The NBA playoffs have returned to Milwaukee and interest is through the roof for the Milwaukee Bucks right now. If you have been watching the Bucks this season you know this team is young, talented and very athletic, with the goal being championship caliber when new stadium is completed. The bucks returned home last night with the series tied at 1-1 with Toronto Raptors, they now lead the Raptors 2 games to 1, with game 4 in downtown Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon. All day yesterday you could feel a buzz in the city, even today after their resounding victory, you can feel the city alive. Tomorrow is going to be electric in downtown Milwaukee. But what is the impact of an NBA playoff game on a community? I did tweet to Visit Milwaukee but they did not have the numbers yet but when the NCAA March Madness games were in Milwaukee earlier this year, exceeded expectations and had a $6.6 million economic impact on Milwaukee. The impact a Bucks post-season run has on Milwaukee goes beyond financial.
Tourism Marketing
Key Strategies to Increase Your Destinations Music Tourism
When I started in the tourism industry 10 years ago, at the first conference that I attended, I heard Bill Geist talk about music tourism. Throughout my years in the industry, I heard him talk about this topic numerous times. Music is a powerful means of connecting people. It bridges linguistic and cultural divides, and is a vehicle for identity and expression like no other. As a tourism marketer this seemed to resonate with me. I started to think about my own experiences with music and how it affected me when I work conferences. It really came to light when I attended a conference in Indianapolis and at night a lot of the attendees where at a dauling piano bar with a ton a locals on Thursday night, and the place was packed. It is widely known that music and travel go hand in hand with each other.
Why Attend Another State’s Governor’s Conference On Tourism
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Georgia Governor’s Conference on Tourism. I had never attended another states Governor’s Conference on Tourism while I was working for a CVB in Illinois, as I only attended the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism. I truly found it beneficial to go to another states Tourism Conference and learn about everything they are doing to attract visitors to their state, as well as network with other marketing and tourism professionals. Granted, I was attending the conference as a vendor (for my employer J Rudny, Interactive Design Solutions) and not as a marketer working at a Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), I still feel there were things I got out of the conference to help me grow as a marketer.
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Why Start Healthy Digital Living Blog
Why start a blog called Healthy Digital Living? I had set-up a generic blog years ago, that I would randomly post things to. I concentrated so much on the brand and company that I was working for and didn’t really brand myself. In December 2015, I felt it was time that I started to get some of my thoughts and knowledge out of my head and on paper, as there was a lot going on in there and it would provide me with a place that I would lose or forget my thoughts. My wife was on a journey of weight loss and healthy eating and I kept hearing the questions that people were asking her about it. I kept telling her and myself, we should start a blog about it and educate people. But yet, I wanted someplace to share my marketing knowledge, from there Healthy Digital Living was born. Read more
My Periscope Perspective and Tips
When new technology comes out or becomes hot, I like to test it personally and then figure out how it can be used for the brand. I think of what I would do with it to promote the brand, how it will benefit the brand and do we have time to incorporate it and do it well instead of just doing it because everyone else is doing it. If this is another social network, I think about how it will be incorporated in our strategy and how we will get people to follow us on this new network and be relevant.
Recently, for the first time, I decided to add Periscope to our wheelhouse and do some live videos when we are out filming creating our YouTube videos for Visit Lake County. The first video I did was 2 weeks ago, and it was on Six Flags Great America making their announcement of a new coaster coming in 2016. I figured this was a pretty easy and I could potentially have a decent attendance, especially with some coaster enthusiasts. As it turned out, I was quite surprised with how it went and the amount of people who were watching us live and interacting us. Read more
A Behind the Scenes look at the Visit Lake County Song Search
You are only as good as your last month, or in this case your last year. A year ago, I was thinking of was to generate and create more awareness before our summer season and I got it stuck in my head that I could pull off a lip dup. At the time, it was probably my favorite this to work on. We created a music video tailored to Lake County, Illinois to the song, Best Day of My life by American Authors – https://youtu.be/iphhBSYiE44
Flash forward a year, well I definitely out did myself and launched a “music video that has gone viral with 74,000 views on Facebook and YouTube”, according to Bill Geist. Well, it was not as easy as that. It started out like any other passing water cooler talk in the office, “What are you going to do now to top Best Day?” I did not know at the time and wasn’t sure how to take that concept to the next step. I attended eTourism Summit last October and decided to sit in a music video session. Speakers from other destination spoke about what they did and how they used music to sell their destination. I took notes and wrote down some ideas that came to me. When I returned to the office, I told my boss I came up with idea to top ‘Best Day’, that included a way to generate website views during out off-season and increase the music section on our website. The idea sat with my until January, I then talked to my boss again, and this time I had the while idea flushed out. Granted there were some obstacles and hurdles along the way, otherwise, I thought it was a great idea. Read more