Flanked by a shining red and blue Roanoke star, the advertisement asks people to name what region is among the country's top 10 to raise a family and is one of the 50 hottest places for business expansion.

What is "America's Best-Kept Secret?" the ad asks.

The answer: the Roanoke Valley.

A local publishing company is using the ad to persuade people to move to the Roanoke region, and it's taking its mission national. Determining its success, however, will be a challenge.

Richard Wells, publisher of Leisure Publishing in Roanoke County, is heading up a $135,000 campaign to market the Roanoke Valley through magazines and newspapers spanning the Mid-Atlantic and East Coast.

They include Woman's Day, Smithsonian, Family Fun, The Washington Post and The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. The ads will show up in many newsstands through the spring, Wells said.

A native of Asheville, N.C., and an advocate of the Roanoke Valley, Wells moved to Roanoke in 1971. He formerly worked for newspapers, including The Roanoke Times, before launching Leisure in 1972. The company publishes the Roanoker Magazine, Blue Ridge Country, Mountain Homes and other periodicals and guidebooks.

Through the years, Wells said the area has attempted to attract tourists and new businesses, but there are not many ads focused on drawing future residents.

"I'd love to see the world discover this little gem," Wells said.

Over the past two decades, Roanoke's population has been shrinking. The city lost nearly 9 percent of its population between 1980 and 2006 to slightly more than 91,500, according to the U.S. Census.

But a report released recently by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service says the area may be bucking the trend, estimating that Roanoke's population increased by 833 people in the past two years.

However, the center said these numbers demonstrate the area's stability more than growth.

Trying to change that, Leisure's campaign involves more than just rectangular print ads.

The company is sending a free 148-page relocation guide to people looking for more information. The glossy-paged publication contains ads from real estate companies and other local businesses, and articles that pump up the Roanoke Valley's restaurant, housing and outdoors scene.

Wells would not disclose how much advertising revenue Leisure has made through the relocation guide.

The advertisements are targeted at an upscale demographic living in the Mid-Atlantic region, Wells said.

But how successful this type of campaign will be at increasing Roanoke's population is unclear.

Beth Doughty, president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, said it takes different groups to attract people to the Roanoke Valley. For example, people may discover the area by traveling, she said.

"I hear all the time about people who've come here to visit and have been so taken they want to live here," Doughty said.

Still, she said it's not one person's or group's responsibility to build Roanoke's population base.

The chamber also publishes a relocation guide that it gives to people who request information about the area.

"I doubt that a magazine alone could get that job done, but in concert with a lot of the things going, that's great," Doughty said about Leisure's ad campaign and companion guide.

Some city governments and quasi-governmental groups nationwide have taken on the task of drawing people back to their hometowns, said Doug Chittum, director of economic development for Roanoke County.

Examples include efforts by Louisville, Ky., to reconnect with city natives who move away and may consider returning.

About Leisure's effort, Chittum applauded the private sector efforts.

"There's so many people who look to the government to fix issues," he said.

But as when MKB Realtors puts up a billboard advertisement, it's difficult to determine how marketing influences a person's decision to buy a home or move to particular area, said Kit Hale, director of sales for MKB, an advertiser in Leisure's relocation guide.

Should Leisure's efforts work, Hale said the results will trickle down to local businesses, from restaurants and retailers to, of course, real estate agents.

For now, Wells is banking on advertisements and his enthusiasm about his hometown to guide an endeavor that may or may not be fruitful.

He has printed 10,000 copies of the relocation guide in the hope that most if not all of them will be given away.

"I'm not aware that anyone has tried to say 'Come live here,' " he said. "We're lighting a candle in the darkness."