In a unique partnership, Owensboro-Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau, O.Z. Tyler Distillery, The Miller House and the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum have pooled together resources for an Owensboro-themed campaign in Bourbon Review, a magazine with worldwide reach.
According to Dave Kirk, destination management at the CVB, the year-long campaign with Bourbon Review has already proven successful.
“It’s the most popular bourbon publication in the world and has a large social media following and of course e-newsletter following,” he said.
Kirk said part of the marketing campaign is advertising opportunities on Bourbon Review’s website and email platforms.
“We used a banner ad for The Miller House for one of the Bourbon Reviews last emails and saw a substantial increase in our web traffic,” he said. “People were coming to visitowensboro.com from all over the country. Not only were they coming to the website, but several people then requested visitor guides about Owensboro. It’s one thing to get attention, click through rate and conversion is when you really know something is working when it comes to marketing.”
Bourbon Review recently name The Miller House among the top bourbon bars in America. This and the recent addition of O.Z. Tyler Distillery to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail means the CVB is investing a large majority of our tourism efforts in bourbon, Kirk said.
“By having partners, our dollar can go further, and we can reach more people,” he said.
The CVB plans to target a bourbon audience, but then show them all of the other things Owensboro has to offer.
“We believe our other amenities such as barbecue and bluegrass pair quite well with bourbon,” Kirk said.
