In 2019, Destination Mansfield – Richland County and the area’s local Wine & Ale Trail locations expanded the original trail, both to create more regional appeal and to get more eyes on each stop. In addition to the seven Richland County sites, two new partners in contiguous counties were added. The new sites joined a collection of partners whose passion for craft and connection to history bring people from near and far to sip and savor their way through the trail. You can read more about those new stops here.
Now Destination Mansfield – Richland County has created a Wine & Ale Trail brochure that showcases all the locations on the Trail, and a bit about the history that surrounds many of them, in order to get the word out. You can see the brochure here.
“Since many towns tout their own version of a beverage trail, we wanted to set our trail apart by focusing on and promoting the connection to history at our wineries and breweries,” said Lee Tasseff, President, Destination Mansfield – Richland County. “Wine & Ale seekers not only can enjoy local wines and brews on our trail, but they can immerse themselves in real local history in a century-old mortuary, a vintage bank vault, a blueberry plantation, and an old-world cask ale brewery to mention a few. As the brochure says ‘Cheers to History,’” concluded Tasseff.
Destination Mansfield – Richland County is known for connecting the dots and creating themes to benefit the area and this is just another example of that approach. The organization partnered with TourismOhio, the state tourism marketing organization, to create a storytelling marketing campaign themed around their “Cheers to History” message. The plan included a new story written by Great Lakes Publishing about the Trail, including all the historic components. That story was turned into a landing page that resides in the Eat/Drink section of DestinationMansfield.com because, naturally, many people look to the internet to find the tourism information that they need.
In that same vein, other components of the campaign included digital and social media marketing and the invitation to an established blogger and social media influencer to expand Destination Mansfield – Richland County’s message reach. Check out his blog post here. Overall, the campaign generated 914,099 impressions and 6,830 clicks to the message.
This is part of why 2019 has been such a success for local tourism, and increased visibility of our community as a destination place; we can’t wait to see what 2020 brings.
For a complete list of Richland County attractions and a calendar of events, visit the Destination Mansfield – Richland County website.
Source, Photo: Destination Mansfield – Richland County
