Marketing & Promotional Strategies for Rural Tourism

Partnering & Packaging

• Geotourism: The New Trend in TravelTourism that sustains & enhances a location’s geographic “sense of place”

• Geotourism encompasses numerous tourism niches: - Environmental Tourism/Outdoor Adventure Travel- Culinary/Agritourism

- Heritage/Cultural Tourism

• Partner to Create Authentic Experiences

• 3 - 3 - Sleep

Creating Authentic Experiences

Culinary/Agritourism (3-3-Sleep)

Breakfast at a local B&B or Inn featuring farm-fresh eggs, locally-grown produce and fruit, muffins fresh from a local bakery.

Farm Tour followed by a trip to Farmer’s Market led by a local chef; shop with chef for produce and herbs to be used in cooking demonstration/class at local restaurant.

Enjoy lunch paired with local wines.

Day hike or cycling followed by visit to a local winery or two .

Dinner at restaurant featuring a local specialty dish.

Return to B&B for coffee and conversation with hosts & other guests.

Think It Through

• Who Is Your Audience?

• Where Is Your Audience?

• How Does Your Audience Get Their Information?

• How Can You Reach Your Audience Most Cost-Effectively?

• Collaboration Stretches the Budget

State of the Media

A. Traditional MediaNewspapers

- Approximately 293 Newspapers across the country folded in 2009

- Fewer Dailies; More Weeklies featuring local news

- Physical dimensions reduced

- Some newspapers moving to online only format (i.e. Seattle PI)

- Some online publications instituting pay walls

Magazines - Approximately 1,126 consumer, business, scientific, trade & online magazines

folded in 2009 (Source: Vocus 2010 State of the Media Report)

- Growth in Niche: online trade & associate publications

- New online magazines expected to continue launching over next

3-5 years

State of the Media

Television- More than 100 stations across the country affected by bankruptcies in 2009

- Many staff cuts (reporters taking on more responsibility)

- Pooled resources and sharing of news footage grows

- Stations move to cover hard news (i.e. fires, crime); less room for soft stories or in-depth reporting

- Make reporter’s job as easy as possible

The Upside:

- TV Stations Have Websites

- More talk-shows popping up (i.e. Margaret Larson’s New Day Northwest)

Know what shows cover; pitch guests and story angles that are an appropriate fit for the viewing audience

State of the Media

Radio- Revenues dropped 15-20 percent in 2009

- Local stations running nationally syndicated programs (cheaper), but mitigates local feel that listeners like

- Increased competition from Satellite Radio; Streaming Media; iPods & MP3 Players

Upside:- Broadcast AM/FM radio still has larger share of listening audience (51%) than

CDs (16%); Satellite Radio (7%); Ipod/MP3 (5%); Streamed Audio on Computers (4%) Source: Vocus 2010 State of the Media Report

- Radio technology is best positioned to move into digital environment

- Increased interplay between broadcast radio and new applications

State of the Media

B. Social Media A group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of

“User-Generated Content”

BlogsPersonal website used by author to communicate anything he chooses to writeabout to readers. Can include photos & links. Entries dated, time-stamped &archived. Public comment sections facilitate conversation. Syndicated tosubscribers via RSS Feed (distribution tool).

FacebookSocial networking website that can be used for business marketing and promotion.Public “fan pages,” are indexed by search engines. Can link to your website;newsletters; host a discussion; exchange video and photos; integrate blog feeds; Good for longterm relationship-building.

State of the Media

Twitter Free social networking/micro-blogging service that enables its users to send

and read each others' updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's Twitter profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them.

Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website or via Short Message Service, which allows texting from the web to a cell phone or from one cell phone to another.

State of the Media

YouTubeVideo-sharing website on which users can upload and share video

Arrange video content in a single location - your own YouTube Channel

Create a YouTube profile & Playlists from your own content

Tag your content with Key Words

Promote your content through YouTube Email, Bulletins & UserGroups

Embed video from your YouTube Channel on your website, Blog, Facebook page, etc.

Creating An Integrated Marketing Program

• Most effective marketing/promotion campaigns utilize a variety of tools & tactics

• Plan Ahead

• Identify your audience

• Select modes of communication that enable you to reach this audience in the most cost-effective manner

• Collaborate with partner organizations to help stretch the budget

Clallam/Jefferson Counties Joint Marketing Campaign

Target AudienceGeneral Public and People with interests in travel, outdoor and culinary

activities; 25 – 64 years old; residing in Snohomish, King, Pierce &

Thurston Counties

Budget: $35K

StrategyPosition the North Olympic Peninsula, through a targeted multimedia

advertising campaign, as a spring getaway destination that offers

something for everyone from outdoor enthusiasts to culinary tourists, with

special focus on scuba diving and cycling niche groups.

Campaign Website

Campaign Website

www.visitolympicpeninsula.com

All traffic driven to campaign

website

Lodging specials offered by

partner venues

Promotes drawing for weekend

getaway (donated by partner

businesses); takes user to enter to

win page; database collects data

for future marketing

KING generates report detailing

# of openings & click-thrus

Permission-Based Email

Radio

Paid Broadcast Schedule

Live Endorsements – “Fun Facts”

Giveaways

Streaming/V-Roll

Text Tuesday Campaign

Electronic Publications

www.seattledining.com

Print Ads

YouTubeNew Dive Web Page

Other Marketing Tactics

Email Marketing Letters to Niche Groups w/ Special Offers

www.constantcontact.com

Press Releases

Financing Your Marketing/PR Strategy

Joy & Joe BaischeWSU Extension/Brinnon