Why look far for what’s near? Visit Rapid City used grant funding to work with Digital Edge on strategic marketing targeting regional meetings planners and residents who could refer events to the destination marketing organization’s sales team. The partnership yielded big business for the Black Hills-backdropped city that locals affectionately call “Rapid.”
With a softening of leisure travel, the hotel community in Rapid City was looking for a meetings campaign to grow group business interest and build the base with group business. When Visit Rapid City received state grant funds to dedicate to a meetings marketing campaign, they turned to their meetings marketing agency since 2015, Digital Edge.
Using their grant funding, Visit Rapid City expanded its partnership with Digital Edge to strategically position the destination in the drive market to grow meetings business interest.
The program of work took a layered approach, creating awareness at the top and working to generate interest. A regional campaign targeted planners in South Dakota and nearby states, encouraging them to take advantage of what they have in their backyard for meetings & conventions. A local campaign focused on capturing referrals from community members, incentivizing them to let the Visit Rapid City team know about an event that would be perfect for the destination with worldwide visitor appeal. We utilized multiple digital marketing channels to drive traffic to the landing pages created for each campaign, each with the singular goal of capturing leads.
↑ Nearly 4x economic impact increase projected from 2023 to 2024
↑ Nearly 4x room night increase projected from 2023 to 2024