Main Street Alabama is pleased to present a training to help build your Promotion ToolKit with our friends from the Alabama Tourism Department and Mississippi Main Street.

The job of promotion is to re-establish your district as the center of commerce, culture and community life by presenting it as a compelling place to shop, live, work, invest and visit. You must move beyond the typical "tried and true" promotion ideas of yesteryear, think about promotion in a broader sense and develop new strategies:

Understand the changing market, both potential shoppers and your "competition." Identfiy district assets: people, buildings, heritage and institutions. Define the market niche; the unique "position" in the market and create new image campaigns, retail promotions, and special events to lure people back to your district. 

This training will focus on the following:

How to plan and organize a special event and attract funding/bundle sponsorships                       Jan Miller, Mississippi Main Street 

• Special events generate traffic, activity and positive experiences in the district
• Effective promotion can generate additional funds for your organization

Box Lunch (Select option 1 or 2 on registration form- cost included in registration fee)

How to attract tourists to your district                                                                                                      JoJo Terry, Alabama Tourism Department

• Tourism campaigns market to a larger audience to bring a regular stream of visitors from outside the community to the district 

How to ring the cash registers for your business & improve the perception of your district     Mary Helmer, Trisha Black and Marylon Barkan, Main Street Alabama Staff

• Business promotions generate immediate sales of the goods and services offered in the district
• Image campaigns accentuate the positives, dispel the negatives 

We will wrap up this day long training with a facilitated round table discussion for Main Street Programs to provide examples of how they successfully promote their districts and businesses.

Session Trainers:

Jan Miller

Jan Miller’s job responsibilities with Mississippi Main Street include oversight of and providing program support for 21 Main Street Communities in Mississippi. In working with such nationwide organizations as United Way and American Red Cross, Miller gained vast experience in the nonprofit world including organizational development, fundraising, sponsor vetting and creation of strategic corporate alliances with non-profits. In the Main Street arena, Miller worked for Main Street Columbus as the Executive Director for seven years. During that time she was responsible for creation of one of Mississippi's most walkable downtown districts, as well as one of the most successful festivals in the state of Mississippi. Since that time, she has worked with dozens of Main Streets throughout the Southeast region. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, festival development and assessment and retail consulting. She has been honored by such luminaries as Mississippi University for Women, Southeast Tourism Society and Mississippi Main Street Association. She was also selected as Practitioner of the Year by the Public Relations Association of Mississippi.

JoJo Terry 

JoJo Terry is the Digital Marketing and Gulf Coast Regional Director for the Alabama Tourism Department. JoJo serves on the Main Street Alabama Board of Directors and assists communities with their promotional efforts. Prior to accepting her position with Alabama Tourism she worked at Global Marketing Solutions as a Community Manager. She began work with GMS during the 2010 BP oil spill, which provided excellent crisis management experience.   

 

 

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