BuckeyeLine

‘March’-ing into Spring/Summer Travel

The first hints of spring are showing, which means that the Ohio Tourism Division is in full swing with March activities. I have spent some time recently traveling around the state for various meetings and obligations, and I am happy to report that, despite the serious challenges within the current economy, our Industry’s resolve and creativity is reaching new heights. For example, last week, I had the honor of addressing the annual meeting of the Hocking Hills Tourism Association. The sprit of collaboration and strength in partnership was strong as I chatted with business owners and operators. Hocking Hills Tourism Association Executive Director Karen Raymore gave a terrific presentation on their engagement in online social media and highlighted an innovative new program to capture visitor experiences and place them online for free by loaning out Flip video cameras at their visitor center. What a great low-cost idea to get some user-generated content. I believe Karen said, “If a picture is worth a thousand words then these videos are worth a million!”

Moving forward, the final touches are being put on the creative for the spring/summer campaign, the Public Relations team heads off next week on the Chicago Media Mission, and we are kicking off our efforts to tell the story about the sounds of Ohio in music! In addition, please take another look at our program supporting Ohio Military Families via our partnership with the Ohio National Guard. 

This month, we are launching the new Film Office Web site, wrapping up our video music contest, helping promote Ohio’s music scenes in partnership with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Week festivities in Cleveland, and we will be releasing the fantastic ROI information from our 2008 efforts! The Group Tour Office is following up on trade show leads, our publications review team is in the middle of our Publications RFP process, and we have some international familiarization tours coming together via our Great Lakes of North America Partnership.

There is too much information to share in this message, so I am keeping it short in order to let you get to the important articles. In closing, I want to recognize an Industry partner and leader who is moving on to a terrific tourism leadership position in upstate New York. Kelly Blazosky will be leaving her position at the helm of the Marietta CVB later this month and moving to Oneida County, NY.  Kelly has been a colleague and friend to many of us in the Industry, and her terrific attitude, ability to get things done and passion for the Industry will be missed by all of us who had the honor of working alongside her. Opportunities abound in tourism in 2009—we just need to seize them!

Safe travels,

Amir

Division Seeks Sites Interested in Post Trip Exploring Music History in Ohio

On March 27, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Positively Cleveland and the Ohio Tourism Division will kick off the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony week of events with a press conference followed by a FAM tour through Cleveland. If you would be interested in hosting a post-trip starting Sat., March 28 – March 29, for up to 10 media members, please contact Public Relations Coordinator Jessie Wagner at jessica.wagner@development.ohio.gov no later than Wed., March 11.

Get Ready to Rock the Vote!

The Ohio Film Music Video Challenge has begun! Filmmaking teams throughout Ohio are in the field making their videos as we speak. The last day for entrants to post their video to the YouTube page is Wednesday, March 11. It’s up to you to help pick the winner, so exercise your right to vote (and encourage everyone you know to do the same) between March 12 – 18! The top ranked videos will be judged by a star-studded panel of industry professionals including Chad Lowe and the Russo Brothers.  The Video Challenge winner will be announced live at the House of Blues in Cleveland on March 31.

Many thanks to all the sponsors who came on board and donated an array of outstanding prizes for the contest:
• Ante Up Audio – 10 hours of recording studio time
• Greg Wilson Photo – A day of photography with prints and DVD
• Hard Rock Café – Dinner for two
• House of Blues – Gospel Brunch for two
• The Hyatt Regency – Weekend Stay at Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade
• KP Photo – Half-day photo shoot
• Marengo Luxury Spa – A gift certificate to Marengo Luxury Spa
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum – A pair of tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, a one-year membership to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a gift basket from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Pickwick and Frolic – A Tuesday or Wednesday evening dinner and show for two

To check out the contest link, please visit Contest.DiscoverOhioFilm.com.

Group Tour Co-op in The Group Travel Leader

The Tourism Division is partnering with The Group Travel Leader to produce a branded, two-page “Ohio…Too Much Fun for Just One Day” co-op spread within the May 2009 issue. Some of the editorial topics will include Presidential sites; Space & Aviation; Music and Culinary group friendly attractions; along with any new group friendly attractions and packages.

Please e-mail your updated information that may fall within these categories, along with any 2009/2010 group friendly event dates and new product press releases by March 20 to celeste.krolak@development.ohio.gov.

To review the circulation breakdown and advertising rates, please click here. The advertising space deadline is April 6 and materials are due April 10. For more information, contact Kelly Tyner at The Group Travel Leader at (888) 253-0455 or Kelly@grouptravelleader.com.

2009-10 Fall/Winter Discover Ohio Calendar of Events Deadline April 17

To have your Ohio event considered for inclusion in the printed 2009-10 Fall/Winter Ohio Calendar of Events (50,000 printed), please submit/update your information in the DiscoverOhio.com/Buckeye database by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 17.
 
If your database entry is current, there is no need to re-submit. Please review your entries to ensure dates, times phone numbers, etc. are current and accurate. The calendar will cover events that take place between September 2009 and February of 2010. Due to space limitations, not all events submitted and approved will appear in the printed calendar, however, all approved events will be available on DiscoverOhio.com.
 
If you’re interested in advertising opportunities in the calendar please contact your advertising representative or Jillian LaManna, Great Lakes Publishing Advertising Coordinator, jlamanna@ohiomagazine.com or (216) 377-3655.

2009 Ohio Travel Planner Now Available

We are pleased to announce availability of the new 2009 annual Ohio Travel Planner, the state’s official travel guide. Bulk quantities of the free travel planner can be ordered online.
 
The full-color, 164-page, 2009 Ohio Travel Planner features captivating photography and provides information for sports & recreation buffs, family fun seekers, connoisseurs of arts & culture, and history & heritage enthusiasts. The bulk of the publication is comprised of more than 3,000 listings featuring attractions, recreation, shopping, dining, visitor services and lodging, all organized into five travel regions. Each regional listing section begins with a detailed map and overview of the area.
 
Listings featured in the planner were created using data from the Ohio Tourism Division’s DiscoverOhio.com/Buckeye Database. All Ohio travel entities are invited to submit listings, free of charge, to the Buckeye Database to be included in future issues of the Travel Planner. Information also was supplied by the Ohio Bed & Breakfast Association, the Ohio Campground Owners Association, the Ohio Golf Course Owners Association, the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association, the Ohio Restaurant Association, and the Ohio Wine Producers Association.

Heartland Travel Showcase

More than 100 delegates creatively decorated 84 Ohio exhibit booths and wore themed apparel for their appointments with tour operators during Heartland Travel Showcase in Pittsburgh Feb. 20 - 22.

Experiential tours, new hotel packages, group friendly events and theater performances were hot topics during the seven-minute appointments. Experience Columbus partners showcased their new group-friendly experiential video Saturday during the all-delegate luncheon as they built awareness of the 2010 event they will host.

On Sunday, 23 Adventures in Northeast Ohio partners started the day off early by hosting the tour operator breakfast. After distributing tokens during the functions and their appointments, they were ready for tour operators to spin the wheel to win a prize. Fae Diepstra with Spectrum Tours, Inc. in Grand Rapids won the grand prize gift baskets featuring northeast Ohio gift items and certificates valued at more than $1,000.

To end the show and build more Ohio excitement, 16 partners from Ohio’s Appalachian Country hosted the music-themed tour operator luncheon. Toni Kellar, director of Roots to Rhythm, facilitated a participatory drumming experience. Each tour operator played along with shakers provided by Ohio’s Appalachian Country and additional percussion instruments from Roots to Rhythm. As a result of all the partnerships and great teamwork, the tour operators left Heartland Travel Showcase with a strong awareness of the Ohio group tour product and our appreciation for their business. We are excited to host them in Columbus Feb. 19 – 21, 2010, and will work together to create a memorable Ohio experience.

The Division’s leads have been posted in the group tour section of Travel Buzz and are available to download. Please follow-up with the tour operators according to their requests.

(Photo Captions: Above, partners with the Adventures in Northeast Ohio region decorated their section to build excitement for their tour operator breakfast; Below, Experience Columbus sponsored the all-delegate luncheon to promote the 2010 show.)

Best Practices: Search Engine Optimization

Now, more than ever, consumers are determining what to spend their money on by what comes up in search engine results. According to Forrester Research, more than 80 percent of online purchases start with an online search. More than three out of four journalists report finding story ideas from newswires, and more than 137 billion search queries were conducted in the United States in 2008, an increase of 21 percent. With all this information available, what are you doing to make sure your information is visible in search engine results?

According to Business Wire, Search Engine Optimization is the craft and science of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines via natural search results for targeted keywords. When press releases come into play, including embedded hyperlinks into a press release not only draws the consumer back to your Web site, but also increases the likelihood of appearing in search engine results. Think of a press release as a Web page and include keywords and phrases in the headline, subhead and first 150 words of the release that consumers and journalists would look for in a keyword search. Here are some tips for developing an effective keyword strategy:

• Identify: Brainstorm keywords that potential customers are using to find information about your brand/destination. If possible, research to find out how many potential customers are using key terms.
• Analyze: Research to find out those keywords that are most popular. Find like-search terms that can be used as alternatives.
• Select: Choose three to five keywords that will be used to optimize your press release.

Business Wire also suggests keeping keyword phrases two to four words long. For example, putting the keywords “Ohio summer destination” in your release will increase the likelihood that the release will appear in top results for that keyword search. These are just a few simple tips to help your destination’s information get picked up in search engine results.

Tech Corner: R U N2 Social Media Marketing

Last month we asked: “Do you Twitter, Blog or Use a Social Networking Site?” This month let’s take a look at why these sites are important to you as a marketer. According to Compete.com, Facebook’s audience has grown by 30 million users over the past year. According to eMarketer, the online business for market research and trend analysis on Internet, e-business, online marketing, media and emerging technologies, the largest segment of that audience is in the 26+ age group. In fact, women ages 55 and older are the fastest-growing demographic group on Facebook, with membership numbers up 175.3 percent since the end of September 2008. The number of males in that age group grew 137.8 percent in the same period.

Facebook is only one of the rapidly expanding social networking sites. You can see from the Compete.com chart below that only Flickr.com seems to be status quo at about 25 million users.

Once you have decided that you need to be in the social media space, you need to understand how to use it correctly or you will end up wasting your time and the time of your readers. The following two articles from Michael Fruchter will help you understand this new marketing tool and how you can make the most of it:

Getting Started with Social Media
35 Tips for Getting Started with Social Media

Where in the World

March 3: Alicia Reece at Clinton Co. CVB open house
March 4: Joe Vargo at the Ohio Department of Agriculture for Ohio Grape Industries Council strategic planning session
March 7: Amir speaking to the 28th Annual Ohio Charter Captains Conference
March 10: Amir and Alicia attending Experience Columbus Annual Meeting
March 10-11: Tamara Brown in Chicago for the Chicago Media Mission
March 17: Joe at Experience Columbus for Ohio Culinary Tourism planning meeting
March 27: Tourism team at the Rock Hall press conference in Cleveland to kick off Induction Week
March 31: Christina Grozik and tourism team at the House of Blues in Cleveland to announce the winner of the Ohio Film Music Video Challenge.