It’ll be years before the victims of this disaster recover, if at all. But, as we can’t unring that bell (or in this case, put the oil back in the pipe), we have to focus on what we can do to facilitate recovery for the lovely coastal towns whose beaches and reputations were stained by this disaster.

If you’ve got marketing dollars, now is the time to spend them.

Your tourism, visitor’s bureau, local or regional website needs to be addressing all the wonderful features of your town and reminding vacationers that you’re still open for business.  If you’ve got local photographers, invite them to submit new photos and then get those photos out through Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

Build a social media campaign, like this one run by the Jamestown Foundation that encourages past visitors to talk about their vacations and events. If you’ve got a YouTube channel, so much the better. Link to vacation videos that show your sparkling beaches, your lovely shops, your friendly locals and fantastic restaurants. Need some inspiration? Check out Currituck County, North Carolina. Now is an excellent time to invest in a pay-per-click campaign that helps users reconnect with your town or find you for the first time.

Family vacations, reunions, honeymoons and holidays are all still happening. Make sure these people know that good things are still happening at your place, too.

Melissa Baumann is a Search Marketing and Tourism Specialist as well as a seasoned world traveler.

That Currituck County is part of the Outer Banks presented us with an advantage in marketing, as well as a purpose: let visitor know of this quieter section of the coast, secluded from the high-tourist areas yet affordable and full of fun things to do. We knew that visitors to the area think “Outer Banks,” so this key phrase was worked into our campaigns, along with relevant words for the region.

Sample Banner Ad for Currituck County

Over five months, we set up different campaigns geared toward different audiences – people looking specifically for OBX vacation information, people looking for general beach vacation deals, and people looking to rent vacation homes. The end result brought an average CPC of $2.00 per keyword, given the high bidding competition, and a CTR of 4.5%

Sample Image ad for Currituck County

In keeping with a dedication to showcasing the finer points of Currituck Beach, we launched an image ad campaign in addition to simple search. The images and color scheme were designed to match an accompanying e-mail marketing campaign.

Contact Simple Tourism today to learn how we can structure an affordable pay per click campaign, including banner ad design and implementation, for your tourism business.