City starts fundraising for radio campaign

The soft timbre of Tim Allen’s voice will again be talking about Tecumseh’s inviting downtown and adventurous walking trails as the City of Tecumseh seeks donations to fund the Pure Michigan radio advertising campaign for spring/summer 2015. The city hopes to raise $30,000 for the campaign, with about half already raised, according to Tecumseh City Manager Kevin Welch. While the Pure Michigan campaign isn’t the only means used to attract people to the city, it has been successful, Welch said. Of the $30,000 goal for the campaign, $5,000 will go towards helping send out visitor packets to those who request one via Michigan.org. The city sent out over 800 packets last year. In 2013, over 700 packets were sent to those seeking information about Tecumseh and the surrounding area. “Packet requests are a pretty strong testimonial that they [the ads] are working,” said Tecumseh Economic Development Director Paula Holtz.The goal of $25,000 will be matched one-to-one by Travel Michigan, a division of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the department behind the Pure Michigan campaign. Holtz said that while the radio campaign won’t be changing much, she mentioned that the Pure Michigan website was working on allowing cities to be searched via key words, like beer, travel and arts, to help increase city discoverability. The radio commercial last year aired during June, July and August, while Tecumseh was listed as a “hot spot” on the Pure Michigan homepage from March through August, according to Holtz.In August 2014, Tecumseh was the 59th most clicked city on Michigan.org, the site the Pure Michigan campaign directs visitors to. For 2014, Tecumseh’s Pure Michigan display and mobile banners delivered over 2.1 million impressions while generating 7,834 clicks. The radio ads will air in markets, which are determined with the help of Pure Michigan, within a one-and-a-half hour drive time from Tecumseh.This would be Tecumseh’s third year participating in the campaign. “Our initial thought was to do it for a minimum of three years up front,” said Welch. He added that while it is hard to quantify how many people actually visit Tecumseh because of the Pure Michigan radio campaign, he said a few businesses have indicated that they have had customers from outside the area that would not normally have been customers.Welch said that there also been a noted increase in attendance at city events as well, adding that the city would like to do more with Pure Michigan, mentioning that a TV spot was two to three times more expensive. “This is such a strong brand and the state continues to invest in,” said Holtz.