GOULBURN does have a ripper story to tell, but why read it to an audience more than 200km away?
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Thursday night’s ‘Right Now in Goulburn’ tourism and investment campaign pitch was staged in the plush environs of a Sydney hotel ballroom.
By all reports, the 30 or so journos there came away with a warm and fuzzy feeling about our thriving regional city.
The test now is whether these sentiments will be converted into mainstream coverage and exposure.
There is no guarantee any of the participants will even visit despite the impressive presentation laid on by Goulburn Mulwaree Council.
Which is why ‘Right Now in Goulburn’ should have been held in Goulburn.
For goodness sake, what were we doing giving $8000 of ratepayers’ money to Sydney’s economy when the whole aim of the exercise is boosting Goulburn’s?
Our strategy would have been to invite journalists – and not just freelancers from Sydney but writers from NSW, ACT and Victorian mainstream media outlets - here for a weekend whirlwind tour, preferably in spring.
To put them up in local motels; to shout them meals at our great restaurants and cafes; to take them on a heritage tour; to show off our cathedrals; to introduce them to a wind farm; to spruik our water supply …
To tell them our story and its many positive chapters on our terms - in a tangible way.
Give them a real time experience in Goulburn now. Not a showbag in Sydney in the hope they’ll come down.
The key is to help the journos do their job … to speak their lingo, to cut to the chase.
Equip them with a media kit, key contact details, free access to images, quirky facts … anything to help them spread the message.
Council should be applauded for trying but our view is it could have been done differently.
