There was a focused digital marketing program for the Mohawk Towpath Byway this past summer that was a great success.

Starting in early July a program of relentless, persistent postings were made three times a week on

Each of these posts were page tagged and hash tagged. We piggy backed on other events posted by Albany County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (ACCVB), Discover Schenectady, and Discover Saratoga. These were in addition to postings that Byway volunteers occasional made and secondary postings on volunteer’s websites. The point was to increase hits on the Byway website and encourage down loads of our two detailed itineraries: one that started with a visit to Saratoga Return to Another Century or one for those arriving in the area by AMTRAK Journey to Another Place in Time.

The results were dramatic.

Prior to the July 1 the peak number of hits on our website was 2,000 on May 28 (the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend) after the marketing started weekly peaks occurred at 6,000 for the rest of the summer! Did that result in economic benefit to our community? I talked to Isabel Prescott (owner of Riverview Orchards) to determine if she saw any increase is traffic. Her response was that her sales increase every year. This year price increases were a part of that, but they seem to be getting more customers from out of the area. We had a record number of participants for the Duathlon, double last year’s attendance.

We need to continue these marketing efforts so we do not lose momentum.

The digital marketing program was funded by a grant from the Albany County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (ACCVB) and implemented by the National Travel Center of Lancaster, PA.