All too often, communities get stuck promoting the place and not the activities. Visitors are far more interested in the things to do than in the location. People will travel farther to feel the rush of 40-degree water splashing over them than to visit a quaintly named town that sounds a lot like quaint towns closer to home. County marketing groups are notorious for promoting the county as a destination. Have you ever gone anywhere because it was a county? Would you prefer to visit the worldrenowned Napa Valley or Napa County? Napa County sounds like a government entity, while Napa Valley sounds like a beautiful place to see and visit. The Napa Valley is widely known as Wine Country, which truly gets to the heart of the experience, and why it is known worldwide. How do you make the experience tangible for someone who is still sitting at home in his or her armchair? One of the least expensive channels is the Internet. Brief, eloquent descriptions of your surroundings, accompanied by professionally shot photographs and third-party reviews will lead visitors to the water and make them grab the nearest raft. As high-speed connections become the norm, action-packed short movie clips (it only takes a few seconds) delivered over the Internet can bring activities to life and make visitors want to go there. One of the most popular forms of promotion is the development of an activities guide rather than a standard brochure. An activities guide is a multi-page booklet or brochure that dedicates at least one page to each major activity or attraction. Too many brochures provide only lists of things to see and do, when photos and descriptions selling the experience would be a more effective lure. The more your town has
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