Building the profile of destinations to increase footfall, dwell time and spend is one of my passions. I spent seven years running the South Bank Marketing Group, a successful tourism consortium in London which brings together the area’s attractions, cultural venues, museums, hotels and transport providers to promote the South Bank as a destination. In 2010, I set up South Bank Venues, a group dedicated to attracting business from the meetings, events and conferences sector.
Activity included:
* Working closely with members to draft an annual action plan which balanced the requirements of all partners
* Growing and maintaining membership
* Securing match-funding
* Relationship building with neighbouring areas, government agencies and local authorities to enable closer collaboration and jointly funded projects
* Producing high impact marketing campaigns, including the eye-catching ‘Today I am…” creative, as well as Time Out guides to the area, maps, events guides etc
* Establishing the award-winning site www.southbanklondon.com as well as the area’s social marketing presence, including www.twitter.com/southbanklondon
* Developing a strong, recognisable brand for the destination
* Conceiving and launching the ‘InfoBike’ service, an innovative way of providing visitor information along the riverside
* Ensuring South Bank enjoyed a high profile with key media via regular press releases and events
* Raising the awareness of London concierge via a dedicated familiarisation day
* Commissioning visitor research from MORI
Tourism is such an interesting topic, I look forward to reading more of your thoughts about marketing destinations 🙂