Do you have “mommy bloggers” in your marketing plan?

April 28th, 2010 by

I’ve been to Galena, IL.  I saw the Ulysses S. Grant home and attended my first wine tasting there.  

It’s been about twelve years, but I remember Galena as a fun place with a lot of tourism potential.  I had heard about the community from some friends who lived in nearby Dubuque, IA. This raises an important question:  “How do rural communities get the word out to tourists?”

 

The transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

The old way of marketing a community was to print a brochure, join a tourism association, create a website, and maybe try to attract the attention of some tour operators.  That’s so Web 1.0.

Galena may still be doing those things, but they have also moved on to include Web 2.0 strategies in their tourism efforts They recently invited 8 “mommy bloggers” from the Chicago area to tour their community.  The obvious hope was that these influential bloggers would write about their experience and encourage their readers to discover Galena’s hidden treasures. 

Why mommy bloggers?  According to the blog post where I learned about the event:

Mom bloggers were specifically targeted because when they reviewed who was following their Twitter account they found moms to be the common thread. Plus, families are taking shorter trips closer to home and Galena is a 3 hour drive from Chicago – where many of the women are from.”  (source:  Esther Brady Crawford, “Rural Jo Daviess County Turns To Mom Bloggers For Tourism Boost,” She Posts, April 22, 2010.) 

 

It’s about Trust

Great idea.  Reach the decision maker in the family through a source of information they trust, their favorite mommy blogger. 

Some people may criticize this approach saying that the old way of marketing offers the potential to reach more people.  They are right.  You can print a million brochures and pay to get your community recognized by Google. 

But I’d respond to those critics by asking them to consider how I got to Galena twelve years ago, in the days before social media.  I didn’t Google a website, I didn’t pick up a brochure at visitors center.  A friend told me about it.  Someone who’s opinion I trusted.

Social media has helped us discover new friends, and rural communities need to figure out ways take advantage.   Congratulations Galena.  We look forward to hearing more about the project and what you learned in the process.

 

( Thanks to Becky McCray for sharing the post via Twitter. )

Photo Credits:  Ulysses S. Grant House  (top right)  by Yark64 – Flickr and Galena, IL (bottom left) by Josh Be Me – Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 5 )

5 Responses to “Do you have “mommy bloggers” in your marketing plan?”

  1. Lisa Says:
    April 28th, 2010 at 11:45 am

    I am one of the mommy bloggers invited on this trip. I’ll be honest — Galena may never have come across my radar without this trip. However, since having gone, we are in the process of planning a family trip there sometime this summer. Plus, I’ve told a ton of people both online and offline about Galena’s offerings. I may not have the circulation of a newspaper — but the people I’m talking to want to hear about my thoughts. They are a much more captive audience.

  2. Mike Knutson Says:
    April 28th, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    Lisa,
    I hear you. I use to try to write “good” copy for publication in regional tourism association publications, and I struggled. It was tough because I questioned “why would anyone believe what I’m writing?” That’s obviously less of an issue for your regular readers, who know and trust you.

    And when you go on your family vacation this summer, I hope you stop in other small towns along the way. I bet you’ll discover a lot of other hidden treasures.

  3. Esther Crawford Says:
    April 28th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    So glad you found the post helpful and kudos to the team who created the Galena blogger trip – it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that this motivates other rural communities to try similar programs.

  4. Amanda Says:
    April 28th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    This is a great resource that we’ve recently seen happen in Bismarck ND…not so much on the community side but through product review. http://chevymommy.wordpress.com/ . We were impressed with Ressler Chevrolet’s insight as these mommy bloggers will look at aspects of the product different than others for example size, safety, mpg. They’ve created video and personal testimonial by having “real” examples try out these vehicles.

  5. The Urbanophile » Blog Archive » Midwest Miscellany Says:
    May 7th, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    [...] Re-Imagine Rural: Do you have mommy bloggers in your marketing plan? [...]

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