A great place to visit – and live.
Breathtaking natural beauty, world-class culture, swoon-worthy shops – Washington, Connecticut truly is the town that has it all. However, what was lacking was an effective platform to tell their story to attract more visitors and, ultimately, new residents. Partnering with the town’s Economic Development team, SandorMax spearheaded the Explore Washington CT initiative and developed a new website and marketing strategy to promote tourism and economic development.
SERVICES
Website design & development
Video
Content creation
Marketing strategy
Campaigns
Social media
WEBSITE
explorewashingtonct.com
Challenge
The mantra behind the economic development initiatives was Visit > Summer > Stay for life. Washington has a long history as a haven for weekenders, many of whom become full-time residents and contribute significantly to civic life. Attracting more visitors fills the prospect funnel with potential residents and supports local business.
Our key challenge was to create a unified and comprehensive online strategy to achieve several significant objectives:
Boost tourism / Attract young families / Support local businesses / Bring new businesses / Improve town-wide communications / Energize community pride
Approach
SandorMax developed a turnkey solution – from strategy to website and content creation to ongoing promotional strategy, based on the foundation of a strategic town-wide survey. We collaborated with the client team, comprised of a cross-section of business and institutional leaders, to tell the Washington story. We immersed ourselves in town life (village fairs, gallery openings, parties – what fun!) to create the voice and rich content for the website. We created visitor itineraries (think “Romantic Getaway”), interviewed locals for insider favorites, and devised articles, visual content and social media campaigns to boost awareness, create buzz and rev up tourism.
Concept
The visual concept for the website and related campaigns reflects the richness of the Washington experience: elegant yet laid-back; big culture yet small town feel; worldly yet family friendly. We applied this concept to photography and visual content as well as to the creation of a consistent tone and voice for all copywriting. In doing so, the website reflects the multi-faceted appeal of the Washington experience.
Solution
At the heart of the marketing program is a robust, feature-filled website that serves as both a destination and community outreach platform. We created a website experience that is engaging and interactive, encouraging a sense of exploration and discovery. The turnkey solution we developed included not only the website, but complete content creation, video, online marketing, social media management, promotional strategy and ongoing campaign implementation.
Results
Since the recent website launch, promotional campaigns and social media momentum, we’ve achieved exponential increases in visits, reach, awareness, engagement, and followers. The website has become the de facto communications platform for all town partners to promote events and attract wider participation. We are thrilled to continue our partnership as content and social media curators to broadcast Washington’s unique assets and fulfill the town’s ambitious goals.
5,165%
Increase in social media reach since start of campaign
42 States
Website visitors from 42 states within the the first week of launch
700+
Attendees to first town-wide festival we promoted
“Town economic development is a challenge in Connecticut. Community branding and marketing is even more challenging. Washington is in the middle of both, and SandorMax has demonstrated real capabilities in support of our efforts. They listen and learn, effectively engage the community in the planning and implement with the most current social media capabilities.
For communities seeking to advance their economic and social well-being with enhanced “story telling” for both internal and external audiences, SandorMax is a communications agency that should be seriously considered.”
Dan Sherr
Washington CT Economic Development