Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?Research shows that travelers don’t think of Connecticut as a place with much to see or do. The truth is, Connecticut has all the top activities that visitors want, and its compact size allows them to have more diverse experiences in less time. Content marketing was an ideal tool to change perceptions and inspire visitation through the channels where our audience seeks travel inspiration. The program was designed to: • Demonstrate all there is to see and do in Connecticut • Influence our audience by offering experiences that are most relevant/compelling to them • Promote and generate leads for hundreds of tourism businesses/events from every part of the state • Drive visitation to the state We set out to create and promote original content to inspire visitation and showcase multiple experiences that would reach the right target for each topic in multiple ways — from foodies and adrenaline enthusiasts to LGBTQ+ audiences, music lovers, and more. We developed an article and TV segment content calendar of strategically selected topics based on multiple sources of data including: • Popular search terms for which we are lacking content • Our top performing articles that might be worthy of spin-offs • Trends • Search terms on our website that produce high bounce rates • Topics about new experiences available in Connecticut We then plan for 4-10 original pieces per month and weekly segments for our in-the-know TV show, Weekend Happenings, on Fox61. Using a robust roster of young, edgy, popular state influencers, our TV segment tells viewers of the top events and attractions in influencers' categories. Meanwhile, articles are crafted using those relevant influencers and our own content creators, basing topics on trend research, current events, or surprising insights.

Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)Our results were fantastic in terms of meeting our website traffic goals and driving visitation: • 270,000 visits to the This Weekend section of CTvisit.com Jan-Sept 2022 • 8.5Million influencer impressions across TV and Social • Connecticut’s overnight stays recovery leads the nation. Connecticut is the #1 U. S state in Drive market overnights growth since the pandemic.

Budget: Please include total budget vs. total actual cost. How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?The budget/actual cost was $250,000. Our drive market growth cannot be directly attributed to this program, so we can’t give a precise ROI, but given the scale of growth, the return is outstanding.

Objective(s): What problems did the sales, marketing & guest satisfaction, or revenue optimization technology aim to solve?

Innovative use of technology: The extent to which new directions are charted or old challenges are resolved by using the technology in a new way.

Implementation & creativity: How was the technology implemented so that it was easy to use, solved a manpower problem, streamlined a function, or fueled recovery?

Results & Evaluation: How did the technology move the department or business forward to achieve goals, revenue or otherwise?

Goal: How did you demonstrate that you are committed to advancing diversity in your organization through your marketing?

Initiatives: Describe the promotion. What was your organization’s message and how does it foster diversity? How was the target audience channel developed/pursued?

Results: Please describe how your organization was purposeful in advancing diversity through this initiative. Please describe the metrics you used to judge success. What were the forecasted and actual outcomes described in your Key Performance Indicators (KPI)? What impact did the initiative have on your organization and for your customers?

Entry TitleCTVisit Content Marketing Program

DivisionIntegrated Campaign - Content Marketing

CategoryIntegrated Campaign