Last week, a simple Facebook post about tourism turned into an impromptu brainstorming session. Let’s add to it. Here’s the original post, a tweet I borrowed from @Miss_Dazey:
from @Miss_Dazey: “Personal opinion: Small businesses should promote tourism. Tourists like neat local places, don’t always know about them.”
Karen Hoeltzel Payne and Deb During Debworks Brown like this.
Vikki Dearing: I so agree!!!
GlennaMae Hendricks: And, then, get the local CofC/Tourist Bureau to issue everyone who stops by a map with “neat local places” starred or dotted or whatever–AND put the map up on the website and KEEP IT UPDATED!
Deb During Debworks Brown: and the Chamber and Tourism people need to team up and promote each other. Then there’s the walking tours and driving tours you can download from the website. I could go on and on and on!
GlennaMae Hendricks: Now, if “the powers that be” were only listening! (Alternatively, Becky & I & Deb could just be allowed to run the world. ;P)
Join the brainstorming! What can you add?
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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.
Tourists = Potential New Customers
When tourists come to town, they’re not just looking to see the sights but to spend money. Small businesses need to find ways to let tourists know where to spend that money.
Remember it’s very likely they are coming from major metropolitan areas. It’s a good bet they have smart phones – which they use daily to communicate and find businesses. Will they be able to use mobile devices to find your business?
Great points, Carl. Thanks for adding them.
The fact they likely come from metropolitan areas affects lots of planning. What do we need to explain that they don’t know about small towns?
Carl – another great reason to get FourSquare set up locally. There’s currently 16 of us using it in Hampton Iowa.
Becky – our Tourism Board gives out grants for advertising where they pay 75% of your advertising of a local event that could bring in people from outside of the county. What kind of advertising campaigns could you set up outside of your local area? Are there grants you may not know about?
Remember the things we take for granted – hay rides, milking cows, detassling corn – are experiences city people have not had and would pay money to do!
GlennaMae – why yes, you, me and Becky could be the triumvirate that rules the world.
Deb, thanks for adding even more. My regional tourism board also does grants for advertising. The best thing they could do is streamline the process. Right now, it’s complicated and puts people off. So if you want folks to actually use your program for its intended purpose, make it easy for them to do so.
Pennsylvania is partnering with FourSquare to promote tourism (http://mashable.com/2010/05/26/pennsylvania-foursquare/).
This is where a buy local campaign or tourism board or local chamber can make a difference. By pooling resources, it can blanket an area with tips. Larger organizations would have an easier time forming a partnership and creating badges.
Don’t forget other services like Google Local and Yelp.
Exactly, Carl. A regional group can really make a difference for their members this way.
Someone around here offers wagon rides at local events and by appointment–don’t know if he/they are “linked.”
That’s definitely something you don’t get in the big cities.