Tuesday 15 March 2011

QUALITY BUSINESSES GET SMART

Turner Contemporary presents a real opportunity to generate additional business. That was the message delivered at a special one off event for hotels, guest houses and other tourism businesses across Thanet.

The ‘Smarter Marketing Course’ held on Wednesday 9 March and organised by the council’s Tourism department, was put on for local quality accredited visitor accommodation providers and other tourism sector businesses, to help to get them ready for the rise in visitor numbers that the opening of Turner Contemporary is likely to generate.

The one day course, held at the Fayreness Hotel, covered the importance of marketing your business and looked specifically at targeting more marketing online and integrating and improving online and offline marketing activities.

This event is all part of the exciting programme of work that has been agreed to help prepare Margate, and specifically to help support local businesses, in the run up to the opening of Turner.

Suzanne Box, owner of three self catering cottages at Manston, who attended the course said: “Out of all of the courses I have been on, this course was by far the best. The trainer was excellent and made the course informative, practical, and very relevant to everyone who attended. Online marketing can be very confusing, and yet she simplified it and showed us how it was relevant to us all. She also gave me new ideas on how to update my website in a very practical way that I think will really improve my business. She showed us all how to appeal to new customers in a very creative yet practical way. I will be amazed if this doesn't help every single business that attended.”

Head of the Margate Renewal Partnership Derek Harding, said: “It’s fantastic to receive such positive feedback for this course. The businesses who attended seemed to genuinely benefit from the advice and information that was shared on the day. I’d like to thank the tourism team for all their hard work and for pulling together such a successful event. Supporting our quality tourism businesses is a vital part of preparing the town in the countdown to the opening of the Turner Contemporary gallery in April. We need to ensure that our local businesses are fully equipped to deal with, and to make the most of, the dramatic increase in visitors to Thanet that I’m sure Turner Contemporary will bring.”

A business breakfast meeting is being held on Tuesday 29 March from 7.00am until 8.30am to provide local businesses with further news, information and advice in the weeks before the opening of Turner Contemporary. If you would like to attend please e-mail sharon.sebastian@thanet.gov.uk or call 01843 577182 by no later than Friday 25 March. To find out more about the exciting plans for Margate please go to www.thisismargate.co.uk for more information.

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