Charles Barkley famously said, “I am not a role model.” But people forget Sir Charles went on to say that parents should be the role models, not necessarily an NBA basketball player. The Round Mound of Rebound wasn’t saying role models aren’t important. They are.

Communities can be role models, too. And it’s important that cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods are to show the rest of us the way. Or, more accurately, A way.

Here’s how to address land use. Here’s a model ordinance for historic preservation. This is how to do sustainable growth. We have a great planning model your community can emulate. Here’s a way we’ve found to recycle. Check out our streetscapes. See what we’ve done to bring local governments together to work on complex issues. This is what citizen involvement can do. Here’s how good design works. Here’s how to get a whole neighborhood or entire community in the National Register of Historic Places. Here’s how to make biking safer.

For small and rural communities, modeling good community behaviors is a secret weapon. If you feel you’re in competition with the big communities “down the road” — you know, the ones with jobs, restaurants, night life, shops and stores, things to do after 7 p.m. — the ones that are turning your once-thriving community into a bedroom community and nothing but — well, being a model community is one way you can be competitive.

You’re small. You’re flexible. You can move more quickly. People can come together faster. There’s a small critical mass needed to get things done. So here’s your blueprint:

1. Copy — better yet, adapt — some other community’s strategy, ordinance, look, feel. Or,

2. Create your own model of how to do things the right way (and compete on your own terms in a “good,” creative way). Or,

3. Adapt some things, copy some things, AND create your own model(s).

This was difficult for small communities once upon a time. But along came some wonderful tools called — we’re quoting George W. Bush here — “the Internets” and “the Google.” You can use these tools as effectively as Megalopolis down the road.

But being a model community goes further. We want people to adapt better behaviors because it’s the right thing to do, first and foremost. It also helps our community while guests are visiting. If we model clean streets and neighborhoods, people reward that and police themselves. If we have a strong sign ordinance for Main Street, then the cumulative effect of appropriate sizes, shapes, and colors helps our guests find things, spend their disposable income, and do so more easily, with less hassle. Why not make things easy for people? And does that help our merchants and our community, too, along the way? Yes, of course. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. Why would we want it to be “us vs. them”? Duh.

Twenty-five years ago, it was a bold statement to say that you used recycled paper or that your print marketing piece was recyclable and made with soy ink. Ditto for showing people wearing helmets on a bike trail. Life vests while fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking. Helmets while snowboarding or skiing. Staying on trails in high mountain meadows. Not creating wakes on rivers and streams.

But, ya know, I STILL see websites and get print publications that DON’T show those things. How can that be, 25 years later? If we model appropriate behaviors, we can change behaviors. By doing so, we help create our community’s preferred future. If none of these arguments resonates with you, then there’s this: Do we really want people getting hurt in our communities because they didn’t wear a helmet or life vest? Do we want that publicity? Do we want that responsibility? Is that how we want our guests to remember us?

I downloaded a beautiful publication yesterday. Gorgeous. And it showed a lovely woman, handsome man, and 2.3 (approximately) stunning children standing, smiling, and lightly bracing their bicycles along a bike trail. From a pure marketing point of view, I understand why, if you’ve hired handsome talent, you want people to see them and not cover up the face and hair. (I’ve seen the research. I know this works.) But you can achieve the exact same result simply by having each of the people depicted holding their helmet or with a bike helmet tied to the handle bars. What a missed opportunity! Instead of communicating two messages — handsome, happy people biking (implied) on OUR wonderful bike trail — you could have added a third important message: “health and safety are important to us all.” No extra charge. Three messages for the price of two.

Because what message have you just sent? That you don’t need bike helmets on OUR trail. Is that really what you’re trying to convey? And subconsciously, doesn’t a picture of people without a helmet send the message, “Look how far behind-the-times we are.” Yay, us? Wow.

You can achieve multiple objectives with your marketing with just a little more thought and an eye to the future. You can help people, not just “sell” your community. These things aren’t either-or. And you can help create a better experience for your guests and a better community for your residents. You can create your preferred future.

Be a role model. You can do this. In the great scheme of community marketing and community development, this is easy.