Tourism Tuesday: our series recognizing the importance of travel and tourism to small town business. The discussion in the comments section is always the best part.
What do gears do? They mesh together to transmit force. By meshing gears of different sizes, you can multiply the results. You can also bring too many gears together, and lock up the whole system.
Whether you are local business owner, a chamber of commerce person, or a convention and visitors bureau rep, you aren’t alone in promoting tourism in your area. Look around. Your city is probably also doing promotion. Your regional tourism group is out there. How about your state tourism association? How about all the other businesses in your area who depend on tourism?
The reason I want you to look around is to see where you could mesh your efforts with someone else’s.
I do some website work for my regional tourism association, Red Carpet Country. They offer a cool program to share the cost of promoting your event or attraction, as long as you promote other events or attractions in the area at the same time.
Sponsorship may be the most familiar form of meshing efforts. I believe in the ability of your event to bring in customers, so I’ll pay to have my name associated with it.
Who can you cooperate with? Is there another tourism based business in the area that is a natural partner? Can you add a link to the local restaurants from your bed and breakfast website? Could you create a night-out package with the local theater, a restaurant, and a dance?
Picture all the players in local tourism as gears, meshing together. How could you draw in new players, or connect people and businesses in new ways?
In the comments, I’d love to hear about your own local efforts at meshing. What has worked, and what hasn’t?
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Tell your founding story - December 1, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Tell your customers’ stories - November 30, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Introduce your people - November 29, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Share your holiday traditions - November 28, 2022
- Holiday Marketing 2022: Support your service businesses - November 22, 2022
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Giving Tuesday is November 29 - November 21, 2022
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Cider Monday November 28 - November 17, 2022
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Artists Sunday is November 27 - November 16, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Small Business Saturday November 26 - November 15, 2022
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Plaid Friday is November 25 - November 14, 2022
One of our readers emailed me to point out that not everyone has a friendly environment, conducive to meshing efforts. I can only say that it is true that not every tactic is for everyone. At the same time, keep a sharp eye out for other small business folks who feel the same as you, maybe those who are new to the area. They may be just as eager to cooperate as you are. Best of luck to everyone in such a tough situation!