Bradenton's new tourism leadership getting results

Debbie Meihls has been plenty busy since joining the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, reported here in August.

She hit the ground running when hired as executive manager with a fresh perspective on how to market Anna Maria Island and Manatee County. Much of her approach, derived from her marketing role with the St. Petersburg/Clearwater tourism bureau, is cooperative marketing.

And local tourism officials on Monday said Meihls' strategy is a success as reported in today's Bradenton Herald.

"I have a direct marketing background and marketing has to be results-driven," said David Teitelbaum, a member of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council. "It's a pleasure to see the money we're spending is being spent correctly."

 A recent cooperative marketing project led by Meihls includes the Manatee County edition of "Florida Travel + Life's Affordable Luxury" series.  The 30-minute television spot features Anna Maria Island and cost $85,000. As part of the deal, the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureua will also get the rights to the B-roll video that includes footage of local beaches, Bridge Street, Village of the Arts and Lakewood Ranch to use in future marketing projects. And, Florida Travel + Life magazine this month has a four-page spread on Manatee County and its tourism ammenities.

"We are so thankful St. Pete let her get away," said Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton CVB. "She's doing some incredible things."

Talking about tourism

In the first BizBlast blog I told you about the free marketing Visit Florida is offering to tourism businesses. Now I want to tell you about some plans the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is working on to help local businesses with their overall marketing strategies.

In today's business section, you'll see the bureau hosted another tourism industry meeting on Wednesday. While those meetings have mainly addressed oil spill issues, interim director Elliott Falcione indicated he'd like future meetings to be educational workshops for tourism businesses.

Falcione said future meetings will aim to bring in local experts on online marketing, social media networking and other marketing strategies to help tourism businesses  reach their clients more effectively. In addition, Falcione said the meetings should be an opportunity for business owners to share what's helping or hurting their sales.

The next tourism industry meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Aug. 11 at Holmes Beach City Hall. That meeting will give you an opportunity to meet the bureau's new Executive Manager Debbie Meihls, who will oversee sales and marketing for the bureau and maybe learn a tip or two for your business.