Quirky shops and restaurants in downtown Ste. Genevieve attracts tourists from near and far. Kevin R. Jenkins
MARK EVANS, Ste. Genevieve Herald
This is the second of a two-part series on McDaniels’ new tourism plan for Ste. Genevieve. – Editor
During the Feb. 20 joint tourism meeting, Randy McDaniels, president of McDaniels Marketing, spent nearly 90 minutes going over a detailed plan to rebrand and market the Ste. Genevieve.
Community vibrancy among visitors is critical, McDaniels stressed.
“They want to hear stories,” he said. “They will contact them and it will lead them to Ste. gene.”
He said the target audience should be visitors looking for excitement along with small-town charm, singles/couples looking for a weekend getaway in a quaint, historic town, and new families looking to relocate to a safe, quiet and thriving community. Also new business investors and organizers of small meetings, gatherings and weddings will be key.
His colleague Jenna Ferrell emphasized that hitting leisure target audiences would be important.
These include history buffs (French, German heritage, dinosaurs, architecture, etc.), culture/art enthusiasts, outdoor enthusiasts (hiking, birdwatching, etc.), “foodies,” wine lovers , shoppers (“You have so many great stores,” she noted.), and Mississippi Rivertown enthusiasts.
Demographics and psychographics
They also tapped into visitor demographics and “psychographics.”
Demographics the city should try to better connect with include young Gen-Xers ages 43-50.
“This target audience has time and they have money,” she said. “So that would be an absolutely great audience to focus on getting to Ste. Genevieve.
Another is millennials aged 27-42. Ferrell puts himself in that group.
“We have extra time, maybe some of us don’t have kids yet or are single, newly couple,” she said. She called it “a really great audience to target wineries, tours, history.”
The other target is Gen Z, aged 21-26.
“That’s what’s really going to grow when we launch social media,” she said.
Having more nightlife in the city “helps the younger age,” she noted.
Higher-income couples with children, regardless of parental age, will also be critical.
They tend to enjoy historic areas and places where they can study, play, etc.
The less commonly used term “psychography” refers to the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria.
People are looking for a destination that offers the opportunity to participate in the historical revival of places and spaces.
“It’s been around, it’s untouched, but there’s a lot of new and upcoming things happening,” Ferrell said.
This can attract a new generation of business investors.
“You have a lot of young people who are interested in coming to
said Ferrell, “and the doors are open, with open windows.
She noted that people are also looking for a community where residents support each other and contribute to each other’s overall physical and emotional well-being.
“It’s really big in Ste. Gen.,” Ferrell said. “That’s something we noticed when we went through a lot of different tours and met a lot of different people. Everyone is really invested in it and the community is really strong here. People will be very interested and very excited to know about it.
She also looked at “geographic targets”, selected local/regional markets.
A drawing from St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Farmington, Fredericktown, and Benton, Mount Vernon, Illinois, answers this. They can take a day trip and go home the same day.
Then there are the overnight markets. These include Kansas City, Springfield, Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri, plus Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky, Indianapolis, Evansville and Terre Haute, Indiana, Nashville, Tennessee, Quincy, IL/Hannibal, plus Peoria/Bloomington, IL.
McDaniels also asked, “How can we target more French and German visitors?” He said the German brick houses were “pretty neat… part of the fascinating history” and that this could be highlighted.
Legends and lore about local history, as well as local wineries and outdoor adventures can also play a big role.
Quirky shops and restaurants in downtown Ste. Genevieve attracts tourists from near and far. Kevin R. Jenkins
Financing
McDaniels also addressed the grant strategy. He reviewed various MPD (short for Multimodal Project Discretionary) grants.
It will seek a matching grant of $10,000 for PPD for a creative brand strategy for fiscal year (FY) 2024-2025, another matching grant of $10,000 for new website development for FY25-26, a matching grant of $10,000 for purchase of visual assets for FY26-27 and another for social media strategy and content expansion for FYH 27028.
McDaniels presented his community funding model in the form of a wheel, in which the more improvements are made, the more money comes in to keep making improvements. He noted that it “keeps going round and round”.
“The first step was a long time ago by saving your buildings and not tearing everything down,” he said. “Now it’s marketing and just welcoming people to see everything you have.”
He praised the city for being “very clean … you guys are all over the place on it.” He noted that “once the wheel is in motion,” it will be easier to fix streets and sidewalks, as well as county roads, and add wayfinding signs.
Tactical plan
McDaniels presented a timeline for each step. He went through specific goals for each year until 2028.
They include:
– Start brand development June/July 2024
– Concepts submitted to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
– Focus Group Testing September 2024
– Guidelines for Brand Approval and Distribution, Final Files, October 2024
– Partner and public disclosure November/December 2024
– Distribute press release to introduce brand to media, January 2025
– Start the process of integration into the website and other materials (currently). The website can be upgraded when money is available – hopefully through a grant.
You won’t need money, it’s hard to start a blog offensive.
McDaniels said Aaron Smith, the new tourism director, should be able to start blogging right away. Content used in the blog may later be added to the website.
“You have so many stories to tell to so many people,” McDaniels said. “A lot of times a good blog is just writing about an individual, like a business owner or one of your pioneers or the families … all those families that are connected to those homes.
He said business opportunities could also be blogged, including looking at vacant properties with the realtor … to “push that out” and “paint the picture to people of what they can do.”
Organic Social Media Strategy
An organic social media strategy will be a cohesive, coordinated effort that will attract visitors and build loyal fans who comment and refer others to the destination built on inspiring stories, photos and video. They should be connected to Ste. Genevieve website.
Starting this fall, Facebook and Google ads will be used to support fall events and the Christmas shopping season. They will also be used in the spring to promote the total eclipse in April.
Print publications such as Missouri Life, Preservation and Midwest Living will also be targeted for grant advertising.
Meanwhile, five or six years later, McDaniels recommends doing a marketing study. Questions such as “Where are they from,” “Why are they here?” “What do they know about Ste. Genevieve?” and “What is missing that would keep them in Ste. Genevieve longer?’
Mark Evans is editor of Ste. Genevieve Herald.
Caption 2: Where do you want to go? Signs in downtown Ste. Genevieve show the large number of tourist attractions that can be found in the historic city. Kevin R. Jenkins
