Tourism advertising for area switching from TV to Internet

SANDUSKY — The local tourism bureau is switching from TV sets to personal devices such as phones, tablets and computer as it tries to reach out to the next wave of local tourists.Lake Erie Shores and Islands, the two-county visitor bureau that represents Erie and Ottawa counties, is sharply reducing TV advertising in favor of an approach that relies more on Internet advertising and on billboards and signs, said Larry Fletcher, executive director of the organization.The organization spends about $1 million on advertising of all kinds every year, with the money coming from a lodging tax that both counties collect.Fletcher said that in 2016, his organization spent 51 percent of its ad money on TV, 29 percent on digital ads, 9 percent on "out of home" ads (i.e., billboards and signs), 7 percent on print and 4 percent on radio ads.This year, the budget is 43 percent digital, 39 percent "out of home," 12 percent on TV, 6 percent on print and nothing at all on radio, Fletcher said.Fletcher explained that the "Shores and Islands" brand for the region was adopted 11 years ago. The visitor and convention bureau has been pounding away to establish the brand, using TV ads, signs and other methods.But with that brand established, the tourism bureau wants to see if targeted Internet ads will bring in specific kinds of tourists to the area.TV ads tend to be aimed at broad audiences, although it is possible to target specific kinds of views by advertising on specific cable channels, Fletcher said.Internet ads, however, allow the visitor bureau to target specific kinds of potential visitors, such as fishermen.For example, if someone searches for "Lake Erie fishing," the visitor bureau hopes it ads will show up advertising fishing in our area, Fletcher said.Internet ads can quickly be changed out as the visitor bureau figures out what's working, and what isn't working, Fletcher said.Part of the reason tat spending for signs and billboards is up is that the tourism bureau is working for the first time with two pro sports teams in Columbus: The Columbus Blue Jackets, an NHL hockey team, and the Columbus Crew, a Major League Soccer Club.Their home stadium and arena has signs and digital sign announces plugging Lake Erie Shores and Islands, Fletcher said. With the launch of the Sports Force complex, the visitor bureau is trying to promote sports tourism, he said.Fletcher said the tourism bureau is still using traditional approaches to reach visitors. It printed up 375,000 copies of its travel guide, he said.But that's down a bit from the 400,000 copies that were printed up before. Younger visitors tend to use their smart phones to figure out what they want to do, rather than using print publications, Fletcher said."They tend not to pick up these guides," Fletcher said.They might see the guide, but rather than taking it, they'll save the website location to their phone, "and then they've got the guide in their hand," he said.While many people with families still tend to plan their trips in advance, many young people apparently simply get together with friends and head out, making plans while on the way or even after they arrive, Fletcher said.With that in mind, the Shores and Islands website, shoresandislands.com, have been revamped to make it easy to figure out what's going on. The desktop and mobile versions of the site both immediately display local events that are taking place, without making visitors look for them. Visitors also can immediately find what's available in the particular area they happen to be in, with the area divided into four regions.For example, "Central Shores" includes Sandusky, Huron, Castalia and Bay View. Pressing "Explore" on a smartphone provides access to finding places to eat and things to do.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.