Downtown Harrisonburg Marketing Agency

Does being a part of something new excite you? Do you have leadership experience and skills that make you suited for a startup-type atmosphere? Do you enjoy marketing and yearn to put your skills toward fulfilling work in our local community? Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) is searching for students to join us on a new and exciting initiative! 

Join our team of passionate and dedicated professionals striving to make downtown a great place for people to make lasting memories. Being a small business owner has a lot of challenges, but we believe marketing doesn’t need to be one of them! Help us help our amazing local entrepreneurs as they weather uncertain economic times. Be one of the first to join our new student-run Downtown Harrisonburg marketing agency in 2026. By doing so, you can help downtown’s businesses thrive, not just survive! 

Why a Downtown Harrisonburg Marketing Agency?

Downtown Harrisonburg is a large district that includes over 50 culinary destinations, 60 retailers, service businesses, museums, music venues, and much more, many of which are small operations without any staff with marketing experience. To effectively showcase the wide variety of businesses in our community, we are creating a small marketing agency dedicated to working collaboratively with and showcasing our downtown businesses.

What Would This Position Look Like?

Because this is a new initiative, the first round of downtown marketing agents will be instrumental in helping us develop the program. Some of the goals for our first 1-2 marketing agents will be to determine an identity for the agency, research marketing needs and challenges, and construct solutions that will drive more people to visit downtown. The agency will work closely with local business owners to develop robust social media campaigns and maintain physical marketing materials, as well as with the HDR Marketing Director and Content Development & Marketing Interns for cross-promotion on HDR’s channels. HDR’s Director of Marketing will serve as mentor and advisor, but agents will be encouraged to take ownership of their clients’ work to build strong portfolio pieces for a future career.

Responsibilities May Include:

  • Meeting/checking in with business owners regularly 

  • Producing regular social media and web content for businesses’ marketing channels and cross-posting on HDR’s channels (i.e. videos, blogs, newsletters, photos, graphics, etc.)

  • Designing print marketing materials for businesses (i.e. flyers, brochures, rack cards, table tents, etc.)

  • Maintaining calendar and directory content for businesses

  • Developing press releases and researching other marketing opportunities that fit in with business goals

  • Other duties as assigned – we encourage you to bring your own passions and ideas to this role!

Skills required:

  • Strong verbal and written communication skills

  • Excellent project and time management skills with the ability to work independently and manage multiple projects and tasks at once

  • Experience with developing content for social media (including video-based formats)

  • Experience with Canva/graphic design

Skills that aren’t required but would be a plus:

  • Brand development and management

  • Photography and editing

  • Familiarity with downtown Harrisonburg

To Apply:

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance

Emily Winter

Director of Marketing

emily.winter@harrisonburgva.gov

Subject line: Downtown Harrisonburg Marketing Agency

Questions? Feel free to call Emily at 540-432-8936.

Application Deadlines

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with the review and interview process for each semester beginning at or around the dates below:

  • Spring Semester: early November

  • Summer & Fall Semester: mid-April