With the majority of events and parades officially canceled through the coming months, Maryland will experience a summer unlike any other in order to control the coronavirus outbreak. The world is changing but we are responding to that.
With the state’s beaches already starting to open to the public once more we are seeing the potential for inter-state tourism grow again. While we all have to continue to take the virus seriously we are starting to see other restrictions eased as well. Here in Baltimore, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young announced Friday the city would join the rest of the state in the next phase of coronavirus recovery. Restaurants were permitted to offer a limited number of guests seats indoors beginning at 5 p.m. Friday. Pools, houses of worship, salons, gyms and social amenities, such as the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and National Aquarium, were allowed to open — with precautions in place.
It is important as we have mentioned elsewhere in this issue that we let our customers know what we are doing to allow them to reenter the public space safely. But with July 4th Weekend fast approaching there is a great opportunity to reengage with your customers and grow your market. More than ever its important to speak directly with you customers, be it on social; email; text/SMS; or your website. We can help too. We have a large number of turn key marketing activations that can engage consumers and drive traffic.
Elsewhere we are busy helping clients in Anne Arundel and the surrounding area prepare for opening up with a new and improved edition of our Annapolis Guidebook. Over 71% of our Capital Gazette digital and print audience are actively searching for information on goods, services and restaurant reviews online. This is brought into sharper focus in light of the pandemic. In response to this we are bringing our coveted Annapolis Guidebook to life digitally with a new interactive site on capitalgazette.com . So now your business can be front and center to Annapolis readers looking for resources both in print and digital year round. The new interactive resource will use illustrative content, listicles, games and videos to provide residents with everything that they need to know about living and working in the area.
This past week we also saw students ‘graduate’ in as much as they could do in the current scenario. We helped celebrate our 2020 graduates as reported previously here in the Spark; and our focus on the education sector continues as we look ahead to the coming months. We are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new digital experience designed to help guide users as they navigate their higher education path through a series of articles, interactive content, career profiles and more. Click the image below to see a live example.
If you are in the Howard area, The Best of Howard Restaurants nomination period is now open. If you’re a Howard restaurateur and feel your business has a chance in the awards make sure you are nominated. Nominations are open until Wednesday, June 24 at 5 p.m. and voting for winners will be open from Tuesday, July 2 at 9 a.m. through Friday, July 17 at 5 p.m. More details can be found here.
Special sections like these continue to offer great ways for our customers to engage with targeted audiences. Most of our campaigns though are custom developed for the highly specific goals and objectives of each of our clients. If you have a marketing and advertising problem, our full service team here Baltimore Sun Media will help you find a unique solution. Contact your Baltimore Sun Media sales representative now to find out how.