Marketing

Explore Fairbanks is a non-profit 501(c)(6) destination marketing and management organization. The mission of Explore Fairbanks is to be an economic driver in the Fairbanks region by marketing to potential visitors, optimizing the visitor experience and advocating for a thriving year-round visitor industry.. Explore Fairbanks markets Fairbanks as a year-round destination by promoting local events, attractions and activities to independent travelers, group tour operators, travel agents, meeting planners and the media as well as by shaping public policy and developing infrastructure to achieve marketing objectives.

For the current Strategic Plan for Explore Fairbanks, click here.

The five departments within Explore Fairbanks together deliver results-driven marketing and management programs. For 2024, the departments will focus their marketing strategies on the following objectives:

Communications

• Maximize messaging to consumer markets and support direct flights through online content, advertising placements, media, direct marketing, social media and other tools
• Proactively maintain the website through search engine optimization, research and analysis. Identify, develop and integrate creative ideas and trends, new content as well as refine and grow existing content. 
• Strategically employ social media and continue growing Explore Fairbanks’ exposure and brand awareness through existing social media platforms and add new platforms when viable.
• Proactively identify and bring media to Fairbanks and work with media that travel to our area independently and maintain relationships with media within our database.
• Promote Fairbanks locally, statewide, domestically and internationally through multiple, targeted and timely press releases and other communications.
• Promote visitation to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center (MTCVC) as the first stop for visitor information and as a resource for residents, military and their respective visiting friends and relatives.
• Continue to review and update content and design in advertising, publications, website, quarterly newsletters and social media according to current travel trends.
• Increase positive media and public relations efforts to reach local and in-state audiences for community awareness, advocacy and workforce development purposes. 
   

Tourism and Meeting Sales

Tourism:

• Continue to promote visitation to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center as a first stop for orientation to destination
• Incorporate Explore Fairbanks branding pillars and messaging into travel trade communications and marketing endeavors
• Meet our goals and tactics in German speaking and Northern Europe and United Kingdom by working with our European Contractor to prioritize our marketing activities accordingly to promote Fairbanks as a year-round destination
• Set goals within the Tourism and Meeting Sales Department performance metrics to measure department success
• Utilize Simpleview database to proactively keep in touch with contacts, expand the database, and measure activity
• Continue to promote Fairbanks as a year-round destination to domestic markets
• Promote Gulf of Alaska cruise/land tours
• Work closely with the Fairbanks International Airport, airlines and tour operators to maintain existing flights and pursue new service
• Collaborate and partner with ATIA and other DMOs in the state to ensure Fairbanks’ inclusion in sales missions and FAMs when strategically feasible
• Expand participation of Explore Fairbanks’ industry partners in FAM tours
• Monitor traditionally core and emerging international markets to gauge future visitation and allocate marketing resources and activities accordingly
• Encourage advanced planning in all consumer and travel trade marketing 

Meetings and Conventions:

• Supporting and strengthening the Golden Heart Meeting Ambassador Program.
• Increasing the volume of leads and service requests generated by the department.
• Serving and supporting academic meetings and UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks) Ambassadors.
• Establishing Fairbanks as the preferred Alaska destination for Arctic meetings.
• Enhancing engagement and recognition among our hospitality and tourism partners.
• Continuously communicating the value of holding meetings in Fairbanks to local audiences, incorporating "Tourism Works" and "Tourism Cares" messaging.
• Collaborating with Alaska Native organizations to support local meetings and events while integrating cultural customs and traditions.
• Encouraging advanced planning in all meeting planner marketing endeavors.
• Emphasizing diversity and inclusion in our meetings and conventions communications, striving to create a welcoming environment for all attendees.

Visitor and Community Engagement

• Increase awareness of the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center as the first stop for visitor information. Work to maintain our partnership with military communities in Alaska.
• Morph the Golden Heart Greeter Program into a multi-faceted educational program to educate locals about the tourism economy and Fairbanks’ rich history.
• Host educational events such as the Interior Tourism Conference, the Annual Banquet, and the Golden Heart Giving pop-up fundraisers spotlighting tourism-related businesses and issues.
• Provide workforce development activities to include seminars spotlighting AlaskaHost curriculum and Explore Fairbanks–developed customer service modules in high schools. Invite frontline staff to visit the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center to learn about Explore Fairbanks, its partners, and the resources available to assist guests with trip planning.

Administration

• Provide financial leadership with an emphasis on programs that directly impact hotel/motel tax collections and sustainability of the organization.
• Analyze, coordinate/participate in discussions about, and achieve consensus with, the Fairbanks visitor industry and community partners regarding development and  infrastructure projects that affect or enhance the industry. 
• Provide leadership, facilitate discussions, and strive for collaboration on public policy and advocacy issues that impact the visitor industry.
• Assure “best practices” for Explore Fairbanks as a professional association in the destination marketing and management arena.
• Institutionalize and expand Explore Fairbanks’ positive image with its partnership and in the community through outreach and involvement and a consistent communications plan which celebrates the achievements and importance of Explore Fairbanks as well as the regional and state tourism industry.
• Ensure that the organization is leading the way in the local visitor industry in promoting and fostering an atmosphere of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
• Collaborate with partners and other organizations to rebuild and retain the visitor industry workforce to the level that is needed in order to sustain and grow the destination.
• Actively participate in local, statewide and national tourism and related industry efforts.