from Madison, Wis.

"I didn't know anything about [Hastings]," said Bergschneider, president of the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce.

"But the first time I drove through, it felt like home."

City leaders are hoping a $10,000 marketing study will help them re-create that cozy feeling for businesses and consumers. The Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority will use the plan to promote current businesses and try to attract new ones.

"Hopefully, this is the Miracle-Gro of economic development," Mayor Paul Hicks said.

With the depressed economy, more municipalities are thinking like corporations, going out and aggressively pursuing business, said Tom Bullington, senior marketing consultant with Prime Advertising and Design of Maple Grove.

Whether companies are start-ups or are looking to expand or relocate, the competition is stiff. Cities use everything at their disposal -- from financial incentives, such as tax breaks, to school test scores -- as bait.

"If you wait for the phone to ring, it's not going to ring. Sometimes you have to make your own good fortune happen," said Bullington, a Hastings resident and Planning Commission member.

"More than ever, cities need to be placing themselves on the map."

Campaigns that deliver results are more than just a logo and slogan, Bullington said; they emphasize the strengths of a community and favor substance over flash.

"We're trying to identify the uniqueness of Hastings," Hicks said. "We want to think bigger."

A town of 22,000 split between Dakota and Washington counties, Hastings may have to battle the perception that it is too small and too far away from the Twin Cities.

The city could flip that perception around, Bullington said, by emphasizing the small-town feel and easy access to big-city amenities.

City officials hope the company selected for the job will begin work late this year. Proposals are due by Aug. 20.

The estimated $10,000 budget for the work is a bargain by some standards; similar-sized communities have spent between $80,000 and $100,000 for marketing work, Bullington said.

Regardless of the price tag, officials hope the study will help provide a remedy for a slumping tax base in need of a boost.

The study and review, and possible adoption, of the recommendations will coincide with the replacement of the Hwy. 61 bridge, a main thoroughfare into Hastings.

The $20 million project, which starts in October, could take several years to complete.

"This plan will really strengthen something that has already started," Hicks said.

Corey Mitchell • 612-673-4491