(Batesville, IN) – Batesville City Council approved a $5,000 Belterra Funds request from the Booville Marketing Team/Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday night.
Mary Ellen Rippe of Romweber MarketPlace is spearheading efforts to bring people to town by pumping money into the economy through local advertising.
“There are 80,000 between Ripley, Franklin, and Decatur counties. The Chamber and I just want to show them how much fun they can have here,” Rippe told Council during her presentation. “But to do that, we really need the marketing dollars.”
She added the Chamber has fantastic marketing tools such as its website, social media, and the recently launched Experience Batesville app, but says they don’t do any good if people aren’t aware of those resources.
“That is the power of all of this advertising. Think of the ‘Pure Michigan’ ads. When you watch those, it’s not really talking about anything except just coming and enjoying Michigan,” Rippe said.
Rippe added events draw people into town, and when residents and visitors alike have fun, they’ll want to shop, eat, and fuel up their vehicles in Batesville.
Ultimately, Rippe says it’s about making Batesville a destination spot during the month of October.
She noted Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the U.S. behind Christmas, with American consumers spending $10 Billion last year during the spooky season.
A number of Chamber members attended the meeting in a show of support for the request.
City Council usually meets on the second Monday of each month, but this month’s (Monday, September 11) meeting was postponed due to a lack of a quorum that night, until Thursday.
