Promoting the Yorkshire Dales 

Many people have now seen the beauty of the Dales on TV. Now we need to make sure they actually come here. We need visitors to support our shops, cafes and pubs, to stay in our B&Bs and hotels, on our campsites and to visit our fantastic attractions. We hope they'll do some outdoor activities and buy from local food producers or craftspeople. 

This will only happen if we proactively promote the Yorkshire Dales. We have to be really specific about exactly why visitors should come and what there is to do. We need to be clear about who we want to target, why, and how.

The changing market place

The market place has changed. Visitors want insider knowledge, rely on recommendations from peers, want to participate more, and seek distinctive experiences. If they have a good time, they'll market on your behalf, often using social media ("word of mouth on steroids"!)

Our target market mindsets: 

We've developed a Revenue & Recommendation Roadmap for the Yorkshire Dales, identifying how we can increase the economic benefits of tourism in the Dales. It identified these target market mindsets:
 
Feel Good

• Busy professionals from urban areas, particularly around the fringes of the Dales, who want to feel refreshed, relaxed & healthier
  
• People who want to enjoy new skills, get a new perspective & squeeze more out of their break
  
• They like a sense of achievement & stories to tell
  
• They enjoy "wellness" tourism, and are ready to spend money to feel good. 
  
• They have a broad circle of friends & colleagues so will recommend to others, and may come back for repeat visits for celebrations and larger gatherings
  

Explore Together

• Retired couples, couples with pre-schoolers
  
• Revel in the sense of timelessness
  
• Like to learn about the countryside & places they are visiting - sense of exploration
  
• Enjoy the feeling of discovery and making memories
  
• Chance for children to learn & enjoy safe freedom
  

Treat Yourself

• Day visitors, living in the moment, enjoy treats in cafes, pubs, shops and attractions
  
• Creating memories & enjoying time together
  
• Couples, small groups of friends or families, grandparents + children
  
• Rewarding themselves
  

Additional niches: 

• Do Something! Activity tourism, enjoying outdoors
  
• Birdwatching and nature tourism
  
• Social groups & celebrations
• Yorkshire Dales as inspiration for arts & crafts

Marketing messages

We need to convey these primary marketing messages:

• Beautiful scenery, and plenty of indoor attractions, excellent pubs, cafes, tea rooms & accommodation
  
• Spend-driven suggestions: directional & action-oriented ideas, not just “look at the lovely view”
  
• Use strong imagery, appropriate info & collaboration
  

Secondary marketing messages will include reassurance:

• More varied activities than most expect
  
• Indoor options available!
  
• More premium products than most expect
  
• Great choice of physical challenges, freedom, escape 
  
• Cosy retreats from the world
  

Why? 

We're doing this (mainly on a voluntary basis) because we need to encourage more people to visit the Yorkshire Dales, to stay longer and spend more. 

It's essential for the future of our community. Amazingly, no one has a specific budget for the promotion of the whole of the Yorkshire Dales. No one has overall responsibility for attracting more visitors to this fantastic area. So we're taking on the role, investing our own time.

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Who is doing this? 

I am! I'm Susan Briggs, and I have 30 years' experience in tourism marketing, have written several how-to marketing books, and am obsessed with all things local. After a successful career, I'm now at the stage of life when I've learnt a lot, want to put my skills to good use but thankfully can spend a little time focusing on projects I enjoy, with people I like. 

I work about 3 days per week for clients who pay me, and work around 2 days per week on voluntary projects such as on the Dales Tourism Network, developing DalesDiscoveries.com, and YorkshireTreasures.com

Amanda Brown is helping too. She's brilliant at PR, former journalist & press officer for NFU, loves outdoor activities and challenges, followed by a trip to the pub.! More info

What else do we need to do?

We need to show potential visitors that their time here will be well spent, demonstrating plenty of "evidence” through great images and recommendations. 

We need to do some product development: 

• to create some deeper experiences, whether promoting micro-adventures or focusing on local food
  
• to harness the power of insider knowledge & recommendations
  
• to build the reputation of the Yorkshire Dales for high quality 

Key activities

Yorkshire Dales = Happy Dales 
We're now developing the Happy Dales campaign, making full use of insider tips & recommendations. This will include mini challenges for visitors to “escape the ordinary”; to stay longer & explore hidden villages, dales & lesser known places; social media and word of mouth promotion; development of a visitor database & CRM activities; and a new book.

Insider Guides to the Yorkshire Dales
We're creating "Insider Guides" for individual Dales and key locations across the Yorkshire Dales, suggesting places that can be used as a base for more in-depth exploration. The idea is to offer these to accommodation providers to use and share, to entice more people to stay in their area. 

Rain-Can't-Ruin
We need to update our famous (it was on TV!) list of rain-can't-ruin-things-to-do-in-the-Yorkshire-Dales. The current list is out of date and needs sprucing up. How to get involved: please send in your suggestions here

Images
Everyone knows that the Dales are beautiful. Now we need to demonstrate that we have plenty of indoor attractions, cosy pubs, accommodation, cafes and restaurants, workshops and plenty of places to enjoy crafting or shopping in the Winter. 

#YorkshireDales
If you use social media such as twitter please remember to use our hashtag #YorkshireDales. If we all use the same one (which visitors recognise) we'll make our promotion much punchier