16:43 - In this presentation, you’ll learn why a Brand Style Guide is important and what it includes. You’ll see how it can boost your marketing efforts dramatically by helping get all local organizations on the same page, pulling in the same direction. Included with this video is a sample Style Guide you can use as a template for creating your own.

20:47 - You’ve probably heard the phrase, “I know that half my marketing dollars are wasted. The problem is, I don’t know which half.” In this workshop, Roger will show how you should allocate your marketing dollars—no matter how big or small your budget is. The budget breakdown includes social media, websites (content), digital marketing, collateral materials and distribution, advertising (print), billboards (outdoor), broadcast (television & radio), trade shows, and more.

10:38 - See the list of words and phrases you need to avoid in your marketing efforts—especially in your headlines, ads, and printed materials. Chances are good that you’re using some, if not many, of these. If that’s the case, you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re just doing what everyone else is doing, and your efforts will fall on deaf ears. As Roger always says, “To win, you must Jettison the Generic.”

12:49 - Now that you’ve seen the list of words and phrases to avoid, here are some words and phrases that are sure to grab attention, keep that attention, and dramatically improve the success of your marketing efforts. Start using these, and you’ll stand out from the crowd and sales will increase!

18:33 - “Sell the rafting, not the river” is an idea Roger has preached for years. People are looking for experiences—those specific activities that make you worth a special trip. They are not searching for cities, towns, or counties, unless they are already well-known for their experiences, such as what you’d find in Orlando or Las Vegas. Here you’ll learn the difference between the primary lure, complementary activities, and amenities. This will dramatically increase your marketing effectiveness.

17:35 - Don’t tell me what you have. Instead, tell me WHY I should live, start a business, spend time in your downtown, or visit your community. In this webinar, you’ll see real-life examples showing how the “why” easily closes the sale. This is a great video for both local businesses and for your marketing partners.

19:00 - Video is one of the best marketing tools ever. Here you’ll see what you can do, at little or no cost, to create amazing video content. You’ll see the tools you should have on hand and how to best use them so that you can easily create new professional content that will close the sale.

21:08 - Once you have the tools and are creating great content, you need to focus on getting it out there for potential customers to see. Here we’ll cover where to post your videos – and how often – to get the biggest exposure and return on your time and investment.

18:04 - The best marketing tool on the planet is video content - especially when it comes to marketing destinations. In this final film of the video content series, we’ll dig into post production and what that includes. We'll also show you how and where to distribute your video content, and Roger will showcase a couple additional examples of home-grown, lower-budget videos that accomplish a LOT in marketing their destinations - Including one Roger produced himself, featuring the world’s largest kaleidoscope store!

17:23 - “Photos are worth a thousand words.” The fact is that photos are often worth far more than a thousand words. In this webinar you will learn the five never-changing rules for obtaining or taking photographs that will grab attention, evoke emotion, be memorable, and as a result, will close the sale. See them in actual ads, and judge for yourself!

20:16 - If you’re trying to attract people to your community or downtown, you MUST promote your “anchor tenants,” and everyone will benefit. People want help, not just lists of what you have. That is why every major publication, media influencer, and YouTube channel provides its audience with the “Top 3,” “Top 5” or “Top 7” things you must have or must do, when you arrive. In this webinar you’ll see how to promote your “Best Of’s” and how to get past the politics of picking one over another.

21:50 - Nothing sells like an unbiased, favorable review. In fact, third-party endorsements are now critical to the success of any business or organization. In this presentation, you’ll see the five rules to getting and managing your reviews, and which review sites should be your top priority.

15:30 - In nearly every advertising and online experience, you have just a couple of seconds to grab attention and attract customers. This means you must be clear, avoid clichés, and stay away from less-than-effective “clever” headlines. This presentation will show why this is so important, as well as when it is okay to use those clever headlines in your marketing efforts.

26:33 - The most important marketing effort every business and organization needs to take is making sure you’ve claimed your Google listing. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s a top priority. In this presentation, you’ll find step-by-step instructions showing how to make sure people can find you online and how to see what your customers are saying about you.

25:23 - Most small businesses and organizations have little money to spend on marketing, advertising, public relations and social media. So how do you make the most out of every marketing dollar? Here you’ll see the priority list for your marketing efforts that will give you the greatest return on investment, with the smallest hit to your marketing budget.

18:59 - Learn the five steps to creating effective and long-lasting marketing partnerships. After all, the more you have to offer, collectively, the further people will travel and the longer they will stay. Marketing partnerships will save you money, expand your markets, and boost your Internet exposure—putting you at the top of the list.

22:36 - What do you need to do to attract downtown shoppers or visitors during those slow months without wasting a large portion of your marketing budget? Here Roger will provide you with five top-notch ideas that can help boost your shoulder seasons without breaking the bank.

20:30 - Always promote your anchor tenants: Those businesses and activities that make you worth a special trip and always deliver a superior customer experience.This would include your top eateries, retail shops, and activities. If you don’t, then customers will rely on Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp bypassing your website and promotional efforts. But how do you do chose one activity over another without politics getting in the way? Here you’ll see two great ways to do just that without ANY local politics killing the effort and making your marketing efforts the “go to resource” for everyone coming to visit you.

While we’ve concentrated our efforts primarily on cities, towns, counties, and communities, the best, most successful tourism efforts are built on the shoulders of private-sector attractions, activities (such as guide services), retailers, markets, restaurants, resorts and other types of lodging.

In this workshop 100% of the attention will be spent helping travel-industry businesses increase their sales, extend their seasons, and see a stronger return on their marketing investment.

If you work in the travel industry, make this workshop a priority! Bring everyone you know that has visitor-based clientele, along with marketing agencies and stakeholders. The tips and tricks in this workshop are invaluable ways to increase your business.

In the “Ultimate Guide” series, this is the culmination showing you how best to market your business or destination. This is the ultimate guide to developing printed materials and guides, print ads, video ads, your website’s home page, words and phrases that work every time, and the power of using great photography. This is the “Cut to the chase” guide incorporating the best of ten of our marketing videos. You will be provided with tips and tricks you can implement today to make a HUGE difference tomorrow.

Once you’ve identified your brand – your Unique Selling Proposition – the next step is developing the “messaging” or how to portray your brand to the world. Your messaging is critically important in proving ownership of your brand. Bring in your writers, graphic designers, ad agencies and stakeholders.

Here it is. The deep-dive session on logos and slogans – and recognizing where nearly every branding effort gets hung up. You will love this workshop if you’re looking at or dealing with logos, slogans and tag lines.

Learn how itineraries can help increase visitors to your community and region.

In this new digital age, visitors will go to your website and they want specifics, not generalities. In this fast-paced and fun presentation, you’ll learn how to get your community developing itineraries for you, how to promote them, how to categorize them, and what should be included.

We also help you get past the politics of picking one place over another. To win you must think like a travel writer and we show you lots of samples you can use as guides. Developing detailed half-day, all-day and multi-day itineraries can DOUBLE your tourism spending! You won’t want to miss this one!

Learn the 7 steps to creating effective marketing partnerships in your community or region. You’ll discover why relationships require more than one person. We will provide you with ways to create strong, lasting partnerships that can triple sales while cutting marketing costs dramatically. The more you have to offer collectively, the further people will travel and the longer they will stay. We cover the “Four Times Rule” and why it’s so important. You will be far more effective as one loud voice as opposed to numerous smaller, single voices. We show you how to make this happen.

Using dozens of ad examples, Roger shows you the words and phrases you can use in your destination marketing that will help increase sales.

Ninety-seven percent of all community-based marketing and advertising is ineffective. Shocking isn’t it? We’ve shared with you the words and phrases to avoid and, finally, we’ll show you examples of words and phrases that work making your marketing 100% effective! You’ll see how to command attention, get people from ads to your website, create a call to action, and will set you apart from everyone else in the process, making you THE destination of choice.

Over the years Roger Brooks has reviewed thousands of marketing brochures, visitor guides, and rack cards, but only a handful were so good that he saved them to his “Best Of” collection. In this presentation, he will share them with you, showing what makes them great. He’ll provide you with the three key ingredients to creating effective marketing brochures that will really close the sale. You’ll get fresh ideas that you can use immediately to make your marketing efforts far more successful.

The biggest trend to hit North America in generations will also be with us for the next 20 to 30 years. In fact, more than 30 million Americans and Canadians take at least one multi-generational trip a year – traveling with three generations. They spend nearly twice as much as single-generation travelers, travel further, and stay longer. So how do you tap into multi-generational travel? You’re about to find out as we uncover the 10 things you need to do to tap into this incredible, and growing opportunity.

There’s no question that the current pandemic has changed the way people travel. More than any other time in North American history, RV travel is hitting new peaks with no signs of slowing down. And this isn't just a temporary trend. Consumers are purchasing these rigs at a record pace with millions of new RVers discovering the joys of self-contained travel. This could be the biggest tourism opportunity for rural areas ever.

In this fascinating and fast-paced presentation, you'll see why RVing has grown to a $60 billion industry (in just the U.S.), you'll see who's actually buying or renting these rigs (it's not just retirees) and how this can benefit your local economy. You'll learn where RVers go, what they look for in terms of activities and places to stay, how much they spend, and where they spend it. You'll also learn the top five easy, low-cost methods for marketing to RVers, getting them to spend more money in your community!

Time Menu:

What the heck makes up an RV? – 2:27
How big an industry is this? – 12:59
Who they are – 17:36
Where they stay - 21:15
What they do: the top activities – 26:09
Where they go: travel inspiration – 35:10
Where they spend the most money – 41:00
Nine ways to increase that spending – 47:25

Roger Brooks has visited, literally, thousands of museums and historical sites. Yet, only a handful were so powerful that he will never forget them. Each is worth a special trip as a primary draw to the community and all were developed, managed, and curated on a minuscule budget. Here’s your opportunity to see his “Very Best” list of small and rural museums (He did not include the Smithsonian among these) and you’ll learn the top three things historical attractions should implement to become an outstanding destination, one that will bring visitors back time and time again.

With drastically reduced budgets, a seemingly endless pandemic, and political unrest, what, when and who should we be marketing to? In this presentation Roger will provide you with solid advice on how to best leverage your marketing budgets, who to target, when to best target them, and the five best marketing avenues that will provide you a solid return on your marketing investment.

Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about branding, particularly “place branding,” but in this deep-dive workshop, we help you identify your unique selling proposition.

Everyone says you need an app to be successful in this world, but do you really? In this session, we’ll look at whether an app is really for you or your community, innovative ways to use them, development costs, and whether you should tackle it yourself or find a developer. You’ll also see three great apps used for downtowns and promoting tourism, including what they cost and the results they achieved. This is a great workshop for attractions, downtowns, and destination marketing organizations.