Visit Canton’s Portfolio of Digital Passes Has Driven Over 36,000 Free Pass Sign-Ups and Generated Over $71,000 for Local Museums
Background
Visit Canton is a DMO in Ohio that has 14 full-time staff members, but two people are primarily responsible for building the passes. They started with one pass, but they didn’t stop there. Instead, they created multiple campaigns that utilize a variety of pass types. Their team handles it all with ease, and has done an exceptional job of creating enticing experiences that have had an economic impact in their community.
Here are a few of the pass types that they are using.
Visit Canton’s relationship with Bandwango started with a need to reinvigorate their existing savings pass. At one point, the DMO offered physical, printed coupons, but like many destinations, they decided it was time to move from paper to digital. Allison Gromofsky, the organization’s Senior Manager, Community and Partner Relations, explained one of the challenges with printed materials, “The day that you print something, somebody wants to change their deal, or somebody goes out of business, or somebody new opens, and they want to be included.”
Before partnering with Bandwango, they tried another coupon program that involved wristbands that directed people to their website. There, visitors could view local discounts. Gromofsky said that didn’t quite solve their problem, though. “We didn't really have any trackability with that, because it just listed out the discounts,” she said. “And then also the guests that were using those were few and far between.”
When they learned about Bandwango, they created the current version of their digital VIP Visitor Savings Pass, which is basically a digital coupon book. The team loves the ability to customize it, and she explained, “Our partners are able to communicate with us exactly how often they want their deal to be able to be used, which is a really great thing.” Customization features allow Visit Canton to control how frequently visitors can redeem individual offers.
They’ve also tested another use case, and have recycled the deals on that pass to create another customized pass for a soccer tournament that came to town. She said, “We just used the special deals that are on the VIP Visitor Savings Pass, but used their branding within the pass itself. So that makes those attendees feel very welcome, very seen. It seems like it's exclusive just to them, even though it really is just a reusage of deals, from our other pass.”
Building upon the success of those passes, Visit Canton made another savings pass – the Pigskin’s Pals Adventure Pass. Gabe Baker, Partner Content Coordinator, explained the difference, saying, “It promotes deals and discounts, but it targets families.” The deals are focused on businesses that have offerings that would be of interest to children 12 and under. They’ve also found some creative ways to promote the pass on a regional basis. Gromofsky said, “We’ve seen great success in sharing school flyers in late April and early May that encourage families to sign up.”
While Visit Canton’s Bandwango journey started with savings passes, they’ve continued to expand their portfolio of visitor experiences. They’ve also created multiple check-in challenge passes, such as the Hall of Fame Hops Craft Brewery Trail, that allow passholders to earn prizes for checking in at local breweries. “It adds a little bit to the pass,” said Baker. “It gives our residents and visitors something else to do. It's not only that they get to play the game and earn the rewards, but I think it’s also the satisfaction of completing passes.”
Their team has gotten creative and tried out some of Bandwango’s new features. They’ve used the quiz feature for the Stark Stories History Trail, and their latest pass is an autumn-themed digital Bingo card. As soon as that one ends, they are launching a winter version of the Bingo card. Baker explained the ease of it and said, “I can just duplicate our fall one, change some of the locations, and change the graphics. The platform is super simple to use.”
Many destinations curate their own version of restaurant week or restaurant month, but Visit Canton has gone above and beyond in this area as well. They’ve actually done passes for both. They’ve worked together with the Downtown Canton Partnership to build a pass for their restaurant week, but they also build a pass for Savor Stark Restaurant Month which happens each March. Gromofsky said it’s worked well for them. “It’s easy for the guests to be able to sign up and get those special offers.”
Canton has multiple museums in their area and saw a need to package them together into one experience. The Canton Museum Pass was built as a way to allow a visitor to purchase admission to multiple museums for one discounted price. It also serves as a way for visitors to see the vast array of things to do.
“This is a nice way to package everything,” said Gromofsky. “They get a special deal and discount, but then also they can see all of these different museums in our communities that they can then go and visit. Our hope is that they're visiting as many as they can when they come here, but then also maybe it inspires them for a return trip if they're only using it for the deal and discount.”
The pass comes in 1- and 3-day options. It generates income for the participating museums, and Bandwango handles all of the financial payments. Bandwango also helps with setting up the financial portion of the pass, which Gromofsky said she appreciates. “If you have a small team, it's very intimidating to think about getting contracts, what everyone's pricing structure is, paying out checks, and creating ticket packages. Using the Bandwango team has been very beneficial. Partners don’t feel like they have to negotiate with Gabe and I and that makes it not feel awkward at all.”
Results
“We've seen a lot of success,” said Baker, who shared one of the key elements that he feels has contributed to the impressive numbers shown in their reporting data. “It's just about knowing who we have here in Stark County, and then going from there to cater a pass towards them.”
Since Visit Canton first partnered with Bandwango in 2020, their passes have collectively shown a huge impact on their community:
Free pass sign ups: 36,886
Free pass check-ins: 18,544
Free pass coupon redemptions: 9,053
Revenue generated through paid passes: $71,853
They’ve also received some great feedback. He said, “I think from each level, from passholders and from those on the pass, we've heard about how successful they are.”
Visit Canton’s pass strategy is working. With the ability to build unlimited passes, they’ve found ways to use digital passes in a variety of different ways to serve their needs. Even better, it hasn’t created too much challenging work for their staff. “The software that Bandwango uses is very simple and user-friendly,” shared Baker, adding, “It’s also fun to use.”
Visit Canton’s Top Tips for Success
Just do it
Baker said, “Get in the Bandwango software, build out a pass, and see how it looks. There’s a testing channel you can use, so it's not public-facing, and you can see how your pass works.” Gromofsky added, “Don’t be afraid to try something. Don’t be intimidated about making sure all of the settings are correct. It’s very easy to use.” “You can lean on the Bandwango support team, too,” Baker said. “My Bandwango contact, Jason, is always willing to get on a video call with me.”
Sign up for the pass yourself
“I’ve signed up for all of our free passes just so I can see how it works,” Baker shared. “That helps you see what the passholder sees. I know Bandwango has the preview function, but it’s just different to sign up for it yourself and see what your stakeholders are going to be using.”
Continue to learn what’s possible
“Bandwango sends out a lot of updates and they have presentations going over things,” explained Baker. “There's just a lot of options there, so I think just spending time with it is the best way to get better at it.”
(To stay up-to-date with all of Bandwango’s new offerings, be on the lookout for periodic newsletters and webinars. You can also check out all of Bandwango’s recorded webinars HERE.)
Make sure your partners have the tools to promote the passes
Visit Canton provides marketing collateral to businesses who are included on their passes. The specific collateral varies by pass, but some of the items they distributed to businesses include pop-up banners, tear pads, table tents, posters, and coasters.
Use local events as opportunities to promote your passes
The Visit Canton team attends events in their community and has on-site activations. Gromofsky said, “We always bring rack cards or table tent signs that are promoting the passes to encourage guests to sign up for things that make sense for them.”
Promote it to groups coming to town before they arrive
Gromofsky said, “Our sales and service team does a really great job of making sure that organizations are receiving that information in their ‘Know Before You Go’ information so they can share that with attendees of a sporting tournament or a conference. So then hopefully they sign up for the VIP Visitor Savings Pass.”
Send out press releases
“We always send out media releases whenever we’re launching a pass,” said Gromofsky. “That earned media has been very helpful to gain momentum outside of the ad placements that we're doing.”
Send messages to your passholders
“To keep people engaged that have the passes, we've used the messaging feature,” Gromofsky said. They send out text messages about special events. They also use those messages to remind passholders about their pass and encourage them to visit another location. The Bandwango passes also give passholders the opportunity to sign up to receive messaging from Visit Canton. “We then download those lists and we have different email blasts that we do internally for those audiences,” she explained.
What's next
After the Winter Bingo pass, the Visit Canton team plans to build a Chocolate Trail to highlight their local chocolatiers. They’re also planning a big celebration for the one-year anniversary of their beer pass.
In addition, they are starting to work closer with their sports sales team. Baker explained, “We have a lot of youth sports with families traveling, and they’re looking for other things to do. So we'd like to give them something free to do and send them out into our communities. We are planning to build itineraries to keep people downtown. Maybe they can find something they didn't know about, hopefully. That's our goal.”
Conclusion
Visit Canton has found multiple ways to use Bandwango’s digital passes, and it’s been a wonderful working relationship for all parties. They didn't need a huge staff or separate technology solutions for every campaign. Instead, they found ways to use one platform to accomplish multiple objectives, engage different audiences, support local businesses, and generate revenue. Gromofsky said, “We really appreciate the capabilities and the partnership.”
If you’re looking for ways to help your community like Visit Canton has, reach out to the Bandwango team to set up a free consultation.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
%20(1).png)
