Saint John Region’s New Community-Curated Handbooks Are All About Engagement
For the upcoming tourism season, Envision Saint John: The Regional Growth Agency took the already compelling Saint John value proposition to another level by expanding its footprint to include Grand Bay-Westfield, Rothesay, Quispamsis, Hampton, and St. Martins. It also asked 165 Instagrammers and 30 local experts and tastemakers to help tell our story.
“Our community handbooks leverage the ‘celebration of local’ we saw on social media beginning last summer,” says Paulette Hicks, CEO of Envision Saint John. “These days we are all ambassadors for the tourist experiences in our own backyards. Tapping into that knowledge, amplifying the gems, and showcasing local talent is exactly what we need to be doing more of – and we are so grateful to the Instagrammers and local ambassadors who helped us do exactly that.”
In mid-Spring, just two months after opening the organization’s doors, the agency dug into this new strategy by starting the development of four community-curated handbooks: The Great Outdoors, Food and Drink, History and Culture, and Art, Craft and Retail.
“With four themed handbooks, we knew we could really put the visitor first, letting them personalize their experience by zeroing-in on the things they are most interested in doing,” says Hicks. “Personalization is a powerful marketing tool that more and more destinations are using to build relationships with prospective visitors.”
The new handbooks showcase a wide selection of must-do items using custom-designed illustrations, QR codes that link to itineraries on Google Maps, handy “locals know” recommendations, and a huge variety of amazing photos supplied by Instagrammers from all six regional communities and beyond. A custom set of GIPHY stickers have also been developed, searchable by using the term ‘Saint John region’ which people can use to customize their social stories to further amplify the region.
“We knew we wanted to create something that would appeal to locals as much as it would to visitors,” says Hicks. “With our sticker collection, we are making sure our visitors and our local ambassadors have the tools to take their engagement to the next level – creating branded stories that build on what we’ve started in the handbooks.”
The handbooks are designed to be used on-the-go, either digitally or in print. Limited quantities of the printed versions will be available at all area Visitor Information Centres beginning tomorrow when the centres open for the season. Or people can visit www.discoversaintjohn.com/community-curated-handbook to download linked PDF versions, as well as a variety of checklists and itineraries, to ensure end-users make the most out of exploring the region.
“Including the other five municipalities in our existing Saint John visitor narrative has had a very positive impact on our value proposition as a destination,” says Hicks. “Together we are truly more than the sum of our parts.”