Partnership Benefits Guide

Benefits of Partnership

Where do our visitors come from?

Visit Lenawee is probably not what you think…

We don’t just cover Adrian…We cover all of Lenawee County.

We are not funded by a government, city, or entity,

We are 100% funded by the hotel assessment tax (a tax our visitors pay when they stay at our hotels).

We are a Destination Management & Marketing Organization (DMMO) not a Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB).

We are in the corner of our partners advocating on the issues that affect tourism and business travel. Our team works closely with legislative representatives, and the State of Michigan to ensure tourism and our partner businesses are protected.

We understand the confusion locally...Visit Lenawee, Lenawee Now, Get Lenawee, One Lenawee, Connecting Lenawee. However, we are the only DMMO within the county and the only one who reaches 5 states, over 12 Destination Marketing Areas and 6 different tourism marketing segments. We are the ONLY organization that specifically targets tourism & hospitality.

Without your support and partnership we would not be able to continue promoting our destination, and the talented community behind it.

Target Markets

Visitor Spending

Information is per 2022 Annual Report from MEDC/Travel Michigan

Visitor Spending (Millions)

$149

State and Local Tax (Millions)

$16.7

Tourism / Hospitality Related Jobs

Information is per 2022 Annual Report from MEDC/Travel Michigan

Tourism-supported Employment

Direct: 1,179

Total: 1,762

Tourism-supported Labor Income, (Millions)

Direct: $43.7

Total: $71.7

Web Exposure

Visit Lenawee employs various marketing campaigns to promote the county and directs visitors to our official destination website, VisitLenawee.com. This website is the only reliable source of information for trip planning, and potential visitors are encouraged to use it. As a partner, businesses receive exclusive exposure on the website, providing a valuable opportunity to attract new customers. Visit Lenawee is committed to promoting the county through marketing campaigns and invites businesses to join as partners to showcase their offerings to potential visitors. By listing on the website, businesses gain visibility with a captivating photograph, descriptive text, contact information, Google Maps integration, and links to their own website, attracting more customers. Each year, more than 350,000 potential visitors turn to VisitLenawee.com to plan their vacations and discover exciting activities.

Reciprocal Linking

Our web listings will be directly linked to our partners’ business websites and social media platforms. This reciprocal linking strategy offers numerous SEO advantages, as it generates more back-links to your site, ultimately boosting your ratings in search engines. Additionally, this approach allows viewers to conveniently access your content through our highly trafficked website. By leveraging this powerful tool, we can help you expand your online presence and reach a wider audience.

Events Calendar

The events calendar page on VisitLenawee.com is consistently one of the most frequently visited pages. Visit Lenawee actively promotes the calendar through social media, newsletters, and website features, as well as highlighting it in the Travel Guide. Partners are encouraged to post their events using an easy-to-use online tool that allows for photos, event descriptions, and links to their booking engine or website. This helps increase visibility and attract more visitors. The events calendar is a valuable resource for both visitors and partners, providing a comprehensive list of events in Lenawee County and a platform for partners to showcase their offerings. Visit Lenawee is dedicated to promoting the calendar and supporting partners in their efforts to attract visitors to the region.

Deals & Packages

Our platform, VisitLenawee.com, offers a unique opportunity to increase your business’s visibility during peak times. Our special savings feature is designed to drive traffic to your establishment when you need it most. As a partner, you can easily post your deals and packages through our user-friendly partner portal dashboard. This allows you to showcase your offerings to a wider audience and attract more customers to your business. Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity to boost your sales and grow your brand.

The Visit Lenawee website presently provides blog articles categorized into weddings, meetings, leisure, and travel professionals. As a partner business, you have the opportunity to be featured in our article content or through your business photos. Our content includes reciprocal linking back to your business listing on the main website and will remain active on the blog platform for a full year. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your business and attract potential customers.

Partner Portal

Partners have round-the-clock access to our exclusive Partner Portal, where you can effortlessly modify your web listings and upload new photos, update business information, and promote upcoming events to our digital marketing team. This platform is designed to streamline communication and enhance collaboration between our esteemed partners and our marketing experts.

Suggested Itinerary Feature

Our esteemed partners are prominently showcased in a meticulously curated “Suggested Itinerary”, which showcases their unique services and brand expertise. These itineraries are valid for a full year and can be updated or reposted during the partners’ renewal period. We take great pride in promoting our partners and ensuring that their offerings are highlighted in the most effective manner possible.

Enhanced Marketing Opportunities

Tell your story to a highly qualified visitor audience. A proud partner of Visit Lenawee, DTN offers a variety of paid content opportunities across VisitLenawee.com — opportunities for businesses of every size, scope, and scale to capitalize on the fantastic visitor traffic Visit Lenawee is bringing to our market. DTN offers only premium placements that will deliver your marketing message to visitors who are actively planning their trips to the Lenawee County area and are ready to book and buy. Meaning a more qualified user audience, higher content engagement and conversion rates, and a bigger bang for your buck.

Prices vary. Contact Advertising@DTNads.com.

Let’s Talk Lenawee Podcast

Join us as a special guest on Let’s Talk Lenawee! Promote your business, events, or unique happenings through our monthly podcast. Our podcast is deployed on YouTube and Spotify, and then cross-promoted across our Social Media platforms. Contact jenna@visitlenawee. com to find out more details.

Digital Outreach

At Visit Lenawee, we strive to connect with potential visitors across the Midwest and beyond during their initial dreaming phase. Our social media pages are thoughtfully crafted to inspire and encourage individuals to envision an upcoming trip to our beautiful destination. We are proud to work alongside our partners, who generously lend their own captivating images to help us tell the story of Lenawee. Together, we engage with our audience and showcase the unique and unforgettable experiences that await them in our remarkable region.

Social Media Exposure Opportunities

At Visit Lenawee, our social media mission is to inspire and captivate our audience by curating visually stunning images that showcase the unique charm of our destination. We aim to create a deep connection between our audience and the Lenawee region, inviting both first-time visitors and seasoned travelers on a journey of discovery. Through constant presence on social media platforms, we engage with partner businesses, feature photos, and gain valuable insights. Utilizing seasonal marketing campaigns, we target and attract our desired audience by highlighting specific appealing assets. To increase the likelihood of being featured, we recommend partners to share photos, tag @visitlenawee, and use our #visitlenawee hashtag. This maximizes exposure and reaches a wider audience.

Business Photo Portfolio by Professional Photographer

Incorporating high-quality photographs into your marketing materials has been shown to effectively capture the attention of viewers and ultimately drive more traffic to your business. Enhance your brand’s appeal by showcasing a portfolio of professionally captured images. By partnering with a skilled photographer, you can entice potential customers and leave a lasting impression. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to elevate your marketing strategy with visually stunning imagery.

Access to our Media Library

At Visit Lenawee, we boast an extensive photo library that our partners can tap into for their own marketing endeavors. Our Marketing Department is happy to accommodate requests for specific image types. It’s important to note that all images are the property of Visit Lenawee and must be properly credited. We take pride in providing high-quality visuals that showcase the beauty and charm of our region. Let us help you elevate your marketing efforts with our stunning imagery.

Media Connections

Visit Lenawee is one of the first points of contact when a travel writer, influencer, or blogger is assigned to a story about Lenawee County. With our assistance, they find the right content to feature in their printed or digital materials. Only Visit Lenawee partners are promoted by us to this strongly influential target market.

Referrals for Travel Media

Visit Lenawee is the first stop for qualified journalists looking for dependable content to use when promoting our destination.

We refer our partner businesses to the most influential media outlets, bloggers, and influencers, resulting in wide exposure to a pre-qualified and relevant audience.

Ambassador’s Pass Program

Attract select, pre-qualified and authorized media, event planners, and Visit Lenawee staff to experience your business. Additional details are included below:

Complimentary or discounted admission for pass-holders

Limited time frames, specific to each pass-holder’s stay

Pass is non-transferable – additional guests pay full admission

Based on your availability or capacity

PR Partner Program

Partners who agree to provide accommodation’s, F&B, admission passes, tours and other relevant amenities, in order to help provide journalists and influencers with an exemplary experience, are part of our “PR Partner Program” and receive primary access to host qualified media. By contributing your resources and providing a firsthand experience of your services or property, you are helping to maximize your exposure with legitimate media and their audience.

Partners can choose whether to provide amenities at a discount or free of charge depending on their availability and the time of year.

View our past influencer projects!

Spring 2022 Influencer Project with MI Playground:

https://www.facebook.com/miplayground/videos/458439505965949

Spring 2023 Influencer Project with Raquel Escamilla:

https://www.tiktok.com/@raquel_escamilla/video/7255102515811732779

Summer 2023 Influencer Project with From Michigan with Love:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwdz9w1Ogmw/

Press Release Assistance

Assistance in writing, editing, and/or distributing press releases to appropriate media outlets for unique and featured coverage. Visit Lenawee has a database of media contacts from Lenawee, Ann Arbor, Toledo, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing and Traverse City.

Group Sales

The mission of the Group Sales department is to lead direct selling efforts to attract meetings, conventions, destination weddings, motor coach groups, and sporting events to Lenawee County. Through collaboration with our partners and proactive outreach – via tradeshows, in-client events, sales missions and familiarization (FAM) tours – our team develops lasting relationships with qualified planners and tour operators. These efforts help to stimulate the economic vitality of our partners and the destination as a whole.

Referrals For Your Business Services

Our sales team will recommend you to planners based on the groups’ needs and requirements. Planners are provided with partners’ business and contact information – allowing them to contact you directly about your services. In some cases, Visit Lenawee will develop specific itineraries for tour groups, it is during this process we would do all the work involved in getting detailed information together from our partners to present to the operators.

Extension of Your Internal Sales Team

Our Group Sales department is designed to complement your internal sales efforts. Our team works to develop relationships, uncover opportunities, represent the region/county at tradeshows, as well as soliciting and servicing group business. Essentially, we play matchmaker by connecting planners with partner businesses that best match their future event’s needs.

Planner / Tour Operator

Familiarization (FAM) Tour Exposure

Visit Lenawee hosts Familiarization (FAM) tours and provides eligible partners an opportunity to showcase their property and/or business to qualified event planners and tour operators. Eligible partners can participate by agreeing to provide complimentary or discounted services based on availability and capacity.

Organized Site Visits at your Property

Site visits are a key component to planners making a decision on where to host their event. Our team will organize site visits for planners at our partners’ properties.

Access to Sales Leads

Qualifying partners receive sales leads based on planner’s specific requests for local venues, suppliers, products, and services. Visit Lenawee’s established industry relationships, and customized sourcing approach will organically result in higher business conversion rates for our partners.

24-Hour Advance Access to Sales Leads*

Receive a 24-Hour window to respond to leads before they are sent to partners in other tiers.

(*Lodging/Accommodation partners not applicable as they receive group specific request for proposals from the Visit Lenawee Office)

Publications

Our publications target specific markets and put your business in front of audiences looking directly for your services. If you own a restaurant, attraction, local shop, or health and wellness business, you belong in Visit Lenawee’s annual print and digital resources. Guides can both be directly ordered from our website from visitors and are widely distributed at tradeshows and consumer locations.

Digital Travel Guide

Our digital travel guide offers an incredible range of information about Lenawee County making it a breeze to discover all the hidden gems and must-visit destinations. Whether a visitor is looking for breathtaking hiking trails or exploring historic sites, our guide has all they need to know. With its easy-to-navigate interface and user-friendly design, finding detailed descriptions of attractions, accommodations, restaurants, and events is just a click away. The inclusion of stunning photographs gives visitors a glimpse into what awaits in Lenawee County.

Digital Passports

Visit Lenawee partners with an online company to provide visitors with digital passports, encouraging them to visit local businesses and attractions. This digital alternative to a traditional stamped passport booklet allows visitors to interact with our community in a convenient way.

Industry Specific Magazines

Visit Lenawee works with industry-specific magazine publications that focus on hospitality and tourism. These magazines contain articles written by experts who live and breathe in the industry, so you can trust that the content is credible and up-to-date. Our organization works with authors to feature reviews and travel recommendations.

Partner Catalogs

Partner catalogs have been a great resource for our organization to push messaging about local sights and attractions. We work closely with Pure Michigan to highlight attractions throughout the county, as well as the Michigan Craft Beverage Council, Michigan Cares, Michigan Festivals and Events Association and many more. Contact us to see how your business can fit in one of our upcoming publications.

Partner Pro-Tips

Below are a few tips to help you ensure that you are making the most of your partnership.

Web Exposure

Update your web-listing with any changes to your business

Send us updated, quality photos of your business seasonally

Post packages & deals via the Partner Portal

Submit your Upcoming events to the website calendar

Always provide photo credit information

Utilize your Google Analytics - Link to www.visitlenawee.com from your website

Digital Outreach

Follow our handles and hashtags on social media: @visitlenawee and #visitlenawee

Tag us in your social media posts

Submit any Partner-to-Partner deals to pr@visitlenawee.com

Media Connections

Offer to host qualified media at your facility or sponsor their trip with your product or services

If you are an attraction, participate in our Ambassador’s Pass to provide qualified planners, journalists and influencers access to your business and services

Send recent press and accolades you’ve received to pr@visitlenawee.com

Publications

Respond to our listing confirmation requests for upcoming publications

Provide us printed materials for our hotel partners

Partner Testimonials

Cherry Creek Cellars

“In the little over 5 years since I’ve taken the reins at Cherry Creek, Justin and his team at Visit Lenawee have been an invaluable resource. Not only have they been supportive and encouraging, but they’ve taken the time to learn our industry, offer guidance and advice and present sound business opportunities and connections.

Specifically, Visit Lenawee has been the driving force in a collaborative effort amongst many of the local wineries. Because of their efforts, we’ve reestablished a bonafide Wine Trail in the region, are currently working to establish a nationally recognized AVA (American Viticultural Area) designation and generally enjoying an increase in agritourism visitor traffic. Alongside their ability to bring all of us winery owners to the table together and help us execute Trail wide events that in the past would have seemed a monumental task, Visit Lenawee has shared with us a plethora of data about our customers and potential customers, who they are, where they’re from, how they are finding us, and what they are buying. They track, gather, mine the date for valuable information and most importantly, present to us in a useful manner. With this data at our disposal, we’ve been able to adjust our targeted marketing campaigns and keep up with the ever-changing needs of today’s consumer.

We’ve found working with Visit Lenawee so beneficial that we offered them a sponsorship of our Summer Music Series. That partnership only opened more doors and we were presented with opportunities for podcasts, TV/Radio appearances, social media promos and custom-tailored analysis of their Datafy reports specific to our location and advertising campaigns. I can’t thank Justin and his team at Visit Lenawee for their support of us specifically, as well as the other wineries in the area. Beyond that I’m well aware of the work they are doing to support other industries and businesses across the region. I look forward to continue developing the business relationship and can’t wait to see what the future holds!”

-Patrick Spensley Owner/Winemaker

City of Tecumseh

“The City of Tecumseh has utilized a number of services through Visit Lenawee over the years. Most recently, we partnered with Justin Gifford and his team through the Datafy Data Service and Trends Report program. The discovery meeting with the Visit Lenawee team was insightful, professional, and engaging. The data collected on Tecumseh’s largest Downtown events was invaluable as we analyze our current advertising campaigns and research potential target markets, demographics, and visitor trends. The data we receive will ensure we are strategically spending our marketing dollars in demographic areas that will increase the City of Tecumseh’s tourism efforts.

The City of Tecumseh looks forward to an ongoing relationship with Visit Lenawee as we utilize data to support our marketing efforts and create ongoing collaborations/partnership to boost tourism to Lenawee County.”

-Kelly Jo Gilmore Economic Development Director