Attracting Local Visitors to WashCo
Hagerstown, Maryland is not only home to Manning Media, but a wide array of attractions for every family and lifestyle. Our beautiful parks, fine art museum, historical sites, delicious food, handcrafted drinks, and great people make it a wonderful place to live. But when you’re trying to attract more people to the area, the next best thing is to look beyond the borders of the town and find travelers.
When we partnered with Visit Hagerstown & Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau to boost local visitor dollars, we focused on the end goal: bring in local visitors from the surrounding states and counties, with a major focus on the 81 corridor.
The Digital Tourist Strategy
In our research phase of the project, we discovered that many families considered a 2-hour drive reasonable for day trips, and focused our attention the areas surrounding Hagerstown but outside of county limits. The entire strategy was based on attracting new dollars to the area, so we focused the attention on larger cities in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and targeting travelers who had similar interests in food, art, and history.
Creative Video + Social Media
When it came to the creative details of the campaign, there were tons of options! Washington County, Maryland is filled to the brim with attractions, recreational destinations, food, drink, shopping, guided tours, and excellent consumer and business services.
Streaming Video was chosen as the best option to help bring the excitement of Washington County to life. These streaming video ads were shown on both large and small screens, from smart phones to publicly available televisions.
We also implemented Social Mirror, a Digital Marketing tool of placing social media posts on other websites. These types of digital ads perform extremely well, and the Social Mirror ads for Visit Hagerstown performed 11x better than the national average!
Our Digital Difference & Local Talent
Unlike traditional digital advertising agencies, we don’t start an ad campaign and walk away. Our dedicated team works with the statistics and makes adjustments. We considered our campaigns successful as they were being interacted with in visitors from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Richmond, Harrisburg, and the surrounding areas.
Our digital staff are local, understand the area, are able to meet with you in person, not just over Zoom. When marketing dollars are on the line, working with someone local helps to boost the local economy even more. Paired with a friendly team that lives, works, and plays near you means that you get the best of both worlds.
Award-Winning Digital Campaigns
We are also proud to share that the efforts from this campaign were awarded. From Betsy, the Director of Marketing & Digital Communications | Visit Hagerstown & Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau:
“We have run three digital campaigns in the past year, and in each campaign, we are thrilled with the delivery and the results. Our organization won a statewide tourism award for one of these digital campaigns and the award would not have been possible without the assistance of Manning Media’s service, expertise, and creativity!”
We are proud to be the agency bringing new eyes to Washington County, Maryland. If you are ready to work with a team who has the know-how, dedication, creativity, and determination you need to succeed, start with a Free Chat with a Digital Marketing Specialist.
