SACO — The city’s Economic Development Comission is recommending a proposed marketing plan to promote Saco.

The committee voted in support of a marketing proposal from Robinson Productions at a meeting Monday afternoon in City Hall. In order for the proposal to receive funding, it must get final approval from the council.

Under the proposal, Robinson Productions would get paid $2,000 a month for a year. Robinson Productions would outreach to traditional media sources like newspapers and television, and would also develop what the firm’s owner Mark Robinson describes as an “inbound” public relations campaign.

“Not as many people read newspapers these days, and that’s just a trend, it’s reality, and we need to reach people in a different way,” said Robinson at Monday’s meeting.

Saco needs to view itself as part of the media, and think of itself as a publisher, states Robinson in the plan. As part of his proposed “inbound” public relations campaign, Robinson would use a website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote the city.

“If you publish nothing on the Internet, you are nothing,” said Robinson at the Monday meeting.

Robinson noted the amount of recent media attention on Biddeford, and said Saco had plenty of good stories it could tell to promote itself.

Economic Director William Mann said the city needed to market itself to people outside the region, and get the word out to people who don’t know the area about the good things that are happening in Saco.

“I make a recommendation that we approve this, because I think it’s long overdue,” said Mann. “This has to be part and parcel of what we do, day in and day out. It’s part of how business is done in the 21st century.”

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].