Just as downtown businesses are realizing that advertising the downtown as a whole benefits individual businesses, whole communities are reaping the benefits of a more regional approach to marketing.
“We know that people travel from place to place and town to town and don’t necessarily travel by county or state lines,” says Lisa Challenger, director of Worcester County Tourism in Snow Hill, MD, who heads up the multi-state Tourism, Arts, and Downtown Development Initiative.The program is meant to attract visitors to downtowns as they travel through the region by highlighting what each community has to offer.
Based on the assets in each participating community, an overall brand and theme was created. The “Eat. Drink. Buy Art.” campaign boasts a website, a Facebook page, and a 16-page brochure highlighting member communities.
A passport contest was also created to encourage people to visit as many member towns as possible. Special weekly contests were offered on the website to encourage people to post photos and comments, and to answer some of the questions posed in the brochure.
Representatives from each downtown run the program and meet quarterly in one of the member communities.
“There are just so many benefits, and it’s not really that time consuming or difficult to put together, so I would just say, do it. Wholeheartedly go for it. It’s only going to bring good stuff,” says Challanger.
The full article appeared in our print edition. To always get the full story, read Downtown Idea Exchange.