Why Guides Marketing Boost Program
A comprehensive marketing assessment and professional consultation to help refine and elevate existing marketing initiatives and identify future opportunities for your business.
The winter 2022-23 Why Guides Marketing Boost program is no longer accepting applications.
Travel Oregon will review each application to confirm the eligibility of the participant. Due to program size limitations, application to the program does not guarantee participation. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the 20 business cap is reached. All applicants will be notified of their participation status within one week of applying.
Travel Oregon’s Why Guides program recognizes and promotes tourism industry operators, guides and outfitters as one of the state’s top tourism assets. This community is made up of local experts who help travelers discover unique experiences, follow destination management principles and provide land stewardship throughout the state, creating memorable and sustainable experiences for visitors.
Not in the Why Guides Registry? Register here prior to applying.
Program Benefits
Participation in the Why Guides Marketing Boost Program will provide your business with the following benefits:
- Digital Marketing Assessment & Consultation: A complete review by a digital marketing specialist of all public-facing, online marketing, focusing on website performance, booking experience, social media platforms and more. Each business will receive an assessment report developed by the digital marketing specialist and a 1-hour consultation to review the findings.
- International Marketing Consultation: Education, assessment and opportunities for your business in international sales.
- Support from Marketing Experts: Businesses will receive up to 10 hours of direct support from Travel Oregon and other industry marketing experts to tackle priority areas of need identified in the digital marketing assessment.
Program Goals
Why Guides that participate in the Marketing Boost Program should experience the following:
- Elevated online marketing presence.
- Increased understanding of marketing to international visitors and the receptive buying chain.
Program Requirements & Expectations
There are three requirements for joining the Why Guides Marketing Boost Program:
- Must be a Why Guides registered business: This opportunity is open to businesses participating in Travel Oregon’s Why Guides program only. Learn more about the program and sign up here.
- Marketing Consultation: Businesses will receive their digital marketing assessment report after scheduling a 1-hour consultation session. Additional consultation and technical assistance is available but optional.
- Receptive Operator & Global Sales Meeting: Businesses will receive a consultation with an international marketing expert and opportunities to learn more about selling to international visitors. There will be the opportunity to connect with a hand-selected receptive operator in an additional 30-minute consultation to help grow your business internationally.
Equity Statement
The Oregon Tourism Commission, dba Travel Oregon is dedicated to, and in alignment with, the State of Oregon and its DEI initiatives. The State of Oregon is working to ensure the safety of all Oregonians by taking active measures against discrimination, racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, violence and hate crimes; protect civil rights for all Oregonians.
Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID):
The State of Oregon has a certification process for minority-owned, women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, and emerging small businesses. Certifying your business for as many certifications as qualified for helps make it possible to grow and overcome barriers.
- You may qualify for more than one certification. We encourage you to apply for as many certifications as you think you may qualify.
- To apply or renew your certification, visit the Certification Management System.
The State of Oregon defines DEI and Racial Equity as follows:
- Diversity is the appreciation and prioritization of different backgrounds, identities, and experiences collectively and as individuals. It emphasizes the need for representation of communities that are systemically underrepresented and under-resources. These differences are strengths that maximize the state’s competitive advantage through innovation, effectiveness, and adaptability.
- Equity acknowledges that not all people, or all communities, are starting from the same place due to historic and current systems of oppression. Equity is the effort to provide different levels of support based on an individual’s or group’s needs in order to achieve fairness in outcomes. Equity actionably empowers communities most impacted by systemic oppression and requires the redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to those communities.
- Inclusion is a state of belonging when persons of different backgrounds, experiences, and identities are valued, integrated, and welcomed equitably as decisions makers, collaborators, and colleagues. Ultimately, inclusion is the environment that organizations create to allow these differences to thrive.
- Racial equity means closing the gap so that race can no longer predict one’s success, which simultaneously improves outcomes for all.