Navigator - Late June 2008

Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative Launches,
Eric Foster is Co-Founder and Board Treasurer

Those of us who boat on Lake St. Clair regularly already know, appreciate and love our great gem. But many of the eight million people who live within an hour's drive of the lake know little or nothing about its charm and beauty—and the promise of great experiences they can have.

Eric Foster is shown staffing the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative booth at the 2010 Detroit Boat Show. Eric is one of the co-founders of this non-profit Initiative, which is designed to attract visitors from within an hour's drive of the lake, and to encourage more travel on and around this great gem.

That's one of the principle reasons Eric Foster teamed up with several key players from the private and public sectors to establish what is now known as the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative. 

After many months of due diligence, discussion and collaboration, this non-profit entity is ready for its formal launch—and had its coming out party at the Detroit Boat Show at Cobo Hall. Visitors to this year's Boat Show had the chance to visit with Eric, who worked the booth, along with Brad Simmons, long-time Belle Maer resident, and Justin Robinson, senior analyst from the Macomb County Planning and Economic Development Team. 

The story we have been telling is being welcomed with great enthusiasm among boaters and non-boaters alike.  

Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative Makes a Splash

Led by a diverse think tank that includes industry leaders, non-profit associations, stakeholder groups, leading law firms and governmental agencies, the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative has become a living, breathing entity, a 501(c) (6) non-profit corporation.

The Initiative was formed to increase awareness and improve perceptions of Lake St. Clair and its many assets. The objective is to establish the Lake and its neighboring recreational, business, entertainment and educational assets as tourism destinations.

The Initiative will provide an umbrella of organizational and marketing support for existing merchant and business associations, web sites and other business and civic organizations which ultimately support the business community.

Another goal of the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative is to create a dynamic and memorable communications program which builds confidence and pride in the region by promoting a message of discovery/re-discovery of Lake St. Clair with its rich, varied and interesting destinations.

All in all, the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative will define new travel and recreational opportunities that will help shape behaviors and position the Lake and its assets to attract greater growth in the years ahead.

Discover Lake St. Clair: New Branding
to Promote Special Destination

Whatever inspires you, you can find it in, on or near Lake St. Clair.

On any given day, Lake St. Clair is home for such pleasures as a ride on a go-fast boat, reeling in a trophy musky, taking a refreshing dip, kicking back at the beach, rafting off at a "floating party," savoring an awesome sunset over a romantic dinner—and so much more. On this lake of many riches, you can discover your own personal passions and pleasures.

But for many residents in southeast Michigan, Lake St. Clair is a still a gem waiting to be discovered. The Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative has one primary purpose: to increase awareness of the rich and diverse assets offered by the area's communities and businesses in order to connect more of the region's residents and visitors to its shores. 

Through our unique business plan and brand strategy, existing and new visitors to Lake St. Clair will be attracted then engaged; they will learn things they didn't know about the Lake's rich assets—and do this through the promise of a great experience on our shores, in our businesses, at our attractions or on the water itself. As a result, we believe more people will discover the Lake St. Clair area as a top destination in which to live, play, shop—even consider starting a business here.

Primary Target: People Within an Hour's Drive

There are some eight million people who live within an hour's drive of Lake St. Clair on both the Michigan and Ontario sides of the lake. Of those eight million, there are people who know about Lake St. Clair and its assets—but there are a lot more who do not. 

It's really kind of a no-brainer: if you live in Northern Oakland County, Washtenaw County, you might not put the Lake St. Clair area on your list of places to see and things to do on any given weekend. And if you haven't been here for a while, perhaps a decade or so, well, things have changed.

The primary target of our marketing messages, therefore, is the potentially new visitor who just doesn't know about everything we have to offer. And our collective offering, tailored then packaged to match his or her particular interests, will be the essence of what we need to communicate.

The goal is to work with each business to determine how their unique offering can be packaged and communicated to a waiting prospect!

Benefits of Participation for Area Businesses

Businesses that participate in the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative will receive a multitude of benefits in return. New visitors and old friends will be discovering and rediscovering the Lake and its many assets; and businesses will be linked through a powerful and innovative marketing toolbox.  Depending on the participation level, businesses will be prominently featured through a comprehensive web profile, interactive calendar, photo and video galleries and more. Public Relations support, with professionally written articles about your business, are also available.

In addition, we will be connecting users to businesses via the incredible power of social networking to bring more fun, vitality and exposure in unique ways.

Lake St. Clair Tourism Marketing,
Website Will be Your 'Eye on the Lake'

The Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative has created a brand positioning strategy and a marketing plan like no other. The new Lake St. Clair "brand" will be seen and heard in a number of important and unique ways, and in a variety of different media. The website will be posted soon (we will let you know once it's up), and will be one of the most ambitious and useful tools anyone can use to learn more about the experiences they can have on or around this body of water.

Among the more unique ways the brand will be delivered is through social networking. This is expected to take the form of blogs, forums, chat room conversations and more— and may be delivered in an unconventional media mix such as Twitter, Facebook and others.

The idea here is to provide the kind of content-and discussion about that content-that users are looking for and likely respond to. 

Research, experience and insight on media usage patterns clearly point to trends away from traditional media such as print and more toward media information sources users can access "on demand." The Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative plans to put its marketing on the cutting edge of these trends, making its website—and the many dialogues that will inevitably flow around it—accessible to those who are most interested. 

One example may be fishing reports, which can be developed and disseminated daily if needed and which can include "live action" reports via video, cell phone, Twitter, etc.—all posted to the website.

When it comes to marketing and managing information, the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative staff plans to be "on the scene" all the time!

Events Calendar Offers Everything in One Place

The Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative will offer visitors to its website a robust interactive calendar where they'll find everything there is to see and do. 

Our Events Calendar will feature a growing number of major festivals, which have become magnets for visitors from all over southeast Michigan. It will also include events like the Selfridge Air Show and the multitude of Fourth of July Fireworks displays on and around the lake.

In addition, the Events Calendar will guide visitors to regions and districts, and the businesses that serve those areas, in a way that is personalized and relevant to their interests. They will be able to search through the Calendar's various features and functions to find everything from the Boat Town Festival of Lights Parade to your favorite local Blues band gig to when the Musky season begins and ends. 

Users will be able to easily find what they're looking for, plus they'll be able to find you and your business as a participant in the program.

User Content Featured to Showcase, Share Experiences

The hallmark of the Lake St. Clair Tourism Initiative is content. Through our website, publications and other communications, we will provide the depth and breadth of content prospects will find most relevent.

Much of this relates to how you begin your "relationship" with the Lake, and that process usually begins with a public access point. This can be a beach, but it can just as easily be a drive along the shoreline or lunch in one of our numerous restaurants.

Included under the content umbrella will be Things to Do, Nature and the Outdoors, Fishing, Events, Fun Things, Family Activities, even Waterfront Real Estate.

Finding and sharing content will be fun and intuitive using the website, blogs, forums, and other ways to share photos and stories that come with another incredible Lake St. Clair experience.

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