State-Level Meetings Marketing for Visit Maine
Digital Edge developed the first-ever meetings marketing campaign for Maine, creating awareness and increasing interest in the state as a meetings destination – a bucket-list one, at that.
Author: Mya Surrency
THE NEED
Moving forward from the pandemic, Maine needed a way to support the return of meetings and drive group business opportunities for the state. Before bringing Digital Edge into the mix, Maine had not had a meetings or destination sales effort prior to Covid-19.
The state had the opportunity to change planners’ initial or low perceptions of meeting in Maine. Some of those perceptions included limited flights, technology offerings and convention products.
Maine needed a campaign and messaging to create awareness among key meeting planner audiences for the state’s meeting possibilities. As a well-known bucket-list destination on the leisure side, it was time to show off what a bucket-list meeting destination could be like.
THE DUAL-DESTINATION OPPORTUNITIES
The state tourism office supports two main CVBs that applied for a grant from the state tourism office to address the need for meetings marketing – Bangor and Portland. Both destinations in the state are self-funded through partnership offerings and have very different meetings offerings.
Bangor’s challenges include:
- No attached convention center hotel
- Some limited availability of flights/accessibility/transportation because of the more remote location
- Lack of overnight rooms to match the size of the meeting space options
Portland’s challenges include:
- No convention center
- The largest hotel can hold up to 500 rooms on peak, requiring larger conventions to use multiple hotels
THE PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP & GOALS
Our work began in the fall of 2021 and will continue through the spring of 2023.
The digitally-focused campaigns targeted planners in key economic growth industries and by size/history and aimed to create interest in the state’s shoulder season. Target sectors included groups for:
- Forest Products
- Manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Environmental Technologies
- Biotechnology, Composites, Advanced Materials
- Marine Technology and Aquaculture
1st QUARTER METRICS
(Completed by 2023)
THE FULL PROGRAM OF ASSETS & DELIVERABLES
5 RFPs
through Microsite Call-To-Action
7,500
New Microsite Users
13,000+
Microsite Pageviews
1.7M
Total Media Impressions
32.66%
Email Average Open Rate
1.12%
Email Average Click Rate
The Opportunity for Your State
Our agency takes an untouchable approach to tell the ‘group side’ of a state’s story. Reach out to put our expertise to work for your DMO.
