Mount Dora man proves Twitter is powerful marketing tool

Mount Dora hosts a variety of festivals throughout the year (Photo
courtesy of WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

When Brian Young decided to open an inn in the small, never-heard-of-it-town of Mount Dora, Florida, he could hardly have dreamed that he himself would create a "cottage industry" on the cusp of the future.

The four cottages he bought and renovated with his business partner in 1998 & 2006, are the kind of quaint, little, inn-like places tourists love.  A small town with New England flair, plenty to do, but set outside of Florida's largest and most popular tourist center only worked against him.

What could he do?

For Brian Young, failure was not an option, and this self described "natural born promoter," decided the future of his business lie in the future-turned-present of the internet: social media marketing.

Finding Brian, and Mount Dora

I first heard of Mount Dora when I saw the yellow and green logo, Mount Dora printed proud and bold across the Twitter page ahead of me.  The writer was saying something about Florida, a favorite travel destination of mine, and I had to check it out.

Like everything in the twitter world, it started with that first glance, then the checking out of the profile page, and deciding to follow.  I hit the button, and moved on.

But over the weeks I watched that little yellow and green button pop up often, read what they had to say, and did my share of RT's (Re-Tweet's) for them.  Finally, I had to know more.  So, I sent him a DM (Direct Message) and discovered that Mount Dora was Brian Young, and his passion lie in promoting his town.

I watched Brian and his Mount Dora yellow & green for weeks, watched as he single handedly did what professional CVB's (Convention & Visitors Bureau's) dream of, or haven't even dared dream of; promote their community in grand fashion.  With no big budget monies from the government grants and local taxes, just his know-how, daring, and passion, Brian was putting Mount Dora on the 21st century tourism map.

How was he doing it?

It started simple enough; he had a business and he wanted to promote it.  He was getting people to book rooms, but he found that when they did, they didn't know what there was to do in Mount Dora.

"Five years ago when I got here and opened those cottages, people would book and say 'now that I've got a room, what is there to do here?' I didn't think anything of it.  I would send them to a website I thought would help them and they would call back and say, 'well, I didn't find what I was looking for there.  Can you help me?"

Mount Dora does the holiday season up right (Photo courtesy of
WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

Brian began to collect all sorts of information about Mount Dora and things to do in the area, until one day it hit him; put it on the internet.

He created www.WhatToDoInMountDora.com.  Now someone thinking of visiting this "mountain town on the lake" in Florida can find at their fingertips, all sorts of ideas, links, lodgings, restaurants and more.

Yet, Brian wasn't finished.

Twitter comes to Mount Dora

Brian, always an innovator, took a look at Twitter and how it was becoming a marketing option.

As many in small and medium sized businesses find themselves in realistic competition with larger businesses, they are also discovering that Twitter and Facebook, part of the social media craze, are helping to place them on a more even plain.

Mount Dora is located within a 45 minute drive of Walt Disney World.  Situated where it is, there is the real expectation that Mount Dora is poised to be an option for visitors to central Florida.  With lodging options, outdoor activities galore, and year round festivals, Mount Dora should be on the verge of tourism greatness.

Yet, it was floundering in an all too real way.

In a very informal survey, I asked several people if they had ever heard of Mount Dora, Florida.  None had.  So, how did Brian think he was going to bring people to a town, once a popular tourism destination for those from Chicago and New England, and how was he going to compete with America's tourist mecca less than an hour away?

Twitter.

Brian created @MountDora, and began to tell people about his town.  Knowing that he had at his disposal not just his cottages for people to stay at, but his vast knowledge of the town, Brian began Tweeting away about it all.  From the monthly dog walks to support charity, to the ghost tours, to every festival that comes to town, Brian was telling people about it.

And people began to listen.

"I would say, and I can say this from experience, because I'm booking rooms from Twitter, in just the last week I've booked 16 room nights (from Re-Tweets done by other Twitterers like myself on Twitter/RoriTravel or @RoriTravel), so I would say to any business that it can be a very affective tool for immediate business or future business, but you have to work at it, and you have to be intelligent about the way you do it, I believe."

Brian Young welcomes you to Tremain Street Cottages follow him
on Twitter for all the latest (Photo courtesy of WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

Mount Dora wasn't necessarily ready to enter the Twittersphere

The town of Mount Dora sits within Lake County.  Without its own Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), Mount Dora must rely on the communal efforts of Lake County, which can do little to promote Mount Dora individually.  And without any efforts on the part of the town of Mount Dora, there was and is little in the way of tourism attraction to this area.

CVB's across America spend tens of thousands to millions of dollars each year, individually, on the attraction of tourists to their area.  Mount Dora was getting no such support from anywhere.

Brian had been doing his work with www.WhatToDoInMountDora.com, and had added the @MountDora page on Twitter, but would the town get behind him?

Not at first.  But with his role-model efforts, some are starting to jump on board.  Brian shares an example of a test he conducted to prove the worth of Twitter.

"About a month ago, just to prove the point, I'm near 8000 followers now, and I've targeted specifically to be within a 2 hour driving range of Mount Dora.  One day before lunch, I knew there were specific individuals on that morning.  I'd kind of been chatting with them.  One of the restaurants gave me a coupon to Tweet, and as a result, 3 people from the surrounding area came in with that coupon and redeemed it at this particular restaurant in downtown.  That made quite an improession on the restaurant, wow, I mean they don't even have a website.  So, that was a great illustration to them of what this can do."

And in turn, more businesses are learning from Brian's example, and joining the Twitter craze.  "We have, oh my goodness, we probably have 30 people on Twitter now -  the individual businesses -  as a result of what I've been doing.  It's fabulous."

Brian shares how to use Twitter to help your business community in the follow up article, Mount Dora man is role model for using Twitter marketing.

 
Be sure to check out my other column, Chicago Road Trips