Anyways, the PR person for Frontier Country - central oklahoma - has a proposition for you to get some free tickets.
Go to their website and sign up for their newsletter. From those that sign up around here, she will pick some winners and send you free tickets. These will be tickets to things like the Oklahoma History Center, The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, The National Cowboy and Western Museum, and the Museum of Art.
The web site is www.oktourism.com
She will also be here Monday and will be on the radio - KACY - at 9 a.m. The "She" is Emily Reagan and a couple of her tourism type friends.
Our travel guide will be coming out next Tuesday, which will have lots of oklahoma and kansas travel news in it.
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11 comments:
Why is she here? It's "go, see and do".
Ark City needs to do more of that.
Yup
Its called marketing :)
I was really amazed at all the stuff they have going, and how well they are promoting it.
In whirlwind tour of one day, she introduced me to about 10 different chamber and visitor bureau people.
I have literally about 30 pounds of brochures and information about everything you could imagine.
I also have more than one invitation to come visit - they offered to pay for a hotel room and meals - if ill come and write about them.
It is exactly what Arkansas City should be doing.
You may be working for the wrong community.
NO matter how hard you try, you won't turn this town into OKC.
ah youre missing the point.
im not trying to turn ark city into okla city ..
im trying to get ark city to turn itself into what it could be - what people say they want ...
okc is just an example ...
maybe i should start talking guthrie instead. ?
No reason at all that Ark City can't have a very energetic and efficient marketing environment.
It takes getting out of the office.
One really good place to start with the attitude changes is with the public officials and employees.
I'm NOT saying they are doing anything wrong, but because it is a group that could be easily affected by policy change, it is an influential group that could help move the town toward where it needs to be.
The pivot here is very subtle, and it includes more of an outlook change rather than anything else.
Have quarterly community outreach meetings with all the public officials and department managers. Maybe one and a half hour, 4 times a year, with do-nuts, where the department heads make voluntary and informal presentations about how they were involved in interaction with other communities outside of the Cowley County area, and in other states to extend communications and find out how others in similar jobs are doing and how they approach things.
They could present promotional brochures, schedules, calendars and photos from the other places for things they think are good ideas for here.
Have each presentation conclude with how Ark City is improved by this additional outreach and knowledge. State how the image of Ark City was presented and what, if any information or lessons were learned and how professionalism in the activities of Ark City are furthered.
Don't present this as economic development or make any promises about the outcome of these meetings other that social interaction and extra-community interface.
The whole purpose is to change attitudes, perception and "group-think". Once the dept heads, (ie strother mgr, mayor, commissioners, chamber, tourism, water district folks, college, recreation mgr, etc) start focusing in a very positive way that there might be an advantage in knowing and communicating regularly with the Blackwell or Jenks rec manager, or Enid airport manager (as examples), that others will follow.
Even if Ark City populace doesn't follow, you will have maybe 50 people, on a continuous basis, reaching out to other communities and interacting with their peers in other places. It is a fast track to decent public relations and I'm certain we will learn things from it.
The Traveler could sponsor it, have it at the community center and advertise and promote it and inspire, reward and cajole the department heads into participation.
Well, you asked what could be done......
It needs a catchy name. I'll leave that to you.
I think youre on to something here.
Give me a call sometime.
How about the
"make james shut up about oklahoma"
group ? :)
Oh, yeah. You will probably get a lot of news out of it too.
News about how Ark City is improving. Because it will.
The funny thing is that people in Ark City have comparisons to Kansas understood very well. If we want to know how we compare to Belle Plaine or Dexter, we understand that well.
If there is a something to consider, it is easy for people to say "Cowley is better off, because it is this other way in Sumner County". But most towns in Kansas are as similar as peas in a pod, and everyone always stops their knowledge and comparisons at the state line.
Arguments that something is done differently in Missouri, Texas, Nebraska or Oklahoma are received with rolling eyes and dismissal, because that is "different" and has nothing to do with Ark City. Apples and Oranges.
But Mulvane, Dodge City and Coffeyville have exactly the same limitations and problems that Ark City has and because they, too, are looking only for Kansas solutions, it isn't likely that any novel solutions will arise.
You change that, then you have done something significant to improve AC.
Who ever said you have to get out of the office is right. I recently participated in a motorcycle poker run sponsred by the legion. The trip took me through several towns. Shidler, Pawhaska, pawnee, even detored through Bartlesvill, and Stillwater. Found several things in common. I have started to take notice of small comparable towns since the window discussions have taken place. After traveling through these towns looking for a place to eat. I didn't stop in the places that looked run down or inviting. Probably a mistake I'm sure many had some good eats. So I wonder if people traveling through our town have the same feelings. I guess we are like frogs in a pot of water, as the water heats up and begins to boil it will be to late to jump out.
I still think the bottom line answer is for the populace to quit being so negative.
Its a decision each of us has to make every day.
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