Business as usual for Wade, CVB

The Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau public relations manager said she will continue to promote the city to three target groups: people within driving distance of Springfield, people in cities that have direct flights to Springfield and people in cities that have baseball teams in the Texas League, where Springfield Cardinals are members.

“You fish where the fish are,” she said of her focused marketing strategy.

In Wade’s five years on the job, she’s noticed that about 85 percent of Springfield’s visitors arrive via automobile. She’s been wooing that population during her entire tenure.

With the Springfield-Branson National Airport’s growth – two new direct-flight cities last year – and the arrival of minor league baseball at Hammons Field, Wade has added to her target markets.

Last year she started courting people in the direct-flight cities – Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Orlando, Fla.; and Memphis, Tenn. – and the baseball cities – Little Rock, Ark.; Wichita, Kan.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Corpus Christi, Frisco, Midland and San Antonio, Texas.

Wade figured that narrowing her aim would work better than her previous tactic – “a shotgun approach.”

So far, it has.

Wade produces a newsletter and about 175,000 brochures yearly. But her main effort has been trying to get news outlets in target cities to write stories about Springfield.

Working through newsrooms and not advertising agencies saves money and comes across as more credible, Wade said.

“Research shows that people believe (news) stories before they believe advertising,” she said.

Last year Wade successfully convinced magazines and newspapers to write 133 stories about Springfield, up from 119 in 2004 and 116 in 2003.

Wade uses an ad value equivalency report to determine how much the same exposure would have cost the CVB had it ran the same number of ads in those markets. Working with a $50,000 annual budget, Wade was able to generate $364,254 worth of exposure for Springfield in 2005, up from $348,000 in 2004.

“You do get a lot of bang for your buck,” she said.

For example, in August 2005, lifestyle magazine Southern Living ran an article about downtown Springfield, and in October 2003, Missouri Life magazine published a piece on Casper’s restaurant. She’s helped Springfield land on the pages of The Washington Post, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in addition to smaller publications such as Church Business and the Concord (N.H.) Monitor.

“(Wade) does an excellent job,” said Patty Becraft, CVB director of administration and operations. “We couldn’t (promote the city) without her.”

Getting national reporters to write about Springfield isn’t easy, either. In many ways, Wade said, Springfield is too common of a Midwestern town. Finding unique attractions for visitors can be challenging.

“Every city is wonderful,” Wade said, adding that she often promotes Springfield’s blend of metropolitan amenities and small-town feel, along with big tourist draws such as Bass Pro, Fantastic Caverns and Exotic Animal Paradise.

Springfield has about 6,000 hotel rooms and each visitor that stays in town spends between $100 and $150 per day.

“Our job is to put heads in beds,” Wade said.

Wade is currently exploring promotion options for 2007. She said her efforts likely wouldn’t change much, though no plans have been made.[[In-content Ad]]