The escalation of global competition in the second half of the twentieth century gave a rise to a new direction of competition between cities - a struggle for people, investments in tourism and business, or in other words, a struggle for the spheres of influence. Such characteristics as natural and climatic features, culture, social infrastructure, a political system, and others have become the marketing elements that create the image of the city (area). As the object of research we have chosen the urban district of Saransk in Mordovia. The choice of the object to be studied is conditioned by the following factors: the stability of political life, economic achievements, sports achievements and by the fact Saransk is one of the most comfortable cities in Russia. The analysis of the factors of territorial identity revealed that the urban district of Saransk has all conditions necessary for successful developing and creating a positive image of the city. The creation of the image of Saransk is under influence of both positive and negative factors. The most important positive factors are a good geographical location and economic climate, diversified industry, the unique architecture of the city, victories of the Mordovian athletes in Russian and international competitions, etc. The negative factors are a negative balance of natural and mechanical growth, criticality of power network, the necessity for modernizing and technical developing the main sectors of economy. One of the priority goals is higher attractiveness of the urban district of Saransk. The accomplishment of this goal supposes carrying out the program of territorial marketing.