Lately, we’ve seen some great ideas about ways to bring visitors, web traffic and revenue into struggling house museums and other historic properties.

This follows up on our post on Web Strategy for House Museums.
A few things:

1. Flickr for Events: At a family day event at Sarasota’s Ringling Museum in January, I saw a staff photographer taking pictures of visitors. As they asked visitors to pose, they gave each person a small piece of paper with the link to the museum’s Flickr page. It is an excellent way to get folks involved in the museum, and build content and backlinks to your site. Even better, you can leave the pictures up permanently, and have them easily reachable for things like newsletters. Most importantly, it’s a permanent record of your community outreach, and it costs nothing.
2. Tea Party People: On my drive in to work one day this week, that controversial radio host Glenn Beck was reciting these familiar words…then I realized it was Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty” speech. I swear I have not heard his speech recited on radio…ever. And then, I see folks on cable news, making fun of folks at Tea Party rallies around the country, wearing knee breeches and colonial garb. It got me thinking that there is an untapped market for all of these old history museums in this segment. Certainly, home-schoolers are markets for house museums, but this group is even more interesting because the sorts of people who run museums are often scared of Tea Party people. That’s a mistake, because museums get REALLY get interesting when their visitors come from diverse backgrounds. Live dangerously. Dare to host a Tea Party meeting. But host EVERY kind of political meeting.
3. Farmer’s Market: Here in my town of Sarasota, the Phillippi Estate Park holds a weekly farmer’s market. It runs Wednesday afternoons, and seems to be a big success. It brings people to the park, and also generates income for farmers, artists and the like, all to promote Florida farming. House museums are desperate for foot traffic; this sort of thing is perfect because it happens weekly, and does not involve lots of special programs or staff. There are so many house museums in the U.S., and they mostly only have small retail shop operations of dusty merchandise. Note: The Philippi effort uses smart signage and up-to-date graphics to help convince visitors that it’s a top event.
4. New Objects: I am continually surprised at the number of people I know who do not have a clue what to do with objects they want to donate to museums. While I know of a few museums that will take gifts that are related to their mission, I sometimes feel that museums are now a bit overly cautious about what they will acquire. Perhaps in the past they have been saddled with objects unrelated to the mission of the museum. That’s a mistake. Museums need to be aggressive about seeking donations, and always have an open door. For instance, The Valentine Richmond History Center and the Virginia Historical Society not only deal well with donors, but their acquisition policies are not frozen in time. They are always looking for what is next, what is amusing or interesting or illuminating. Objects should not only be for filling in holes with the collection, but should be a way of keeping a pulse on donors, trends and such.
5. Special Church Services: Many house museums allow churches to have Easter services on their lawns. This is a great way to entrench yourselves with the community. Even better, when there are memorable worship services held on your property, you become a part of the narrative of people’s lives forever.
6. Multiple locations: Ever since I have been a kid and spent time at Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities properties and in Colonial Williamsburg, I have been enamored of the “museum” that is larger than one location. Certainly, this sort of idea presents all sorts of difficulties, but it also presents so much promise. Because the larger the geographic scope of an institution, the more potential there is for a wider audience.
7. Angels Unawares: We all know the phrase from Hebrews, namely “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” This is kind of obvious, but it often gets missed. Make sure that your front line staff has an ear to who is visiting your museum, unscheduled. Even someone disheveled might be someone with money, someone who knows money, or someone who has been traveling and didn’t pull it all together. And an open attitude isn’t just for the odd fellow who stumbles in. We know of a certain museum director who had a certain beloved British Prime Minister visit his art museum. And the front line staff didn’t go get him! We also know of a case where a certain sister of a certain Omaha billionaire stumbled into a certain parochial school and ended up being a major donor, because of the way she was treated.
8. Free admission: We’ve seen a number of museums getting rid of their admission. While not all can afford it, having a free admission is an interesting concept. The idea is to build up visitor numbers, and show donors and civic officials that you are fulfilling your IRS mandate to be open to the public. Then, with that increased traffic, leverage sales in the gift shop and more memberships. Williamsburg actually does this, but not by design. The town is free, and access to gift shops and restaurants are for everyone. You pay for the buildings.

Geek Atlas

Finally got a chance to read John Graham-Cumming’s Geek Atlas. Its subtitle is 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive.  Published by O’Reilly, it is a tour book of the world’s most interesting science tourist sites.

The most compelling? The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. There is actually a tour of it. It is proof that even the worst disasters and embarrassing things will attract tourists, if the tour is interesting enough. The Chernobyl tour leaves from Kiev, and visits some of the remaining folk who live in Chernobyl, as well as takes visitors close to plant itself. It also stops in the frozen town of Pripyat, where a Ferris wheel sits abandoned.

It is also proof that different people are interested in travel for different things; even obscure science can be an asset. As tourism officials chase conventions and resort hotels, sometimes the most useful tourism assets can be hidden.

The book is a travel tour of great places connected to science, including:

• Bletchley Park in the U.K., where the Enigma Code was broken
• The Horn Antenna in New Jersey, where the Big Bang was confirmed
• The National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Maryland
• The Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California.
• Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas
• White Sands Missile Range Museum, New Mexico
• NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
• The Brunel Museum, London

There are not just grand sites. The Shot Tower Historical State Park in Austinville, Virginia is included. It is a place where molten lead was poured from heights to make lead shot.

Some sites are not even open to the public, but just knowing that they are there is a tourism lure sometimes.

The question for tourism and economic development officials? What interesting things happened in your area, and how can you build on those events?

Pictured here is the Sitka Visitor Center, part of Sitka National Park. The photo is part of the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress, and the architecture embodies some of the best of American travel architecture.

Sitka is an exception, as it has first-rank architecture and a sole focus, namely oriented visitors to a first-rate National Park.

Frankly, visitor centers run by visitor bureaus across the nation are a big snooze, only slightly more interesting than post offices. But a least at the post office, you can buy stamps or send a package. At most visitor centers, all you can do is ask for information. It’s no coincidence that both are run by government bureaucrats.

Most visitor centers don’t have the budget of Sitka. But that is not the point. Its the aspiration; do you care about what you are showing your visitors? If you do, take account of how your visitor center looks.

But the question today is much larger. In an age of the internet, how interesting is it to have a bunch of rack brochures in a room with an old 60-year-old person sitting in a chair? But that is the typical profile of a visitor center in almost every city in the U.S., and it needs to change. Frankly, most cities could now do without a visitor center, so if they are to survive, they need to show a Return on Investment. That means looking directly at the investment in staff and overhead, and seeing how much revenue is generated by that effort.

Now, this is not to discount the value of the visitor center employee, who is always friendly, even though they are underpaid and under-appreciated by second-guessed mid-level quasi-government officials. And this does not mean that you need expensive multimedia (though you should have seating areas for free WiFi).

A friend in Virginia once talked to me about the overall boring-ness of Virginia visitor centers. They really needed to be place of selling things and showing things that are made in Virginia, and not just a place to dump boring rack brochures. His idea was to turn visitor centers into a place where all the products, art and creativity of the state are shown to visitors. West Virginia did it, to some success. And Virginia tried to upgrade the experience on I-95, though they did it just in time for Gov. Tim Kaine to close up highway rest stops.

The problem is that these visitor centers are run by quasi-government corporations that use government money, but are almost always outside the accountability of government. Furthermore, most communities do not value tourism, really, so they stock these boards with people who are merely expedient.

The most interesting visitor center I ever saw was Travelland in Richmond, Virginia. It was, of course, shut down by the Richmond Convention and Visitors Bureau and the center moved to a boring annex near downtown. But when it lived, it was brilliant (I recall it was opened by the Richmond Jaycees as a community project). It was the old Westham train station, moved to the site, and near it were placed old engines and railcars, as well as an airplane. Kids could play on the equipment while parents talked to the staff inside. Kids would ask to come as it became a local attraction too. It was also just off I-95, and it could be seen from the road.

The old visitor center did a few things today’s visitor center should emulate, including having a play area where kids could be while parents went inside. Other tips:

1. Use market considerations. Think about your traveler, and what they like. Is your traveler retired? You will need good parking for handicaps, and gentle, retired folks for visitor center employees.
2. Have your tourism office near or in the visitor center. While this is not applicable to state tourism offices, local visitor bureaus often try to stay distant from dealing with actual tourists. Actual tourists are free market research.
3. Don’t spend lots of money. Remember, its public money. You want to be clever, not wasteful. Sitka is great, but its a federal budget. However, this is not to discount the importance of quality architecture. Investment in architecture has a long payoff cycle, one of 30 years, so think through your presentation carefully.
4. Do sell rooms. People are looking for a place to stay, you need to be able to make a call to book them. You need policies on how to refer; don’t just take the easy route and make visitors do it themselves. Many people have access to online booking, but older folks don’t, and younger folks are possibly looking for something that’s not on hotels.com.
5. Engage the visitor. Sitting behind a desk is fine, but if things aren’t busy, do something for the customer. Walk around, and chat. Give out some samples.
6. If you take public money, do not charge for slots, or for rights-restrictive publications. You are not in business to make money, you are in business to promote the local community. No special deals, please.
7. Do have a sign in. Though it would most properly be called a guest register. Most do, but some don’t. It’s a nice old Victorian gesture, and you may just get some email addresses from it. At minimum, you will get some marketing information and some funny stuff drawn by kids.
8. Please have something for the kids. Of course, Travelland in Richmond had an old steam engine, RF&P railcar and maybe even a rocket. Whatever you have for the kids, make sure that the kids like it. If you are indoors, have a small play area or some crayons or something.
9. Have a stash. Your guests are traveling. What things might you need? I am not sure but your goal is to be the concierge for your city, and that might mean many different things, including toothbrushes, aspirin (no you won’t get sued) and hand wash.
10. Connect with the government. Make sure that elected officials not only visit the center, but know about it and understand it and talk to the staff, and have a personal relationship. They will support it.
11. Use visitor center staff to help with social media. The people who are at the front desk at a visitor center are the perfect people to monitor Twitter and Facebook. It’s not about technology; don’t hire some college kid to do it; get an expert who is knows the subject matter.
12. Show what you make. Even if your chief export is pallets or screws, show it and/or sell it. The connection between industrial and economic development and tourism has been lost, and it needs to be reunited. Travelers are interested in what is made in a place, even if it is something that is not a consumer product. However, if you are lucky enough to have a consumer product made in your area, ask the company for samples, or at least
13. Have local history exhibits. You want to show old things that relate to your area. So old pictures of hotels, restaurants, events and such should be shown in the visitor center. Bored young fogies like yours truly will enjoy it, and others will have something to look at while the travel partner talks to the employees. Many local museums double as visitor centers. This is good.
14. Have art. You want to show your local talent. How about an art show, or at least some local prints?
15. Sell tickets. Have a close relationship with all of the cultural groups in your area. Have symphony, stage and opera companies give away tickets at the visitor center. Make your tourists stay the night.

Drawing by Thomas T. Waterman of Carter's Grove, part of the Historic American Buildings Survey. Carter's Grove was shut down as a house museum and sold by Colonial Williamsburg back into private hands.

The house museum was once the center of pop culture history in the U.S. But today, once notable places like Colonial Williamsburg’s Carter’s Grove have been shut down and de-accessioned, and house museums across the U.S. and Britain are struggling or closing.

I do not share the doom. I see the damage as entirely self-inflicted. Overly busy curators do make work. Directors lose focus. Boards become inwardly focused. Interpretations become didactic and boring. Donors get worn out, worn down and taken for granted. Capital campaigns take the place of actual mission.

One big hope for house museums comes from the web. Today, the Internet gives each museum a forum where it can communicate to the world. And in spite of budget cuts, there are more resources out there for museums than there were 50 years ago.

Cable television has dozens of channels exclusively devoted to history and home renovation, foundations are more plentiful and governments recognize the importance of house museums. It is time to go on the offensive. Note to boards: if you hear defeatism, you need to make a change.

When house museums are good, the public responds. People are fascinated by seeing houses, and stepping into the domestic past is rewarding in so many ways.

A few years ago, I heard Thomas Savage of Winterthur speak to an Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities dinner. He talked about his youth, visiting house museums, and the need to reinvent the house museum for new audiences. His analysis was on target; in the 1970s, when the Bicentennial was a national mania, attendance was a sort of ritual of families.

Today, most families do not go to house museums, except on school trips, and then only occasionally.

Last week, I was at Fairfax’s Gunston Hall, on assignment for the annual Fairfax County visitor guide. The museum was taking the opposite tack as so many other museums. Instead of deaccessioning collections, they are carefully buying items that include pottery that resembles shards found in archaelogy. They are reaching out to new audiences. And they are regularly conducting research and moving around the rooms so as to better reflect their  evolving knowledge of the period. They are working with local churches and groups on events. They are reaching out and not standing still.

Reach out. Keep your museum open EVERY Day but Christmas and Thanksgiving. Make an effort to give to the community, and they will give back, in droves.

One other piece of advice. One of the most important parts of how a house museum can win visitors is to use the web. Here are some ideas.

1. Use your volunteers to put content on the web. Very often, there are many volunteers at house museums who sit around and wait for visitors, who only rarely arrive. Instead of boring those volunteers by making them sit by the door, get a few laptops and encourage them to key in information about the house to your website. Are there old letters from the owners? Type them up and post them online. Are there old minutes from the founders of the museum? Enter that information in. Other information to put on your website includes names and birthdates from local cemeteries, collections lists, diaries, archival photos, current photos and even audio tours. Do not rest until EVERY object in the collection is posted online, with a description. In Internet parlance, the “long tail” information is important in winning web visitors.
2. Open an Amazon or Ebay store in the name of the museum. There is no better way to sell items from your store than online. Yes, some house museums have expensive online shops. But most house museums do not have the budget. Make sure that you open a museum shop online, and with each item listed for sale, include links back to the main website of your museum. Ebay is also a great way to de-accession useless items that are not historic. An old piece of furniture from the director’s office? Sell it. Someone might appreciate a 1975 chair from a great old house museum.
3. Whatever new you post online, Twitter it. Most people think that Twitter is for getting web readership now. But it also functions as an index of sorts. So if you post a new web page on a historic clock at the house, then you want to “Twitter” the page so that Google can find it.
4. Advertise. Just be careful about it as you can waste lots of money. Remember that for-profit tourist attractions need to advertise to attract visitors. At your local tourism bureau meeting, ask other for-profit attractions about their budgets. Match that percentage. And use Google Adwords, putting a $5 a day limit on the number of clicks. You need to be in the game.
5. Share links with other local attractions. If there is a go-kart track down the road, put up a page of links on your website to other local attractions. Some stuffy people might look askance at this, but the reality is that if you want 13 year old boys to come to your museum, they might do it before or after a visit to a go-kart or Putt-Putt visit.
6. Put out press releases whenever you find a piece of lint. I exaggerate a bit, but make it a  practice to issue press releases regularly, even with small finds. If you have  a full time marketing person, you need to have releases go out at least once a week. While you might occasionally spring for issuing a press release on BusinessWire or PRNewswire, there are man free services where you can post press releases. Press releases will help bring search engines to your site, as well as encourage local newspapers to cover you.
7. Photos, photos. Take lots of photos for Flickr and other sites. Post them online, rights free.
8. Social media: Facebook is great, but it’s not about having a page. Yes, you might want to do like everyone else and have a Facebook page for your museum, but the important thing is that other Facebook users post information about your museum.
9. Content, content: Put as much content out there as you can. Put out educational materials. Put out research papers. Put it all up on the web. And you MUST ensure that your content works with local school boards.
10. Offer the house for free: Give away admissions to the house. LOTS. It’s all about word of mouth. Admissions are only a small part of the budget.
11. Stay away from Flash in websites. You don’t need fancy. You need WORDS. But do pay attention to how your website feels. You want the website to be modern, not “ye olde” as you are trying to attract people in 2009, not 1901. You need to attract the youth, not repel it.
12. Work with other groups on events. Some house museums want to have a strategy where you try to extract as much money as you can from groups who rent your house museum. You want to do the opposite. You want to open up your museum.

Contact Editor Garland Pollard for web ideas for your house museum. Or call him at 703-745-8602.

But the recent issues with Lockerbie could do damage, as Americans just cannot begin to understand the decision. Perhaps this role-play will help those who work in Scotland’s £4.0 billion tourist industry:

American: My customers want to cancel their trips!

Scot Tour Operator: It’s awful. Millions of Scots are outraged too, but in a democracy, that’s the breaks. I read where some Americans are angry Squeaky Fromme got out of prison this same week! I do know the Scottish government will think long and hard before something like this happens again. (Conversation ends, topic switches.)

This is an excellent opportunity for Scottish tourism, but they must begin a new conversation with the American traveler. So what do you do? Visit Scotland and the Scottish Tourist Board need to come up with tourism web content and themes that resonate with forgotten audiences. They must tell stories. Here are some of initial ideas:

1. Talk to the elites. Scotland should not be afraid of telling the story of its elites. Remember, millions of Americans saw Four Weddings and a Funeral and wanted to be at that Scottish wedding party RIGHT THEN. So even smaller stately houses with very minor titled Scots have enormous appeal to Americans. Remember that stately houses in the U.S. are small, and no one has a title. Visit Scotland needs a multi-faceted program to talk one-to-one to them, and not just sell them Scotch whiskey and overpriced golf tours. By the way, Donald Trump holds no appeal to this crowd.
2. Do not ignore Lockerbie. There will certainly be some who want to play down the Lockerbie anniversary, but don’t run away from it.
3. Tell stories of Scots who left for America. Through American history, there are thousands of notable Scots and those of Scots descent who made history in the United States. These characters appeal to every part of the political spectrum, from super-rabble rousing “Give Me Liberty” patriot Patrick Henry to the liberal Virginia Democrat Sen. Jim Webb.
4. Show them Adam Smith, capitalism and industry. Scotland is the birthplace of capitalism and has a history of finance, banking and entrepreneurship and Enlightenment figures like Smith and David Hume. This is a tourism message that resonates with America’s right, and with every business owner in the United States. Any tourism content that stresses Scotland’s invention of capitalism would work perfectly in the U.S. and help to reinvigorate the beloved image of the Scottish entrepreneur. In tight times, it’s hard to justify a golf trip, but a trip with golf that includes Scotland’s intellectual leadership? That’s bankable. Plus, think industry, from New Lanark to Firth of Forth bridge and Tunnock’s Bakery.
5. Talk to the beer drinkers. The “real ale” movement that swept the British Isles had a different effect in the U.S. In the U.S., prohibition closed most regional breweries and thousands of brewpubs opened up in the U.S. The millions who go to these brewpubs are a perfect audience for Scotland tourism. Currently, the drinking of Scotch is the alcohol most promoted, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the “real ale” crowd (they call it beer) would do different things; hiking, outdoors and biking. Web content needs to be centered around regional food, outdoor activity and authentic experiences.
6. Use the clans. Scotland’s clan leaders have enormous influence within the class of Americans who claim descent from clans. The sort of American who goes to Scottish games and celebrates Scottish heritage cannot be put on a political spectrum, but you can say easily that there are two parts to it. There is the more liberal academic Scotia-file, the sort of person who admires the folk music and the small nuances of culture of Scotland. And then there is Caber Tossing American, the rough-exterior American who goes to Scottish games and loves to dress the part. This Caber American appreciates the boldness of the Scots. Both audiences see Scotland as the Pilgrimage of a Lifetime.
7. Tell the story of medicine: Scotland is the birthplace of modern medicine. Tourism that speaks to today’s physicians would help to change the message. The American physician is overwhelmingly male and of course, wealthy. They long have appreciated Scotland for golf, but touching the history of early medicine in web copy and public relations would help to inspire them in a  different way. Is there continuing education for doctors and nurses? Publicize any and all of it.
8. Continue to promote architecture and design: The mania for collecting, crafts, architecture and design goes to every level in the U.S. Scottish tourism officials have done a good job over the years promoting this, but more can always be done. The key here is to highlight the people working in these fields today.
9. Enlist the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. encompasses liberal congregations and conservative, and many in between. The Scottish tourism community needs to connect with all factions of the church leadership, to encourage visits relating to Scottish church history. The Scottish Reformation is an exciting period, and the hundreds of thousands of devout Americans who are inspired about it can literally walk in the footsteps of John Knox, and a slew of newer evangelists like William Irvine. And it is not just Presbyterians. Americans of recent years have drawn inspiration from St. Columba, Iona and a new sort of Celtic Christianity represented by the Iona Community. It’s all very Eric Liddell, and evangelical America eats it up. This is a large audience not only in the U.S., but in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They all will still travel to Scotland, if encouraged.

About the Author: Chief Content Editor Garland Pollard has worked in tourism content development in Florida and in his native Virginia. He has spent much time in Scotland. As a child, he personally heard Scottish historian and writer Nigel Tranter tell the story of the theft of the Scone Stone, and various other Scottish nationalist stories. Email Chief Content Editor Garland Pollard for insight and ideas. Or call me at (703) 745-8602.

The Temptation in Boca Grande, Florida. Unique restaurants are part of the tourism mix that makes a destination worthwhile.

Hint: It’s about finding the cool stuff, and making cult favorites out of the mundane

Everyone has to brand these days. It started with product brands, then service brands. Now we all have to have a personal brand. And cities now talk about “branding” themselves. Good earth. Can’t we just go to work?

In the old days, it was enough that the Chamber of Commerce came up with slogan, but now even cities have to have a brand “personality” that will “resonate” with “key audience.” And not just one brand; because of competing turfs, a city (and region) might have a tourism brand AND an industrial development brand, both in conflict. It’s all gone a bit too far.

That is not to say you don’t want to think of branding when you promote your city to visitors. But the goal of a local brand is not an end in itself. Instead, the goal is attracting visitors AND encouraging trade and development. Branding is but a small tool, it is the last step in the process, not the first. The real work in attracting visitors is in coming up with product, so that you have something to sell to visitors.

In big cities and in tourist destinations, this is easy; much of the work has been done, though often, small-minded groups focus too much on the obvious, and miss the great stuff.  But smaller communities don’t think they have the assets. And so they feel inadequate.

They don’t need to. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Promote and preserve your history. While the local history museum might not be a giant draw (and might be only open two days a week), it is important for a larger reason; your history, layered over decades, is what makes your town unique. It is that collective memory that reaches outside your local area, and brings people in. You need historic buildings and stories about them on the web to make the city look and feel interesting. You would be surprised what people are interested in seeing. Even if you have a dying mall, it might be interesting to folks like Peter Blackbird and Brian Florence, who have the website www.deadmalls.com.
2. Get good photography. Distribute high-quality, rights-cleared photos of your destination for free. You need a number of types of images, and they should be downloadable, without rights management, as 300 DPI tiffs on your website. First, you need shots of the main streets and landmarks, and top activities. After you have these, and only then, do you spend for models and fancy images. If you can’t afford a professional, take hundreds of digital pictures yourself, and post them online.
3. Create lists. Make voluminous lists of parks, restaurants and attractions, and make sure it is on the Internet, and syndicated with an RSS feed. This seems obvious, but it is not. Many places rely on city parks bureaus to list parks online, but very often parks are run by local, state and federal agencies, and so the information is dispersed. Most visitor bureaus just make lists of art galleries and such, but you will want to create lists of breakfast joints, coffee shops, barber shops, boutiques, even service stations and car repair shops.
4. Find offbeat chain stores. Many cities do not have that many independent stores. So are there chain stores that are interesting? In Lancaster County, Virginia a Little Sue convenience store was loved for its fried chicken. Does your McDonald’s do more volume than any other location in the state? Whatever is unique, promote it. If Sam’s Exxon has the “coldest Budweiser anywhere” you should get them to make a T-shirt to sell to twentysomethings.
5. Create icons. The old proverb “remove not the ancient landmark your father has set” is your new motto. You need to be an advocate for public art. If all your town has in the way of public art is a muffler man, a giant chair, or a cool hamburger joint sign, promote it! I think about Gloucester County, Virginia. A small African-American roadhouse restaurant, W.J. Stokes, had a soft drink sign that said “Don’t Hate, Communicate.” It was a local landmark; installation art, really. While the building was modest, everyone knew the sign, and would repeat it as they drove by. It gained further attention as it was featured in a Peace Frogs T-shirt. The fashion brand and retailer Peace Frogs is headquartered in Gloucester.
6. Sell your people. I was told this from one of my former co-workers. The idea is that if you don’t have any tourism product, you need to sell your people. That means restaurant cashiers, shoe repair folks, convenience store clerks and fishing boat captains. Think Floyd the Barber; find unique folks who give your community identity. Promote them. Make them local celebrities in your photos (see #2). Many times, local officials take these folks for granted, and forget that they might have appeal far beyond their immediate circles. For example, college kids turn waitresses and cooks into celebrities; ask college kids what bars have “characters.” Remember, when people travel, they remember who they see. (Read the BrandlandUSA post 14 Ways to Save Your Casual Service Restaurant. It tells of the importance of characters to a town’s identity.)
7. Think of alternative attractions. Does your small county seat have a weekly court day where small claims are adjudicated? Promote it. Do churches and public schools (see next item) have Saturday bazaars and pancake breakfasts and fish dinners? Promote them. Ask local high school and college students what they think is funky or fun to do in your destination. They can help you spot cult favorites and inside jokes.
8. Churches draw out of town visitors. Europeans, in particular, are fascinated by American religious music, particularly gospel. I learned this two decades ago when British friends came to Virginia and said that they had to visit a black, Southern church. In the black community, congregations travel for revival week, gospel sings and other activities. Go one step further than compiling a list of local churches for the front desk at the Hampton Inn. Instead, meet with local ministers and ask them what sort of special programs (choir, healing) there are that might be interesting to a visitor. Promote your attractions to groups coming to town to do mission work. And don’t forget to give out your tourism information to mothers-of-the-bride. Typically, a big wedding can attract over 100 visitors to a small town. These guests will go out drinking after the rehearsal dinner, play golf on Saturday and might even have a last minute gift purchase.
9. A slogan is not a brand. Call your destination by its legal name. Can we please get away from all of these attempts to rename places by slogan? For instance, Florida’s Gulf Islands is the name for the Bradenton and Longboat Key area. But they don’t want to push the name Bradenton, so they call it Florida’s Gulf Islands.
10. Be an advocate for local issues. Ensure public access to waterways. Speak up in favor of park improvement projects. Serve on landscaping and civic improvement committees. Help with the farmer’s market. Work with your local health inspectors on improvements to hotels. While you should never appear political (and stay away from tax-raising, please!), people do expect that people who work in the tourism industry to have opinions.

Need help on your destination? Talk to Garland Pollard at Black Cow Press. Call him at 703-745-8602 or email him at Garland Pollard. He also talks to civic groups, associations and conferences about tourism issues and tourism development.