It’s the glossy season

A young businesswoman I know asked me if I’d seen a recent article in a Toronto newspaper about two local tourist attractions/businesses. I hadn’t, but I knew which places she was speaking of. Both of those businesses do get a lot of press. Sometimes it’s press that looks like “travel news”, other times it’s press that’s really advertising which has been paid for to look like “travel news”. All of the articles are “lure pieces”. Often they include other local businesses. Her point, I guess, is she owns a single-location retail business in Picton and she’s tired of businesses, like hers, being passed-over, in lure pieces, in favour of the kitschy businesses. To say she was upset would be an understatement. She was plenty annoyed. The marketing “travel news” focus does seem to be on a small handful of businesses. Two, in particular, seem to crop up in nearly every piece of marketing/tourism literature aimed at the Toronto market. The problem, as I see it, with so much focus on such a small offering, tourists are led to believe the whole County is all fussed-up and trendy, just like those two businesses seem to be. Don’t get me wrong, The County has become a haven of fussed-up and trendy, but for the most part, the County is home to ordinary people who are just trying to make a living. And, I don’t have an issue with either type of business. It’s important to understand marketing, I’d say.

Destination Marketing is a big deal to economically struggling, rural communities like Prince Edward County. It brings folks from all over the province, and further afield, to spend time and spend money. Most obviously, destination marketing is working for good old PEC. A County resident would be hard pressed to find a seat in a local restaurant during the high season, or find accommodation for your Uncle Frank and Auntie Jean when they show up for a long weekend and your house is crammed to the rafters. From the two-four weekend until gobble-til-ya-wobble weekend, space—in any sense, way or shape—is a precious commodity in PEC. Like it or not, those folks who have been lured here by those “travel news” articles keep a lot of us in groceries over the not-so-high season. Of course, it isn’t perfect but it is better than it was 30 years ago.

The thing is, once those visitors are here (you know, those visitors who were lured to the County by lure pieces) they get to meet all of the people who run all of the other businesses here. The businesses that are owned by people who live here year-round and are open yearround. And those are the small, local businesses that advertise in small, local newspapers and take advantage of the ultimate marketing technique, word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth is something a small community like Prince Edward does really well. This type of marketing isn’t all flashy and big-citylike, but it is tremendously effective. We can go ahead and be upset about how many times destination marketing companies tout the wonders of one or two businesses in a glossy magazine spread, or we can make sure that our visiting friends and family know all about the hidden gems.

My suggestion is to chat up our local businesses amongst ourselves. Each of us can give a nod to our favourite local retailer or artist or restaurant or accommodation or service provider. We all know about social media, so let’s get onto those social media platforms to “like” or “heart” or make a positive comment about which local business “made your day”. Maybe the destination is simply across the street or up 49 or over 62 or along 33. Maybe the destination is over near where Bill and Fiona used to farm. Create your own lure pieces. And, you can repurpose those other glossy lure articles. Pull them out of the recycling bin and shred them to make a paper mache ornament for your holiday tree.