Mish mash, hodgepodge, mélange… Whatever you want to call it works for me. This month’s article looks back at what Green County Tourism has been doing this year and what’s coming up.
A long-time work in progress, a redesigned tourism website is nearly complete. Primary focus will be Festivals + Events, Things to Do, Cheese+Beer+Wine, and Stories. “Stories” refers to content (text, photos, images) delivered in digital format presentation layers. The new site should go live later this month, and social media campaigns will push viewers to stories like “Set Your Mind at Cheese: Green County Girls Getaway” and “Unexpected Curiosities: Swiss You Were Here.”
Marketing this year included radio, online (Google ads and remarketing, Google video distribution, search engine marketing), social (ads on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram; Facebook and Instagram click to site and remarketing), outdoor, Green County Visitor Guide, and print. A fun ad that got a lot of feedback was a radio spot in Chicago that starts off with an official sounding voice saying “and now, a word from our sponsor…”. Then you hear yodeling, courtesy of Tony Zgraggen, followed by an invitation to “go north and leave the suburbs behind” — to find a place with tasty brews, squeaky curds, and cows grazing the hills. “Eat, drink, yodel! Only in southern Wisconsin’s Green County.”
Green County Tourism’s regional target market generally includes northern Illinois (including Chicago and Rockford), southern Wisconsin (including Milwaukee and Madison) and Wisconsin in general. For 2022, we’ll add eastern Iowa (Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Davenport). This is based on results of a Visitor Profile Study (with point of interest mapping) completed earlier this year. The study provided insights into traveler behavior, and data on visitors by state, traveler’s average length of stay, and traveler demographic characteristics.
With 2020 being the year of virtually no events, 2021 swung in the other direction and the calendar was jam-packed. Myself (amateur hack with a camera) and a real photographer (Brenda Steurer) have been busy capturing new images for marketing initiatives. Upcoming projects are drone photography with JDI Enterprises, and video shoots with Synqronus Communications.
As the leaves turn, I’m back on duty as a “fall color reporter” with Wisconsin Department of Tourism. You can follow the statewide report online at www.travelwisconsin.com. Favor: if you see any local fall color hot spots as you’re driving the back roads, please let me know and I’ll ask Brenda to get a good photo.
I just submitted a tourism promotion grant application to the state. If awarded, it will fund the following:
● Working with a foodie influencer to highlight local cheese.
● Creating a campaign “What the Locals Know & Where They Go” to engage locals as brand advocates and tourism ambassadors. It will highlight foodie finds, unique venues (with a focus on outdoor spots with entertainment), and performing/visual arts.
● Creating a campaign “Green County/Green Space” — promoting outdoor recreation assets and aligning with the Wisconsin Tourism Office of Outdoor Recreation’s goals of health & well-being. One focus will be on the Cheese Country Trail as only ATV trail in southern Wisconsin, along with the added bonus that trail riders can use a designated route to the Historic Courthouse Square in downtown Monroe where they can shop, dine, and be entertained. The second focus will be “Island Time” featuring Brodhead’s Pearl Island Recreation Corridor — a no fee, dog-friendly locale for hiking, biking, paddling, picnics, wildlife watching, fishing & pontoon boating.
As we roll into November, I’ll be working on the 2022 county-wide calendar. If you have events to be considered for publication, send an email with details to tourism@greencounty.org. As always, you can see what’s happening with a visit to the calendar on the tourism website at GreenCountyWisconsin.info.
— Noreen Rueckert is director for Green County Tourism and Green County Cheese Days, and helps out with Main Street Monroe’s Concerts on the Square. Her favorite cheese is rumored to be Feta. She has the best office in the county — overlooking Monroe’s Square from the tower of the Historic Green County Courthouse. She dabbles in photography and graphic design, adores cats and iced coffee, and secretly loves the Cheese Days Song.
