Marketing Hernando County

Mermaids, golf, canoeing and just getting back to nature.

The perfect recipe to draw people to Hernando County?

County commissioners seem to think so and believe the lure of a more laid-back county - close enough to the urban entertainment of Tampa - is how Hernando County needs to sell itself.

To that end, Tourism Coordinator Sue Rupe unveiled a new cross-marketing campaign Tuesday she believes will more aggressively promote Hernando County and get people to come here.

And the key, she said, is stressing the active side of the county. But active in a fun way.

"We're working at Hernando as an action verb," she said.

To that end, Rupe has meet with local chamber of commerce officials, Realtors, builders, city of Brooksville officials and members of Hernando Progress to brainstorm ideas.

"We met as a group and decided we need something that described us," Rupe said.

The result of that meeting is a new branding slogan called: "Hernando: people, places, progress."

That slogan, or a variation of it, will soon grace tourism department correspondence, on a revamped Web site, in brochures and trade magazines.

Rupe also intends to work closely with the office of business development as it also tries to attract more industries into Hernando County.

Commissioners on Tuesday put on hold a proposal from Business Development Director Mike McHugh to increase his marketing budget from $60,000 to $150,000 annually. Instead, because McHugh and Rupe share similar goals, commissioners asked him to explore partnering with the county's Tourism Development Council to raise additional funds.

Jim Kimbrough, chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust Bank, Nature Coast, said it's fine to have a slogan but unless it is applied "externally" to draw people here and not confined to in-house memos and the like, it will be useless.

"If we're going to maximize a limited supply of resources and dollars, then we might be well to give more thought to connect to (Tampa Bay) because nobody knows where Hernando County is," Kimbrough said.

County Commissioner Dave Russell agrees that any tourism promotion should be done as a regional effort.

People in the Northeast don't know where Hernando County is but they do know about Tampa Bay and Hernando should push the fact that it is only 35 miles north of that urban area, he said.

Other than the 3 percent tourism development tax, there is no quantifiable way to measure the success of the Tourism Development Council, Russell said.

"It's like any other form of advertising," he said. "You never know what the full benefit is until you quit doing it. Then, it's too late."

Russell said he agrees with Rupe's efforts in stressing the "natural" benefits of visiting Hernando County.

For golfers, he said that means continued efforts to publicize World Woods, a nationally ranked golf course in northern Hernando County.

From canoeing on the Withlacoochee River to having a front row view of the famous Weeki Wachee mermaids, Hernando County has some natural attractions, he said.

This week, Rupe is busy with the Southeast Area Motorcoach Rally, which annually draws hundreds of participants who spend money in the local economy.

Russell said he is encouraged between the stronger partnership between Rupe and McHugh's department.

"The TDC is needed here and I would like to see the TDC work, as they are now, more closely with the business development," he said. "I think it's a great marriage."

The tourism department budget for 2010 is $765,868, all of which is funded from a 3 percent bed tax on people who stay in local hotels, motels, mobile home parks, recreational vehicle parks, campgrounds and any other sleeping accommodations rented for a period six months or less.

The total salaries for Tourism Coordinator Sue Rupe and her assistant are $97,052.

Source: Hernando County Budget Office