Sheri Samson
The Mineral County Convention and Tourism Board completed its new brochure for the area.
Last year the Mineral County Convention and Tourism Board was deeply involved in coordinating a new, updated, tri-fold brochure which would bring business into the county and create interest to those visiting. This endeavor alone logged in over 100 hours of compilation time and incorporated many local photographers work. The final layout was deemed to be a 24-panel of easy-to-understand information – an unusual brochure in today’s market.
Mary Marinello, Chairman of the Board at that time and one of the overseers of the grant-project, worked side-by-side with various community talents to bring in highlighted items. Convention center employee and tourism representative, Mike McNeill was instrumental in arranging specific resources required for printing and laying out such an undertaking. The brochure dialogue was worked and reworked to become a final product, which Bea Whtiney then assisted in sending over properly to the Nevada Office on Tourism in Carson City.
This colorful, location-driven brochure included a full-sized fold out map of Mineral County attractions, which combined to present a worthwhile traveler’s delight as it was dispersed throughout Northern Nevada and Northern California locations. It was professionally seeded into racks within key locations by a firm which soon was calling requesting more to fill the need. The distributing company was stating, “it’s the most popular brochure we have right now and it’s flying off the racks faster than we can provide stock”. Surprisingly it was moving from the Tahoe and Reno areas which surprised all the marketing they had ever seen.
Unfortunately, the total of brochures printed within the grant was exhausted within just eight months, even while the rack distributor needed more to fill the need and to fulfill their one-year contract. With finances depleted, the tourism board had to patiently watch for further grant cycles knowing the need to reprint was obvious. The local group was hoping for new grant acceptance so more could be afforded.
During this time, McNeil was fortunate enough to attend a Nevada Commission on Tourism, February 2017 meeting in Carson City, while also receiving a tour of the Nevada Travel facilities. It was during this time that McNeill spoke directly to Lt. Governor Mark Hutchison in a brief overview of Mineral County and he was genuinely interested in knowing the outcome. The Nevada Commission on Tourism was also well aware of the overwhelming success of this small town brochure, asking for data involved and requesting McNeill to speak from the podium for an explanation of the results.
“All I could say was the color tones, the catch words such as ghost towns, the map and the assistance from Nevada Travel doing the final printing combined to make it a success. There were documented increases within the local tourism also which boosted the economy,” McNeill stated, admitting that most in attendance were large casino owners from Las Vegas and Reno, with huge standings in the tourist marketplace. As a representative from a small rural market, he seemed to be the only one in attendance that day.
They were all aware that the stock of this successful brochure had been unpredictably depleted sooner than expected. Many attendees personally spoke to McNeill showing a genuine interest in the brochures success. Little did the Mineral County Tourism Board realize that this networking process would bring in two State of Nevada grants in which 50,000 brochures are now being printed and the cost of distribution and circulation is included. There will be 400 locations with deliveries made one-two times weekly, using the demographic area originally agreed upon.
It is clear to see the celebrated success in which the Mineral County Tourism Board is receiving. They also acknowledge the assistance given from many locals, as well as Nevada’s Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Land Management for providing accurate mapping assistance in completing this task, plus the Nevada Travel magazine staff.
