Albany, Georgia, was recently featured in CountryLiving.com’s round up list of “Best Small Towns in Georgia.” Albany was included in the list because it offers big-city amenities, such as a theatre, art museum and the Civil Rights Institute, without sacrificing small town charm.
The Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) works to drive overnight visitors to the area, creating a positive economic impact. The CVB lends expertise and assistance to visitors by sharing up-to-date information about the community, along with offering an array of complimentary planning services.
To help raise awareness for Albany, the CVB contracts with Laurie Rowe Communications (LRC), a public relations firm that specializes in the travel and tourism industry, to share stories of the community, resulting in articles such as this. Over the past year, the CVB has generated 77,942,694 total media impressions—calculated as the opportunity for an article to be viewed by magazine readership or the unique monthly views of an online article or blog post—with an estimated value of $761,454 in public relations coverage. In addition to out-of-market editorial coverage generated by working with LRC, are articles telling of the CVB’s efforts in supporting the local tourism industry.
“Albany is a great place to visit and we have a small town feel with big city amenities. Being featured on CountryLiving.com draws attention, the type of attention we strive for at the CVB,” said Director of the Albany CVB, Rashelle Beasley. “Working with LRC to bring this type of awareness to our community is a huge return on investment for Albany.”
While some may question if today’s booming Albany still qualifies as a small town, Beasley adds, “While Albany is not the smallest town included on the list, it is also not the biggest. It was highlighted as one of the state’s best small towns, with the emphasis on ‘best’ and the ‘small town’ reference serving as more of a description of the charming characteristics that few towns still offer. We feel lucky to have preserved the best aspects of a small town, as evidenced in our community’s hospitality, while still growing economically as both a tourism destination and desirable place to live and work. ”
To encourage journalists to write about Albany from a first-hand experience, the CVB works with LRC to host journalists in Albany who are seeking information, not only about general travel but also about specific points of interest, such as Civil Rights. A 2017 Human Rights press trip has, to date, resulted in four published stories featuring Albany, generating 2.75 million total impressions with an $8,402 total estimated value. A story written by Pam Keene appeared in the January 2018 issue of GEORGIA Magazine, generating 1.36 Million impressions for $3,494 estimated value. Atlanta-based freelance writer Pam Keene and Kansas City-based blogger/freelance writer Lysa Allman-Baldwin report that they are working on publishing future stories.