More and more people are coming to the PA Wilds each year.
How can your business capitalize on this increased visitation? Here are a few tips:

1. List your business on www.VisitPA.com. The state has spent valuable time and money developing the PA Wilds brand and marketing the region to tourists. Television, radio and print ads running outside the PA Wilds push audiences to the VisitPA.com website. Make sure this extensive advertising campaign is working for you by listing your business on the VisitPA.com site. Submissions are free. To get started, go to: http://www.visitpa.com/how-to-get-listed/index.aspx. The same sort of advertising is being done at the regional level, so make sure your business is listed on www.pawilds.com and on your local tourism promotion agency site.

2. Become an ambassador to your region. Strive to be a place where people feel welcome and can find advice on just about anything — the best hiking trails, fishing holes, steak dinner. Learn about your area's history and natural draws. Celebrate the unique and local by naming a lunch dish after a nearby attraction or a room after a local historical figure. When appropriate, stock or display visitor brochures and maps for customers to use. If folks find your business or town upbeat and accommodating, they're more likely to return with friends. Don't underestimate the power of word of mouth — in many ways, that's how the PA Wilds got started.

3. Launch a website. First impressions are important and that means getting your business online. Websites are critical infrastructure. One recent Hospitality Trends report calls them “most important distribution and marketing channel in the hospitality industry.” Don't skimp. Tourists want to be wooed by beautiful pictures and stories from your hometown. They want to see what their hotel room or campsite will look like and know what attractions they'll find when they visit. High-speed internet is still out of reach in parts of the PA Wilds, but anyone can launch a website that shows off their business. Need help? A limited amount of free technical assistance is available. Contact the Small Business Ombudsman for details.

4. Consider marketing your business in relation to the tourism assets in your area — i.e. “Our lodge is located in the heart of the PA Wilds, only an hour's drive from X, Y and Z.” Always describe distance in time, not miles. Brainstorm ways to get tourists from area attractions to your shop. Should you adjust your hours? Partner with other businesses to offer coupons or package tours? Hang more signs? Be creative. Don't wait for someone else to market your business for you.

5. Consult the PA Wilds Design Guide when embarking on new construction, renovations or signage projects. This highly visual and readable document is full of suggestions on how private and public land owners in the PA Wilds can help protect their community's character during times of growth. The book was put together by local planning officials. To download a pdf or order a free copy on CD, click here.

6. Consider using the PA Wilds logo on signs and brochures. The logo is a licensed trademark so you must first get written permission from the Department of Community and Economic Development. Click here for details.

7. Join the PA Wilds Artisan Trail. One of the main goals of the PA Wilds initiative is to support and grow private businesses such as accommodations, services and locally-made products. In regards to the latter, efforts are underway to map out an artisan trail so visitors can find and purchase locally-made products from around the PA Wilds. Artisans can be people working in the fine arts to those crafting products from wood, metal, paper and other media. If you are interested in joining this network, click here.

8. Join your official Tourism Promotion Agency (TPA). Each county has a designated TPA. It is usually wise for tourism businesses to join these organizations. Aside from being listed in marketing materials the TPA produces in-house (booklets, brochures, maps), TPAs also provide information to the state tourism office and to regional promotion agencies, such as the PA Wilds Tourism Marketing Corporation and the Route 6 Tourist Association — all of which produce their own marketing materials. To be on the radar of one is to be on the radar of the others. Annual TPA membership can run anywhere from $80 to a few hundred dollars, depending on location and type of business. Curious what TPA serves you? Click here.

9. Sign up for our e-newsletter. Keep up with the initiative’s progress and new resources available to communities and small business by signing up for this monthly update here.

10. Learn more about the PA Wilds. Sometimes it helps to see the Big Picture. What infrastructure projects is the state supporting in the PA Wilds? How much money is being spent on marketing and what kinds of ads are being run? What kinds of success has the initiative had so far? What's the Design Guide all about? Get answers to these and other questions by signing up for a free power point presentation, “Growing Tourism in the PA Wilds.” We're happy to accommodate government or membership organizations as well as more informal groups, such as a circle of friends looking to start a tourism business in the PA Wilds. Click here for details.