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Ways to deliver audio for tourism

By Becky McCray

Imagine if your most enthusiastic and wonderful tour leader could guide every group of visitors. You know, that one person who tells the best stories, who makes it all come to life… what if that person guided every visitor?

Shattuck Windmill MuseumThe next best thing might be to record them and share that audio with your visitors.

The Shattuck, Oklahoma, Windmill Museum uses FM radio to broadcast “Windmill Willie’s Story About Windmills.” I think that is pretty cool. (I didn’t tune in because I was headed to a meeting and just stopped long enough to snap this pic.)

You’ve probably seen audio CDs used to promote a tourism destination. One use that makes a lot of sense is a driving tour on CD. Pop it in the ol’ CD player in the car, and head out on the tour.

How about getting even more modern? Let’s take that same audio and go online. If you are not a technical wiz, get together with someone who is, to get started. And check out our friend Des Walsh’s Basic Resources for Podcasting.

If you are technical, make an MP3 and upload it to your server. Or try out Utterli.com to host your files. Utterli will let you embed their player right on your site. (See an example of the embedded Utterli player here.)

The ultimate goal is to give your visitor another way to connect with your destination. 

Do you have any examples of effective audio for tourism?

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
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February 9, 2010 Filed Under: tourism

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  1. Chris Marsden says

    February 10, 2010 at 2:33 pm

    Just a couple quick thoughts that this triggered…

    With more and more unlimited cell plans, why not a call in number with a recording.

    What about a google map (for smart phone users) where each destination had a link to an audio file.

    Of course, a full blown iPhone/Android/Blackberry app with the audio embedded would work too.

  2. Becky McCray says

    February 10, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Chris, those are great suggestions! Thanks for adding to the ideas.

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