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03/30/2006: "Tourism is subject of workshop in Yankton"

The Missouri River Corridor group organized a daylong tourism conference in Yankton and aptly called it Bridging Tourism: Northeast Nebraska and Southeast South Dakota.
The majority of the 150 attendees worked either in tourism in Nebraska or South Dakota or were entrepreneurs trying to build a business in a rural area.
Speakers and panelists presented maps for marketing and successful networking partnerships.
Michael O’Connor, president of The O’Connor Group based in Norfolk, has given seminars on sales training, marketing and customer service for the small business arena in a five-state area.

O’Connor cited the main reason for advertisement is to sell more stuff than a retailer would have had they not advertised. So his message was aimed at marketing strategies for small businesses. He presented outlines for profitable advertising methods. Example after example about retail business and customers were given to the group.
An impressive quote O’Connor used told the group 60-75 percent of independent small businesses fail in five years. Three aspects of marketing were emphasized to increase retail business: increase foot traffic or pull more people in the business; increase the average dollar amount each customer spends in the store; and finally, bring the customers back sooner than they normally would come back. Marketing techniques were offered to aid improvement of business profitability
An increase of any or all three of these areas will increase profits. Sadly enough 20 percent of all customers are lost every year so new strategies are needed to target these people.
Decide what is unique about the business – What is done that no one else does. Survey the business and staff for an internal review to find ways to improve customer satisfaction. Having it completed by another business offers an objective viewpoint. O’Connor suggested switching places – do it for one another.
Survey past customers with about 5-7 questions. This is usually enough to see a pattern of good or bad business practices. It will be a good indicator of a company’s strengths and weaknesses.
One very important guideline for entrepreneurs to use as a measuring stick is an attitude customers consider when heading to the marketplace. WII-FM is not a radio station but the following mantra – ‘what’s in it for me.’
Mistakes easily made in marketing were also presented as well as a comparison of the main advertising tools. O’Connor also gave some hints for finding where the retailer could get the best bang for his buck.
A panel discussion was kicked off by Lora Young, Madison County Convention and Tourism Bureau, and Jackie Fuks, Southeast South Dakota Tourism, key organizers of the event.
“I hope to see people thinking in these terms when we finish with our tourism conferences this year,” Fuks said. “It is not us or them, it is ‘we.’” The two tourism specialists want to see the ‘invisible line’ which divides the two states, similar to the Missouri River, gone.
‘We want to promote our tourist area along both sides of the river,” Young said. “We have enough activities to do to bring tourists from the east and west coast. Working together can make that happen.” When Young participated in the Omaha trade show, she ran out of brochures about the tourism in northeast Nebraska. The interest is there.
Paul Hedren of the National Park Service emphasized the same thoughts when he called this tourism region our version of the ‘Black Hills’ in northeast Nebraska and southeast South Dakota.
“There is definitely potential in our region,” Hedron said. “The economic vitality is becoming a reality. It’s up to us.”
Motivational speaker Dee Dee Raap of Sioux Falls talked to the group about visions in tourism development and making them happen.
Other panel discussion included Laurie Larsen of the Shannon Trail Promoters, Mary Rose Pinkelman of Heartland Experience and St. James Marketplace, Eldon Nygard of Valiant Vineyards, and Chad Codwell of Missouri River Expeditions. They described to the audience the success they have experienced in their tourism businesses.