Lenox Asked To Continue Google Marketing Campaign
 Kevin Sprague of Studio Two says the Google campaign is working. |
In an attempt to increase tourism in the last two years, the town has hired the local marketing company Studio Two to run an advertising campaign through Google.
While it is difficult to see if the marketing has directly translated to dollars in meals and rooms tax, the Selectmen feel the town has been a lot busier.
"I've been in favor of this since we started. As long as it is working, let's keep it going," said Selectman Ed Lane.
Kevin Sprague, of Studio Two, has been heading the effort and is asking to board to again allocate $10,000 for it. Sprague says the town will embark on two campaigns, one in the fall and one in the spring.
This time the advertisements, which are based by keyword searches for a people in the areas that send the most tourist to town, will focus more on specific events.
"These ads are specifically designed to bring traffic to the Lenox.org website," Sprague said. "The ad words campaign generated 68 percent of the traffic to the website, which is very significant."
Sprague said there were 11 million impression in the last year, meaning the advertisements have popped up 11 million times. This time, the campaign will use cookies to link to people who have already shown interest in the website and provide additional ads to them for another month or so.
"This is a technique that has a lot of impact on people who have already invested in the idea and this is a way to say 'Hey, remember us,'" Sprague said.
This, which is coupled with an advertising campaign with the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, is the only form of marketing the town undertakes. Sprague compares it to spending a quarter to hand somebody in New York City a flyer about the town.
"We're getting a lot of information for not very much of a cost," said Selectman Warren Archey.
The focus, Sprague said, is on the "shoulder seasons" and anecdotally it seems like it is working.
"Our primary updates are seasonal. We did the fall transition and we'll do a winter," he said. "The traffic is appropriate for what we are asking them to do and what you'd expect them to do."
In other business, Town Manager Christopher Ketchen said the town is looking to get a community innovation grant to work with other communities to share services. He also reported that the town is looking for a new land use director and he has worked with engineers to move the possible solar project with Lee along.
Tags: Google, Internet, marketing, tourism,
