Promoting Fort Payne and DeKalb County by John Dersham

One of the most effective ways we promote and at a relatively low cost are press releases. DeKalb Tourism sends out press releases for all the major events in DeKalb County that will attract out of town visitors, especially if it is an event or attraction that is likely to keep our guests here overnight or better yet for several days. During the course of the year we will send out press releases for festivals, like Boom Days, Colorfest, Rhododendron festival, Sand Mountain Potato festival, Ider Mule Day, Collinsville Turkey Trot and Fyffe UFO Days. We also send out generic press releases to promote attractions, lodging, restaurants, parks & recreation, and museums, etc. We have a press release going out next week that will promote this area as a great place to come for spring break. Here is an excerpt from that press release.

“For the more adventure-seekers, visitors can explore the underground world at Sequoyah Caverns or take in miles of hiking and biking trails, sheer rock cliffs, kayak a raging river and fish from several streams and lakes available at Little River Falls, DeSoto State Park, High Falls Park, Buck’s Pocket State Park, and Little River Canyon National Preserve. Local outfitters can provide all the necessary equipment and knowledge for a truly adventurous spring break trip.

Situated atop Lookout Mountain among the many scenic waterfalls and majestic overlooks are a variety of accommodations from charming bed and breakfasts to rustic cabins. The Mountain Laurel Inn Bed and Breakfast offers a wonderful retreat from the hectic pace of everyday life. The March Madness package is available at $258 and includes two nights, morning coffee delivered to the room, full breakfast, a keepsake ornament, bottled water and snacks for two people. The historic village of Mentone is home to the oldest operating hotel in the state – the Mentone Springs Hotel. Listed in the New York Times bestselling book “100 Places to See before You Die” and on the National Register of Historic Places, it is known as the Grande Dame of Lookout Mountain.”

It is our job as a Destination Marketing Organization to entice people who do not live here to come visit us on their vacations, weekends or school breaks. We advertise with language that is inviting to the potential visitor. Text about our scenic mountains and valleys with waterfalls, state parks and a national preserve, along with  great lodging in hotels, B&B’s, campgrounds and rental cabins in the woods all give our potential visitor the urge to visit. We have to sell the things we are best at and those things are a low cost place to visit with friendly helpful people, low traffic, great scenic drives, a very relaxed environment with lots of places to eat, shop, hike and sight see. We promote our towns and villages and we promote our rich history.

In order of doing this the most effective way possible we use a professional press release writing and distribution company. The company we use is Beasley Marketing Company, it is owned by Karen Beasley in Huntsville. She understands the press release format and keeps updated distribution files. We can ask her to send the release to all newspapers, Blogs, magazines, and TV and radio stations in North Alabama or to the entire state. We can add parts, or all, of Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana or any other state we want to target. These press releases almost always are picked up by multiple newspapers and we often get requests for TV appearances to discuss.

For more information about our press releases contact DeKalb Tourism at 256-845-3957.

Winter Travel Shows by John Dersham

I have just completed this year’s round of winter travel shows to promote tourism in DeKalb County. These shows are a fairly inexpensive way to talk to a lot of people in person about our area and basically try and sell them on planning their vacation to our area. This is done via conversation, travel guides, websites, social media and pictures. The primary objective is to educate our guests about us, i.e., what to see, where to go, how far away we are, how much it cost to visit our area. They want to know about lodging, attractions, food, entertainment, etc. Usually a discussion with visitors to our booth will last five to fifteen minutes based on the verbal level of detail they would like to talk about. We equip each guest with a bag of travel info from our area. This year I worked at the Columbus, Ohio AAA Great Vacations Expo, the Indianapolis Travel, Boat, and RV, fishing and Motorcycle Show and the Greenville, SC Southern Travel Show. We are represented by Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and the State of Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism and other shows too, including; Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, KY. In the spring I will attend the Southern Women’s show in Nashville and others will attend the Memphis and Chattanooga Shows and they will help represent our area. These travel expos are a very personal way to connect to our potential visitor and it gives us a chance to invite them to come see us in person.  Many of these shows are a winter attraction in themselves. People come to these shows for entertainment on a cold winter weekend. Many of these expos have stars performing or appearing for autographs. There are lectures and give a ways. There is food and beverage and lots to see. Travel organizations from around the world attend many of these shows. It is also a place to look at and buy an RV, boat, motorcycle or camping and fishing equipment.

We have continued to grow tourism in DeKalb even in an economy that is not that strong. I feel these shows are just another way we get our name and location out to the public. Many of these travel shows have existed since the early 50’s and have become an annual event for residents in their locations.

The Progress of Humanity by John Dersham

Yes, when you listen to the news of which there is plenty, especially with 24 hour news stations, all the news or most seems bad. Kidnappings, murders, hate crimes, robberies, war, greed, corruption, etc. It is my opinion that despite the bombardment of bad news that our world is getting better and better all the time. If you look back at our history we were quite barbaric people from our beginning. Technology, which I feel is also in perpetual improvement, is allowing us a voice we never had. Even in depressed dictator countries the voice of the people can no longer be silenced, thanks to smart phone technology, social media and the internet. No longer can people be isolated from the truth. I think this is why the time is coming when there will be no dictators. To be a dictator you must silence your people and this is no longer possible. Bad news aside let’s talk about how wonderful we are. When someone is in trouble we come to the rescue. When storms hit we come to help in masses. We provide physical labor and great amounts of financial support. We all remember April 27, 2011. Look how we came together to help. All around the world there have been disasters of the same magnitude and we the people have been there for those adversely affected. As we are able to communicate with everyone around the world, as we do via technology we find the vast majority of people all around the world are exactly like us. They want peace, they want to help their neighbors, they love their families and when we communicate with them they become our friends. No longer do we look at people we don’t know as the enemy. We, through growing and improving worldwide technology, are becoming friends. I feel step by step, year by year from the beginning of mankind we are inching our way to becoming that which God created us to be and that is the beautiful wonder individual God created in each of us. Yes, it is a journey and we have a long way to go but I am convinced the journey is always in the right direction despite the bad news along the way. It was not very long ago our leaders could be corrupt and the public never knew it. Now if you break the law or break the accepted morale code you will get caught and it will be publicized. Gradually we are figuring out what God put inside us to begin with and that is love, kindness and caring for fellow mankind and for all of Gods other creations. However you feel about Heaven or Hell or God and the Devil or if you don’t believe in either, there is Free Will. Free Will given to us by the creator lets us decide our choices, right or wrong, kind or hateful, greedy or sharing, egotistical or modest, war or peace, love or hate. These are our decisions everyday and have been from our beginning and now through our several thousand year journey we are gradually a fraction at a time learning our way.

Ohians Love Alabama! by John Dersham

I just got back from the AAA Great Vacations Expo in Columbus, Ohio. This expo is held every year in January at the War Memorial Exposition Hall in Columbus. This show is dedicated to travel and tourism. Each year hundreds of Destination Marketing Organizations, like ours, and Convention and Visitor Bureaus and other companies that promote travel for a living set up their individual booths at this show. There are many of these shows throughout the country. We attend 4-6 of these shows each year dependent on our demographic pull from each location. Most of the large travel expo’s are in the winter when people are looking for a place to go for something to do but also to plan their vacations for the spring, summer and fall. We had a crowded booth all the time during the three day weekend event. People from Ohio love Alabama. The reason is because we have mountains and we have a beach, both of which Ohio does not have. In addition we are a fairly short drive with good interstates that get visitors here in about 7-8 hours from Columbus. It always amazes me how many people at these shows are already familiar with our area and have visited us before and many have come multiple times.  We heard a whole lot of “Roll Tide” all weekend and lots of people stopped to get information about their next Alabama vacation but also to tell us about their previous trips to Alabama, where they went and what they did. Everyone had something good to say about us. They love our scenery, our camping, hiking and fishing. They love our low cost destinations. They like our Bar-B-Que and they love our Robert Trent Jones golf courses. We had at least two dozen people stop to say they had played these fantastic golf courses or were going to be there soon. The Robert Trent Jones golf trail is advertised on network TV affiliates throughout the country and is very well known. We also heard about our beautiful beaches at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Many people drive down I-65 from Ohio which is a straight shot for them to our beaches. In addition we hear about our area. They love the mountains and waterfalls and canyon that they do not get to see in Ohio. It is fun for us to participate in this expo. We know we are getting business by attending the winter travel shows but it is rewarding especially to hear from people who love our area and had a good experience here and want to come back again.

Winter is the travel expo season by John Dersham

Every winter DeKalb Tourism participates in some of the key travel shows around the Southeast and Midwest. These shows are held in large cities, usually at convention centers or complexes that can accommodate up to a thousand supplier booths and up to 140,000 visitors to the exhibits. These shows are held mostly in the coldest part of winter for a couple reasons.  Number one: people are looking for things to do and places to go during cold and sometimes ugly weather; Number two: people are interested in planning their warm weather vacations; and number three: many of these shows are comprised not only of Destination Marketing Organizations like ours, but they are boat, RV, fishing and motorcycle expo’s too. In cold weather visitors come to these shows longing for sunny days and warm weather and seeing RV’s, Boats and Motorcycles gets them in the mood to travel and in the mood to buy one of these products at the show or in our case plan to take a vacation to our area.

Our travel show season begins this weekend in Columbus, Ohio at the AAA Great Vacations Expo. This particular show is dedicated to travel and vacation planning. There will be organizations from all over the world set up to show off their destinations. This show is a three day event and will have up to 50,000 visitors. The next show is in Greenville, SC in February and it is also a three day AAA Great Vacations Expo. This is followed by the Indianapolis Travel, RV, Boat and Motorcycle Expo. It is held at the Indiana state fairgrounds and covers multiple buildings. This show began in 1954 and usually draws up to 150,000 people during the course of the ten day expo. In April we will attend the Nashville Women’s Expo. These women’s expos are held in various cities and they focus on products and services that appeal to women, including travel planning. In most cases it is women who plan their family vacations.

Overall this is a very effective way for DeKalb Tourism to promote to regions within our range of likely visitation. These shows are an opportunity to talk to and hopefully sell people on the reasons they should come to see us. We will give them travel guides and other pieces of printed information to take home with them. Every year when I go back to some of the same expo’s I will have people come by our booth and tell us they have been to our area and they tell us how much they enjoyed their visit. In several of these shows Alabama has a large presence. We partner with Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and the Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism. Our booths cover approximately 50 running feet down one of the isles. Like all forms of advertising, if you increase the visitor pool everyone will get more. The more people we can get to visit Alabama will increase our chances of some of them spending time in our area.