Small Town Cheer

In my last post, I shared the high points of the TCVB annual report on tourism in terms of visitor statistics and what the TCVB has been doing around the world to promote Tuolumne County.

This time, I want to share some of what’s taking place at the local and regional level. We have two major promotions going on right now to help enhance the “brand” of Tuolumne County and provide a vehicle for individual TCVB members to promote their businesses.

Our Winter Promotion is called “Small Town Cheer” and it is focused on bringing visitors to our charming foothill communities during the Holidays (November through New Years and beyond). Radio spots and rack cards direct visitors to the SmallTownCheer micro website (www.smalltowncheer.com) where they are
encouraged to shop, dine, stay and play in our ‘Currier & Ive’s” Christmas-card towns. Santa plays a staring role and becomes a timeless storyteller. Visitors who have viewed this site have called it “enchanting” and “irresistible”!

We could not have developed this promotion without the participation of our member businesses or the
creative talents of our consultant, Paul Bell Marketing Solutions.

Another powerful marketing program for us is one called; “Dreamcation. As with Small Town Cheer, it includes a micro site (www.dreamcation.com) that links to the TCVB website.

Thanks to the many participating TCVB member organizations & tourism partners who offered getaway
packages as Dreamcation prizes, we were also able to barter for affordable air time on KGO radio in San Francisco and offer travel agents and consumers a chance to win a get-away in Tuolumne County which generated a lot of excitement at our trade show exhibits.

Some of the winners were so engaging and enthusiastic that our Sandy Gordon decided to video tape their activities and testimonials. What a wonderful and “credible” way to sell our destination! These videos were then posted on our Dreamcation.com website which generated even more interest and activity.

To expand our reach, the TCVB belongs to a number of other regional tourism marketing groups. Two very important groups are the High Sierra Visitors Council and the Gold Country Visitors Association.

In this past year, both of these organizations have created new brochures and maps with each member county represented. Both organizations maintain regional websites which serve as portals to our individual visitor bureau sites. Many visitors search regional sites first making this an important avenue for creating interest in our area. Our Executive Director, Nanci Sikes serves on the Board of Directors of the High Sierra Visitors Council and the Executive Board of the Gold Country Visitors Association giving us strong representation in both organizations.

As a member supported organization we continually focus on ways to promote individual members as well as the area as a whole. Thankfully we have many individual members who offer unique products and services and are generous in actively supporting efforts to promote the foothills on an ongoing basis.

Thanks to them tourism continues to grown and expand providing jobs and new experiences for local residents in the process.