Minders & Area CDC - Missing the boat
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- Published on Sunday, September 13, 2015
By Vern May
Minnedosa & Area Community Development Corporation
Sometimes working in a small community can feel like you’re on an island all by yourself. The scope of your problems is pretty narrow, but the slate of opportunity can sometimes be as well. It’s easy to get caught up in the here-and-now and lose touch with what’s happening beyond town limits.
This is often most evident when we examine our marketing budget. There will be some advertising done locally, maybe some money allocated to a regional booklet or brochure, and you can bet the plan will include some spending on Brandon radio at some point. After that, the bold moves will be heavily debated if the budget hasn’t already been exhausted. You may spend the rest of your year trying to generate some steam within the community itself.But are we confident that marketing solely through our local and Brandon-based channels is the right move? Sure, radio stations have a strong reach across a wide radius, but are we reaching far enough?
Travel Manitoba reported that international travel to the province has been steadily growing, with an almost eight per cent increase in March of this year. While locally we’re trying to lure Brandon’s city dwellers out to the country for the weekend, at a higher level they’re inviting the world. So should we step up our efforts?
Instead of focusing solely on local and regional markets, maybe we should be casting our net a little more widely. If we’re each reaching provincially our regional tourism associations are aiming nationally and our provincial tourism agency is focused on international travelers, it would seem the ripple effect both ways from our collective efforts should leave no gaps.If our intent is to create new awareness of our town, we need to do more than stand on our own doorstep and bellow. Instead, let’s be somewhat strategic and reach further.
Let’s not forget about our neighbours to the south. How many advertisements have you heard on the radio or seen in print for North Dakota and Magical Minot? How many of our communities have invested in advertising through American newspaper and radio to get our message on the radar of those travelers? In addition, let’s ensure American visitors know about us as soon as they cross the 49th parallel. We certainly need to ensure our brochures and visitor information are on hand at the Boissevain travel kiosk, but maybe we augment that with a billboard to entice people to explore our area. We need to consider increasing our visibility on the Trans-Canada Highway as well, so people turn off the “main road” to come check us out in person.
There isn’t any one single strategy, but instead a wide variety of options available to us to market our communities in new ways, across new markets, with a wider scope of potential visitors, residents, investors and business interests in mind.
Want to discuss marketing Rapid City to a wider audience? Let’s continue the conversation and explore the possibilities that exist; email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone at 204-867-3885. The best things around that I have ever seen, came from small towns and big dreams.
