By now they are old news. Most everyone has at least seen examples of QR codes either in use or in an article like this one.

Synergy Point Mobile QR

The first image that comes to mind when most people think of a QR code is the standard black and white square.

With some creativity, however, it is possible to make your QR codes more fun and engaging with color, texture, and other graphics.

Have you seen QR examples like these in use yet?

Try them. They all work.

Synergy Point Facebook QR Code

Created by Virgin to promote their V festival home page.

Created by HBO to promote the show True Blood.

Created by Melissa Louie to link to a Google search for "QR Tetris."

Created by Advanced Telecom Services for the Camden Riversharks minor league baseball team.

Created by Macy’s to promote fashion advice videos.

Created by Ralph Lauren for an email contest.

Created by Louis Vitton to promote their Japanese mobile site.

Created by Dupard Benedict to promote a NY City tribute video.

Created by Set Japan for the Red Cross relief efforts.

Created by Comtactics for Gillette.

Created by Set Japan to promote Hallucination Records.

Created by Corkbin to promote their mobile app and social media pages.

Created by Patrick Donnelly to promote his website Created by Patrick Donnelly to promote his website QR Arts

Mobile App or Mobile Site?

Are you like many destinations that have been holding out and waiting to decide on how and when to get started in mobile marketing? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but time is against you. The mobile trends fueled by Steve Jobs and Apple’s innovative mobile products are surpassing all previous adoption records by consumers.

“45% of all Americans are expected to be using smart phones by the end of 2011 (that’s nearly half of your destinations visitors). “

“It only took the iPad 28 days to reach 1Million units sold. It took the Blackberry 300+ days and the original iPod 365+.“

“Smartphone sales are set to pass computers in 2012”

One of the first decisions you will need to make is whether to build a mobile web site, a mobile app, or both. Many factors may influence that decision including costs, the needs of your target audience, availability of Wi-Fi and/or wireless coverage at your destination, and your mobile marketing strategy and goals.

The reality is that mobile web sites and mobile apps serve different needs and each has advantages.  But if you are just delving into mobile marketing, a mobile web site is a must-have for destination, and should be a first consideration.

Mobile App

Mobile Apps

A mobile app is a software program that must be downloaded from one of the online app stores like iTunes or the Android Market and installed on a Smartphone. The app may be free or not depending on the provider. Mobile Apps typically provide at least some functionality without requiring a Wi-Fi or mobile signal (although most take advantage of the Internet to provide content updates or other communication features). Mobile apps have the added benefit of being able to work directly with other phone apps and features like the phone dialer, GPS, mapping, or a contacts database. Mobile web sites do not have access to these functions. Custom mobile apps are also typically more expensive to create than a mobile web site and separate apps must be developed for each Smartphone platform you want to support.

Mobile Web Sites

Mobile web sites are viewable on any Smartphone using a mobile web browser, require no special software or download to view it, and are typically free to access. They are the most cost effective way to reach the widest possible audience of mobile web users and are independent of the phone platform.

You must have either a Wi-Fi or wireless carrier signal available, however, in order to view a mobile web site. If your destination has spotty wireless coverage, your guests may not be able to view your wireless web site in all areas of your destination.

What’s the Difference? Can’t we all just get along?

Consumers are clearly consuming content through both apps and mobile web sites. Destinations that have made a serious commitment to mobile marketing, and that can afford it, are going to adopt both. But that doesn’t mean that your mobile web site and mobile apps serve the same purpose or share the same goals.

Mobile web sites are best suited for the brand awareness stage of a consumer relationship where discoverability through organic search and low commitment are critical. Mobile apps are more useful once you have established some level of trust with your consumers. They are much more likely to install and use your app to keep an established relationship going. From that perspective apps are more about ongoing engagement and brand loyalty.

My job as an agency executive is to inspire destination marketers by helping them take the bold steps needed to keep them at the forefront of online tourism marketing.

We inspire and teach our clients how to take ownership of creating original content for their websites, and how that content drives visits from the search engines.

We show them how to integrate social media, interactive database tools, content management, and online advertising into their interactive marketing.

And we inspire destinations by keeping them up to date on innovative technologies that will keep them at the forefront of interactive marketing such as mobile web technologies and quick response codes.

But at the end of the day what really matters is if you have been able to inspire your online visitors to engage with you and ultimately take action and visit your destination. The next generation of travelers coming of age has a very different set of expectations from your current and past customers. Those differences will require a dramatic shift in how you inspire them to visit your destination.

Your Next Generation of Visitors

In looking forward into your future, you need to inspire not only your current customer base, but you need to also inspire your next generation of visitors to your destination and they will be very different from your current demographic in some key aspects.

A typical visitor now is most likely a golfer, 40+ year’s of age, in a professional position at work, owns a home, and although they have most likely embraced technology, they remember the world before the web and cell phones.

Looking out 5 years into the future your next generation of visitors is currently in their 30’s, and looking 10 years out they are in their 20’s. They have not known the world without the Internet and smart phones and now iPad’s.

For them mobile technologies and seamless integration of web content into their life won’t be a convenience, it will be an expectation.

Regardless of whether it is sustainable in the long run, they have grown up in an age where most online content is free.

Web 1.0 was a read-only, controlled, packaged, scripted presentation of website home pages. Web 2.0 ushered in the concept of a 2 way conversation within web sites, of sharing content and online communities.  We are now at the edge of Web 3.0, a time in which the focus will shift again this time to mobility, personalization, and focus on the individual.

Consumers are looking for real, relevant, authentic content as evidenced by the demand on social sites like Youtube and Facebook.

Part of your “content” now is being created by your visitors and working in this landscape requires more transparency, keeping up with multiple vehicles for your content, and embracing user generated content as part of your web presence.

An Innovative Example

Get Lost in Loudoun! Website

An innovative destination marketing campaign that embraces this approach to reaching a younger demographic is the “Get Lost in Loudoun” campaign. It is aimed at getting a younger demographic to ditch their technology and the daily grind for a weekend trip to the countryside.

The idea was simple enough; film the adventures of a group of ordinary people seeking to break out of their routines as they immerse themselves in the local experience of Loudoun VA and deliver it online. The execution, however, was a bit more complex and involved the integration of reality based video, a website, social media, e-mail marketing, internet advertising, and a promotional contest.

The centerpiece of the campaign is an online video series shot in a reality television style consisting of 9 episodes of the cast doing things like white water rafting, making wine, making pottery, and experiencing life on a farm. By releasing an episode a week it will extend the duration of the campaign and also provide a reason for their audience to return, increasing their exposure to the brand.

The campaign is relying heavily on social media to reach the target audience and the format of the reality TV style video series was chosen to inspire the younger demographic.

A more detailed description can be viewed here: Get Lost in Loudoun

Conclusion

In order to be prepared you need to take bold steps now to embrace a more mobile web platform and web presence to keep you in line with their expectations.

There will be a learning curve but waiting to dive into mobile marketing will only make it more difficult to catch up.

Get Lost in Loudoun! - an innovative online campaign

Helping your destination visitors get lost can be a good thing, apparently!

Synergy Point had an opportunity to work with one of our partners on an innovative campaign inviting visitors to do just that. The campaign, “Get Lost in Loudoun,” is aimed at getting a younger demographic to ditch their technology and the daily grind for a weekend trip to the countryside. Loudoun County Virginia is a suburb of Washington D.C. and is within a short drive of the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia, home to plenty of overstressed young professionals. The goals of the campaign were to increase the brand awareness of Loudoun by offering opportunity and incentives to experience that brand message over and over.

The idea was simple enough; film the adventures of a group of ordinary people seeking to break out of their routines as they immerse themselves in the local experience of Loudoun VA and deliver it online. The execution, however, was a bit more complex and involved the integration of reality based video, a website, social media, e-mail marketing, internet advertising, and a promotional contest.

The Video Series

The centerpiece of the campaign is an online video series shot in a reality television style consisting of 9 episodes of the cast doing things like white water rafting, making wine, making pottery, and experiencing life on a farm. By releasing an episode a week it will extend the duration of the campaign and also provide a reason for their audience to return, increasing their exposure to the brand.

The cast was selected through a contest in which participants provided a video of themselves explaining why they would make a good cast member for the show.

Each week a new episode will be released and available for viewing online starting on September 27, 2011. A trailer can be viewed on their website at www.getlostinloudoun.com.

The Website

A website was created to host and promote the videos and to be a central hub for all of the activity that would take place around the campaign. The website was carefully designed to evoke a desired emotional response and a desire to “get lost” in the country for a weekend.

Get Lost in Loudoun! Website

In addition to promoting the video series, the website serves to promote the attractions and businesses featured in the videos by linking to their websites and providing suggested itineraries of other things to do in Loudoun. The site links directly to the primary tourism website for the area for trip planning ideas and tools. The site even includes an exact itinerary that the cast members used for anyone interested in duplicating their experiences.

The site also integrates all of the marketing and promotional channels including social media, online advertising, e-mail alerts, merchandise, and online contests.

Promotion

To promote the video series the client put together several contests that will be promoted on the website and through Facebook and Twitter. The grand prize winner will receive a “Get Lost in Loudoun” vacation consisting of 4 nights stay for 4, car rental, and several of the experiences featured in the video series.

As an incentive to explore the website contest registrants must find secret words within the website in order to enter the contest. You can use Twitter posts about what you have lost while on vacation to increase your odds of winning.

Banner ads were created to promote the series and will be placed on sites like Travelocity where people are actively planning vacations.

Success?

It’s too soon to tell how successful the campaign will be but one huge success was the cost. All of this was put together for nor more than the client typically spends for an online campaign, including the video.

As results on the effectiveness come in we will update this article with the details.

Augmented reality is the term used to describe combining or superimposing computer generated information on top of a real world view. The name certainly doesn’t sound as cool and as promising as it just might turn out to be in the next few years. Apps are now available that allow you to point your Smartphone at a landscape which automatically superimposes information about what you are looking at on your phones screen. The Apps use a combination of your phone’s camera, GPS, and internal compass.

Watch this video for a better visual explanation:

Augmented Reality Apps for Destination Marketing

Augmented reality is still a new and emerging technology and it is still early yet to see how well developed apps will get. There are some apps you can download and try yourself now however to give you an idea of what the future holds.

Wikitude

Wikitude Augmented Reality App

The developer calls Wikitude a “World Browser,” an app that helps you explore your surroundings and view information about landmarks near you.

To use the app, you point your Smartphone at your surroundings and small icons will appear that represent things like Wikipedia articles, geo-tagged twitter posts, ATM machines, and more depending on how you customize it. Currently Wikitude works better in large cities with many points of interest, and not as well in smaller cities and towns.

The app is free and is available for the iPhone, Android phones, Blackberry’s, and some Symbian phones.

More info: http://www.wikitude.com/en/

Yelp

Yelp is an app that makes it easy to find restaurants with good reviews near your current location.

Using your Smartphone you can press a button to find restaurants (and other businesses) in your location along with pricing information, reviews, maps, directions, and the business’ website if available.

In addition to being able to display the information on a map or in a list view, you can enable a feature called “monocle” which superimposes the restaurant names and review ratings on your cameras view screen. Simply point your phone at your surroundings and Yelp will display the closest restaurants on your screen with links to more information.

It’s a great way to select a good restaurant fast in a new city or while on vacation.

Yelp Augmented Reallity App

The app is free and is available on all major Smartphone platforms.

Golfscape GPS Rangefinder

Golfscape GPS Rangefinder is everything augmented reality is supposed to be.

GolfScape Augmented Reality App

When you point your Smartphone down the fairway the app displays the locations and distances to bunkers, dog legs in the course, and the pin location. The app also even remembers which clubs you like to use for certain distances.

The app currently is configured for 37,000+ golf courses worldwide.

More Info: http://golfscapeapp.com/

ZipReality Real Estate

ZipReality Real Estate lets you check out prices on homes around you.

ZipRealty Augmented Reality App

In 25 major markets around the United States, ZipReality has over one million MLS-listed homes you can browse through augmented reality using its HomeScan feature.

When you point your phone at a house in their database you are presented with additional details about the home superimposed on your cameras screen. The app displays the asking price, previous selling prices, additional interior photos, and more.

The app is free and available for the iPhone.

Conclusion

As you can see augmented reality has many useful applications. Even though the technology has not fully matured it won’t take long and there are some apps that work reasonably well in large cities. It will take a little time before this becomes a mainstream technology. It is coming, however, and I would expect to hear a lot more about augmented reality in the news in 2012.

How do you see augmented reality being used in your destination?

Any guess as to what the most common item left behind in a hotel room is? According to hotels, it’s a cell phone charger. Simply put, no self respecting mobile phone owner would dream of going on vacation without it.

And the mobile phone hold-outs are in the minority. According to the telecom industry, 91% of Americans own cell phones and by the end of 2011, it is predicted that the number of “smart,” web-enabled mobile phones will have surpassed the number of traditional cell phones. That means 45% of all Americans are expected to be carrying smart phones with them on vacation by the end of 2011.

In a 2011 survey by GSM Arena that asked readers what they use their mobile phones for, the top responses included:

• Alarm clock
• Weather
• Accessing web content
• GPS and Digital Maps
• Taking photos
• Social Media

Apparently people are using their phones to wake up, check the weather, search the web for something fun to do nearby, get directions, take some photos, and then post them on Facebook to prove to their friends that they are having a good time.

If your destination doesn’t currently have a mobile website, that doesn’t mean visitors aren’t looking you up on their phones. In fact, if you check your Google Analytics reports you will probably see a graph that looks something like this:

Mobile Website Visits are Rising

Mobile access to your website is increasing daily. This graph shows the mobile traffic for a destination that doesn’t have a mobile website yet. As smart phones have penetrated the market, consumers are increasingly using them to access web content.

What’s the point of all this? Simply that you can no longer justify putting off developing a mobile strategy as part of your marketing plan. Your visitors are using their phones to access mobile content while on vacation at your destination and if you aren’t serving them mobile content, your competitors are.

2. Mobile Sites vs. Mobile Apps

You have two options for delivering mobile content to your visitors, through a mobile website or through a mobile application or “app”. The choice depends on your goals and objectives and how best to serve your visitors. Each has strengths and weaknesses but there are some important facts to consider in choosing how and when to incorporate each into your mobile strategy.

For most destinations that do not yet have a mobile strategy, starting with a well designed mobile website makes the most sense.
Mobile websites will require less upfront investment, less effort on your visitors to use it, and typically integrates with your main website to share data.

3. Mobile Destination Websites Shouldn’t Be Mini Desktop Websites

Travelers don’t use mobile websites and desktop sites for the same purposes. This might sound obvious but I see mobile sites all the time that are designed simply as shrunken down versions of a destination’s main website. There are two simple reasons why consumers use mobile and desktop sites differently: screen size and context.

Consumers do travel research when they have time and where it is most convenient. It is much easier to read articles, print out information, and research more efficiently on a desktop computer where the screen size doesn’t leave you feeling like your eyes have been to the gym.

Consumers use mobile devices to access information about a destination while at the destination. If you think of your desktop website as an interactive brochure, think of a destination mobile website as a personal interactive concierge. Travelers use their phone to lookup directions, find local restaurants and nightlife, and look for special deals as they need the information.

Your mobile content strategy needs to take this into consideration. With limited screen real estate and even shorter attention spans, it is critical to develop a mobile content strategy independently from your main website content strategy. Cater to your visitor’s needs by making it easy for them to access information relevant to where they are within your destination. Make it easy for them to search your destination database for things to do, events, dining, shopping, and deals. And most importantly make it easy on your visitors to view all of this information on an interactive map. Improving your visitor’s experience at your destination will have a positive impact on your brand loyalty.

Conclusion

Mobile searches are predicted to outnumber desktop searches by 2013. If you don’t yet have a mobile site, take a look at your website analytics data for mobile visits and you will get a sense of the numbers of visitors you are potentially missing.

Don’t delay, now is the time to develop a mobile strategy if you haven’t done so already. Educate yourself about the pros and cons of mobile apps and mobile websites and how each may play a part in your strategy. If you want your mobile site to be a success and help build your brand loyalty, make sure your strategy takes into consideration that your visitor’s needs for information are different once they arrive at the destination.

Quick Resonse (QR) Tattoo

What do Lady Gaga, P.F. Changs, and tattoos have in common? And how are they influencing destination marketing? QR tags; two dimensional barcodes of the future.

Lady Gaga recently teamed up with Starbucks using QR tags printed on coffee cups to promote her latest album. P.F. Changs is using QR tags on their drink coasters to link to interactive wine pairing information with their menu. And tattoo artists all over the country are now offering personalized QR tag tattoos that can link to your personal mobile web site or Facebook page.

These are just a few of the many interesting examples of how QR tags are working their way into the consumer mass consciousness. The widespread use of QR tags is quickly establishing them as an essential element of integrated marketing campaigns and in particular for destination marketing. To use QR tags successfully you need a robust, easy to use, mobile content delivery platform.

Bridging the Gap between Your Offline and Online Marketing

If you haven’t started using QR tags in your advertising don’t worry, you’re not alone. But you may be soon. It seems to get harder all the time to cut through the advertising clutter to get the attention of your target audience. When you do break through and have their attention, wouldn’t you like to make it easy for them to take immediate action towards becoming a customer? That is where QR tags come in.

QR tags transfer your audience from your offline ads to your online marketing platform where you can track user behavior, collect information, and ultimately convert them into a customer. It doesn’t take much commitment on the part of your audience to scan your QR tag. Rewarding them with engaging content, directions to your location, a contest entry, or simply an easy way to save your contact information for later is an easy first step towards making a new customer.

QR Tags for Destination Marketing

QR Tag Mobile Contenst Entry Page

As with most things, there is a right way and a wrong way to use QR tags in your marketing. Don’t make the same mistakes of others. Whether it is an attempt to save money or simply a lack of creativity, some advertisers have simply linked their QR tags in ads to a mobile version of the company’s home page. That’s the equivalent of advertising in the newspaper that you also have a yellow page ad. Do your advertising readers care at that point? I doubt it.

What consumers want to see when they scan your QR tag is something unique, and something that has meaning and relevancy to the context in which they found it. If a print ad is promoting a vacation package, it should link to a mobile page that allows readers to get more details about the package with links to an information request form. If you are promoting a contest, it should link to a mobile contest entry form. If you are trying to direct people to visit you, it should link to a mobile map and directions.

There are endless possibilities for using QR tags in your advertising and marketing, limited only by your creativity. There are two key times, however, when you have the greatest opportunity to engage your destination visitors using QR tags; getting them to the destination, and assisting them at your destination.

Use QR tags in your advertising to link to engaging content that will lead people to take action, indicating a desire to visit your destination including:

• Video content
• Special package deals or coupons
• A link to your Facebook page or your “Like” button
• Customized promotional landing pages
• Contest entry forms

Once a visitor is at your destination, they use their smart phone as a mobile information guide. Build your brand loyalty by improving their experience. Make it easy for them to stay connected to you by using QR tags in your signage and on-site marketing materials by linking them to:

Mobile Content Linked from a QR Tag

• Directions and way finding
• Last minute specials
• Fun scavenger hunts or self-guided tours
• Events calendars
• Local area information and resources
• Content that provides a more rich experience at your points of interest
• Historical information

Whatever you do, don’t take the easy way out and link to content your visitors can easily find any other number of ways. Make it unique. Make it relevant. Make it easy for your target audience to take the next step towards engagement with you.

Don’t Get Left Behind

According to the telecom industry, 91% of Americans own cell phones and by the end of 2011, it is predicted that the number of smart phones will have surpassed the number of traditional cell phones. That means 45% of Americans are expected to be using smart phones by the end of 2011. Knowing half of your target audience is capable of interacting with your brand through their phone, are you prepared to give them what they are looking for?

Mobile Web Platforms for Destination Marketing

In order to link your advertising to your digital content, you need a solid mobile website platform that works alongside your primary website. And it shouldn’t simply be a miniature version of your primary website.

Your mobile platform should include a content management solution that makes it easy for you to create custom landing pages, forms, Google mapping, and digital business cards. It should allow you to link to your destination database, your events calendar, and online packages.

And don’t forget about tracking. Your mobile platform should allow you to track visitors from your QR tags through their visit to your mobile site and to conversion.

Consumers are ready for digital content. Make it easy for them to access and use and they will scan a path to your door.

When websites fail to convert visitors into customers, we most often find that the site as a whole is simply not emotionally engaging to the intended audience. And if you can’t get your web site visitors emotionally invested in what you have to offer then you have no chance of inspiring them into packing their bags and heading to your destination.

Your entire website experience needs to be emotionally compelling, leaving the visitor with a taste of what they can look forward to experiencing on their vacation at your destination. If you want them to take action you need to get them to feel first.

The 10 Second Rule

Unless your visitors are strictly creatures of habit, returning to the same vacation spot year after year, their vacation planning starts with browsing the Internet for new vacation ideas and possibilities. Engaging vacation planners emotionally during this part of their process is critical because your website is only one click away from thousands of others online.

The rule of thumb is that if you can’t make a positive impact on your target audience within 10 seconds of their initial visit, you have likely lost them. If they aren’t moved, they’re moving on.

Everything about your website needs to be emotionally engaging, and visually stimulating, with clear communication and calls to action that anticipate the needs of your visitors. The first impression you make needs to cut through the clutter and make your site stand out from your competitors.

5 Senses of Marketing

The website colors, photos, graphics, fonts, headlines, copy, and even navigation all need to work together in concert to create the sensations your visitors can expect to experience at your destination. The more senses you can activate in your target audience the more committed they will be to looking deeper into what you are offering. In the end, you want to leave your visitors with a feeling that inspires them with an irresistible urge to pack their bags.

The colors in the design of your site should help invoke some of the feelings visitors will experience at your destination. The photos, graphics, and headlines should stimulate your visitor’s minds with imagery of themselves at your destination. Videos can add depth to the experience with sound. Clearly, technology hasn’t yet progressed to the point of delivering the sense of smell or touch online but the net result of all of these experiences needs to have the common purpose of getting your visitors to feel.

Feel the Difference

Below are two examples of destination marketing websites competing for the same tourism customers. Both websites are marketing adventure tours in the Galapagos Islands and both websites can be found online through a Google search. If you were planning a vacation and were scanning the Internet for a short list of tour operators you felt were worth investing some time in to help plan your vacation, which one of these companies would you choose?

What emotion does this site evoke?

Website: http://www.discovergalapagos.com/

Feel the difference?

Website: www.galakiwi.com

Conclusion

The next time your marketing team is discussing changes to your website, don’t ask them what they think about it. Ask them how they feel. Question how you think your visitors feel when they experience your site. Do they feel an irresistible urge to pack their bags and head out of town? Or do they feel like it will be work to dig through your site to even find out if what you have to offer is for them?

Online, you only have moments to make an impact. If your visitors aren’t moved, they’re moving on. Evoking emotion with purpose in your website design is the key to inspiring your visitors.

Discover Upcountry Carolina Association’s website had proven to be ineffective and difficult to manage since its launch in 2000. Hired to do a complete makeover the result was Synergy Point’s “Upcountry South Carolina: Discovery Begins Here,” (www.theupcountry.com).

According to Chris Young, president of Synergy Point, “analytics showed that less than three months after the new site launched, visits were up 90%, there was a 534% increase in search traffic and a 46.5% increase in page views.”

“By totally reworking the website design we also were able to strengthen the “Upcountry” branding by creating the positioning “Discovery Begins Here.” From there, we made it simpler to navigate, drawing from our experience on what people are looking for from a travel and tourism website. Plus, adding colorful imagery of events, people and the places being promoted makes for a much more enjoyable experience.”

Synergy Point’s SiteManager content management system for Tourism allows destinations to take control over managing their content so they can effectively promote their destination. It provides complex database functionality and interactive features travelers expect to find in world-class tourism websites.

According to Tim Todd, Executive Director of the Discover Upcountry Carolina Association “ The new site is a huge step forward for us. Synergy Point gave us the ability to use our website effectively as a marketing tool. Our traffic has actually doubled since we launched the new site in March and now we are able to immediately publish articles and features that promote our destination. We are also able to integrate the site with Social Media and run special promotions and package deals. The site has strengthened our reputation as the ultimate resource for travelers in the Upstate and it continues to help us grow.”

The “Best of the Mountains” is an annual competition by PRAWNC that requires each submission to clearly outline strategic goals and objectives as well as present design execution.

ABOUT SYNERGY POINT – Synergy Point is an award-winning, full-service interactive agency headquartered in Asheville, NC, providing turnkey website design and development services. Synergy Point thrives on complex, collaborative projects, incorporating custom and open source CMS software, Social Media, video-for-web multimedia, software programming, and database management to develop productive, effective, and complete websites.

CONTACT:
Chris Young
Synergy Point
828.239.0295 x7000
chrisyoung@synergypoint.net
www.synergypoint.net

Asheville, NC – October 30, 2009

“First Peak of the Blue Ridge,” created for Polk County, NC Department of Tourism is the sixth consecutive win for Synergy Point in the “Brand/Marketing Campaign” category.  It is their fifth “Best of the Mountains” award created for a tourism site.

“We were extremely pleased to not only win in this category again, but to be recognized for our development of websites that support tourism and the hospitality industry,” Young said.  The agency developed and executed a website design, online marketing strategy and collateral materials.

The “Best of the Mountains” is an annual competition by PRAWNC that requires each submission to clearly outline strategic goals and objectives as well as present design execution.

To see the award-winning website, visit www.synergypoint.net.