A couple of years ago, a program designed to provide text-based mass media was sold to the Warren County Visitors Bureau.
The program was unveiled at WCVB as a digital transformation from email to text messaging, but required visitors to scan a QR code and provide information, which would then allow the office to target its marketing to visitors and also to know exactly where marketing was going.
There was only one problem: no one wanted to scan the QR code. Since December, only four people have scanned the QR code while nine people have voluntarily used a form on the Warren County Visitors’ Office website to provide the same information.
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We can all learn a lesson here too.
Marketing our region or business to outsiders is hard work that cannot be done by technology alone. Getting visitors to join programs like the QR Code Program is likely to require a personal touch rather than just hanging posters on a wall.
A tip from those who work in a restaurant where a visitor eats or the hotel where someone spends the night or the business where someone rents a bike or kayak is likely to go beyond a technology-only program . At the same point, use technology wisely. Time and money needs to be spent to make sure the region is well represented on the internet and social media. And, it should go without saying, making sure we have new events to generate outside interest would go a long way in marketing our region as well.
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