Explore St. Louis outlines updated neighborhood partnership program and benefits for Webster Groves businesses

Explore St. Louis representatives visited the Webster Groves Business Commission to describe a revamped neighborhood partnership program aimed at promoting businesses across the St. Louis region and increasing visitor traffic to Webster Groves. Barry Draper, director of partnerships at Explore St. Louis and executive director of the St. Louis Seventh Pride Foundation, said the program lists participating businesses on ExploreStLouis.com, distributes printed visitor guides, and offers marketing and media opportunities. "We're excited to be here to talk to you a little bit about the neighborhood partnership program," Draper said. He noted the neighborhood pages now include a new Google-based map feature and four-photo business listings plus video and social links. Draper said the partnership pages appear on some of Explore St. Louis's highest-visited pages, which he described as receiving more than 5,000,000 hits per year. Draper described the organizational structure of fees: a baseline municipality or umbrella partner fee of about $450 per year, and a discounted $150 annual listing fee for qualifying individual businesses. He said some municipalities negotiate different arrangements—Maplewood subsidizes half of the $150 business fee for its businesses, and other neighborhoods sometimes pay higher tiers for convention-level services. Kelly Klaus Teplin, partnership coordinator at Explore St. Louis, described partner services such as in-person partner briefings (30-minute sessions with marketing, sales, communications, IT and events), free photography for partners, access to a digital asset manager of approved photos, and social media promotion if partners submit materials at least two weeks in advance. Draper said the program paused billing during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid charging struggling businesses and has since rebuilt its CRM and partner extranet to show partners benefit summaries in near real time. The presenters encouraged the commission and local businesses to renew membership so Explore St. Louis can recruit and update listings, run media familiarization tours, and include Webster Groves in editorial spotlights. They also invited commissioners to a networking event and said the St. Louis Film Office work has increased since the state restored a film tax incentive; Draper noted a new film commissioner and said the office now keeps a database of local filming locations. Commissioners asked about current participation; the presenters estimated approximately 15 Webster Groves businesses are listed but said many listings may be inactive or out-of-date because contact information changed during the pandemic. Draper and Teplin offered to help update content and to send digital materials for the commission to review. No formal vote or contract was taken at the meeting; presenters left contact information and invited follow-up.