Polk County tourism board launches spring marketing campaign, projects $364,000 boost in 2025

The Polk County Tourism Council presented a newly launched spring marketing campaign to the county board and estimated the initiative could drive about $364,000 in incremental visitor spending in 2025.

Brad Beerson, director of the Polk County Tourism Council, said the campaign was funded in part by a Wisconsin Department of Tourism matching grant and private/local contributions. Consultant Linda Shober described the creative strategy, which uses a new Polk County brand framework, out-of-home billboards in the Twin Cities market, streaming-TV ads, digital and social advertising, experiential "scavenger hunt" materials for visitors, and influencer and PR engagement.

Shober said the campaign landing page and subpages were built to track visitor behavior and that the project will use UTM links and foot-traffic attribution technology to measure whether ads convert into physical visits. "In 48 hours into the campaign, our web traffic is up over 3,000%. We have 30,000 impressions on paid social already," she told the board, reporting early metrics including 1,000 clicks to the landing page and 4,000 social video plays.

Beerson said the spring campaign launched on March 15 and will be supported by nine billboard locations, digital retargeting and an experiential giveaway that asks visitors to complete activities in Polk County to enter a prize drawing. The tourism presenters said the campaign is also intended to help with longer-term talent-attraction efforts discussed earlier in the meeting.

Board members did not vote on the marketing program during the presentation; presenters asked supervisors to promote the marketing and to participate in a spring tourism conference on April 17.