Local Tourism Organizations Partner to Promote the Brainerd Lakes Area

BRAINERD, Minn. - Feb. 27, 2014 - PRLog -- Visit Brainerd is committed to promoting tourism to Brainerd and Baxter, Minnesota, while the Nisswa Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to the promotion of their own unique community. Past discussions have settled on the decision that blending marketing together would water down each community’s message, therefore lessening its effect. However, both communities agree that they can serve the greater Brainerd Lakes Area better through partnership, and have done so on several occasions.

In the most recent example of this partnership, Shawn Hansen, director of the Nisswa Chamber Of Commerce will spend Saturday and Sunday staffing the Visit Brainerd booth at both the Fargo Sportsman and Vacation show, as well as the Northwest Sport Show in Minneapolis.

The sport shows are part of the large summer marketing campaign that Visit Brainerd will be running from March 1^st-June 30^th to promote our area. This campaign includes regional digital, print, and video ads with a heavy focus placed on the Minneapolis/St. Paul and Fargo/Moorhead markets. The booth will be displayed with Visit Brainerd’s signage and backdrop promoting “Explore New Adventures in Brainerd, Minnesota’s Playground”. Mrs. Hansen will be there to assist with handing out Brainerd visitor guides, Brainerd-Baxter biking guides, local attraction brochures, and other local information along with her Nisswa Visitor Guides.

Shawn Hansen states: “The Nisswa Chamber is excited to be working with Visit Brainerd at the Sports Shows.  We’ve worked with Visit Brainerd on several initiatives, and have seen success with pooling our marketing efforts.  We share a lot of the same perspective of what the Brainerd Lakes area has to offer – we promote events together, and we strive to showcase the best of our communities. Tourism is the foundation for Nisswa’s success. Working with Visit Brainerd extends our ability to reach to a variety of audiences. We’re glad to be a part of this and look forward to sharing our information, as well as Visit Brainerd’s information with people that stop by our booth. Our common message will be visit the Brainerd Lakes area.”

Although separate and unique communities, both organizations believe that as part of marketing themselves, they need to market the area and its many unique activities and events. This opportunity will allow the Nisswa Chamber to experience the activities and traffic at two of the largest sport shows in the region, which will help them gauge future participation levels.

Though funded by Visit Brainerd, representatives of the Nisswa Chamber, Arrowwood Lodge, and other area representatives, along with Visit Brainerd staff, will staff the booth throughout the two shows. Discussions are also currently underway with staff from the H.O.G. Rally committee, Lakes Jam, and local lodging properties for their representatives to be there as well.

According to Richard Polipnick, Executive Director of Visit Brainerd, this is a great opportunity to strengthen partnerships with organizations that are focused on bringing visitors to the Brainerd Lakes Area - a goal that will help everyone in our community when accomplished. Our area has been and continues to be supported by tourism and anytime groups can work together to better promote the area, everyone wins.

About Visit Brainerd:

Visit Brainerd is the tourism bureau for Brainerd, baxter, and the Brainerd Lakes Area. They promote the area through a variety of marketing tools in addition to their website, facebook, youtube, and other social media tools. In addition they provide a local visitor guide and biking guide both of which are available in digital or print versions.