Industry Newsletter – December 2020

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Happy Holidays from
Granite State Ambassadors

It has been a wild year, and not only did we pivot, we zigged, zagged and jumped. You have been there for us, keeping our welcome center volunteers and industry counterparts engaged and learning, and ensuring they feel appreciated for the high-quality referrals they give to guests on your behalf.

This year, we focused our energies on what YOU need in the best way we know how – to learn, learn, and learn some more about you, what makes you unique, and what you offer guests so we can provide the highest level of word-of-mouth referrals. We also worked with some new friends who were able to give us some one-time larger donations so that we could purchase many of the gift certificates you generally donate to our fundraising efforts and awards. We also cancelled our auction knowing many of you were having tough times making ends meet.

To help fund our 2021 25th Anniversary Celebration, we are in the middle of a fundraising raffle. We had 38 prizes donated and we purchased our Grand Prize as the big draw to sell tickets. We can’t thank you enough for your help – so far we have raised $3,000. We invite you to join us at our Virtual Open House on December 16th where we will draw the winners and/or purchase your own tickets.

Another prong to our master plan to survive COVID was a series of articles and interviews to promote you, our partners, and to provide in-depth learning opportunities for our volunteers to keep them knowledgeable and engaged. These promotional opportunities are free marketing for you and knowledge for us!

Some of the businesses we interviewed and wrote articles about to share on our website include: The Cog Railroad, Seven Birches Winery, Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream, Bedrock Gardens, Hermit Woods Winery, Author Mike Bruno and his book “Cruising NH History”, Aviation Museum of NH, Enfield Shaker Village (coming soon), Museum of the White Mountains, Eastman Community Association, Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, The Cozy Tea Cart, Stark Brewing Company, Wright Museum of World War II, and Mt Washington Auto Road (coming soon).  If you are interested in participating in an interview, or if you would like to be featured in an educational / interactive virtual session with our GSAs, please let us know!  We would love to help promote you!

Gift Certificate and award purchases include: Indian Head Resort, Common Man, CC&D’s Kitchen Marketplace, Fratello’s & Homestead Restaurant, Tuckaway Tavern & Butchery, Diz’s Cafe, T-Bones / Cactus Jack’s / Copper Door, Bubba’s Bar & Grille, Moonlight Meadery, and Gifts to fill award baskets from members of the Lake Sunapee Region Chamber, Lakes Region Tourism Association, Greater Manchester Chamber, Monadnock Travel Council, Greater Concord Chamber, InTown Concord, and White Mountains Attractions Association.

We can’t wait to share our 25th Anniversary Celebration plans with you! We are focusing our learning opportunities and activities around the following monthly themes. Offerings will take the form of in-person / virtual tours; blogs, how-to, interviews, admissions to experience first-hand, lectures, workshops, scavenger hunts and more. You are invited to participate and help us develop content that promotes you! We also encourage you and your staff to learn with us. Join our email list to be kept in the loop!

January – Economic Development
February – White Mountains Region
March – Agriculture
April – Great North Woods
May – Seacoast Region
June – Lakes Region
July – Dartmouth / Lake Sunapee
August – Monadnock Region
September – Natural Resources
October – South Central / Merrimack Valley
November – Arts & Culture
December – Historical Resources

Another project we are working on is ExploreNewHampshire.org. These information pages were developed by our volunteers to help them make referrals about regions and topics they may not be as familiar about – especially things we don’t readily have brochures on like paddling, covered bridges, picnic areas, swimming holes, hikes, information centers, etc. We are excited to format them for guests to use directly as a resource. As with everything we do, these info pages will be made available to you to adapt for your own guests, brochures and websites. We just ask that you reference and link back to us. Donations are always accepted to help us maintain these pages and we will be adding advertisement opportunities in 2021.

Please have a wonderful holiday season, and if you can think of creative ways to engage our volunteers and tourism front-line staff, we would love to hear your ideas. Email me at kelly@nhgsa.com or call 603-960-0272. If you would like to become more involved in the governance of Granite State Ambassadors 501(c)3 nonprofit, we are accepting nominations for new board members. Nominations and inquiries can be emailed to kelly@nhgsa.com.

Wishing you all the best,

Thank you again,
Kelly & Emily