The Johnston County Visitors Bureau is a member of the statewide Convention & Visitors Bureau trade association known as Destination Marketing Association of NC.· Each year at the annual meeting, bureaus are recognized with various marketing achievement awards.· In 2010, the JCVB won two awards for our efforts to promote the county.

Destination Print Advertising - Field Trip Magazine, Student Day at Bentonville Battlefield Reenactment

To reach the teachers and students in the state what would see the Bentonville Battlefield Reenactment as a living history type field-trip or an educational project, the bureau placed this ad with NC Field Trip Magazine.· The theme of "Watch as History Comes Alive" was part of a full campaign which included e-marketing efforts, BLOG posts, Facebook, electronic ads, event posters and direct mail postcards.

The reenactment was a tremendous success as the visitors bureau teamed up with the historic site for 12 months prior to the event to push out the marketing message that "History Comes Alive" to attract heritage travelers and provide educational opportunities for youth learning about the Civil War in North Carolina and Bentonville Battlefield key role in the end of the war.· The site had over 55,000 visitors in 2010 as compared to 40,000 in 2005.

Destination Constituents Communications - Annual Report
Johnston County 2009 Annual Report

The objectives of this informative and community marketing piece is to communication the activities of the Johnston County Visitors Bureau to our local stakeholders, elected officials and to have a tool to use in presentations around the county throughout the year.· The target audience includes local county contacts, elected officials, state and federals, the seven chambers of commerce, the visitor industry businesses, and our peers in the state.

In 2009, the Annual Report was an electronic document instead of a printed piece for several reasons.· First to cut costs of printing the piece and second, to reach a greater number of individuals in the county which e-marketing provided as the vehicle of delivery.· This year's piece was designed in-house and copies of CDs were printed for approximately $150.00 and the report was emailed to over 1,600 contacts via Mail Chimp.

This new electronic version of the annual report was very well received and we envision that we will continue to seek the most affordable and innovative way to share our information to constituents in the county - sharing the message of how important tourism is to our local economy.