VisitScotland Growth Fund awards for two Argyll tourism marketing groups

VisitScotland’s Growth Fund has made awards to two tourism marketing groups in Cowal.

• Cowal Marketing Group has been awarded £13,800 -  50% of its  overall budget of £27,600 for an awareness and brand identity project, including a Colours of Cowal marketing campaign.
• Kyles Marketing Group has been awarded £5,452 – 50% of its £10,904 budget to position Kilfinan, Tighnabruaich and Portavadie as Argyll’s Secret Coast through the development of a website and area brochure.

These two awards are the latest in an exceptional series of successful applications from groups of Argyll & Bute businesses since the fund was launched in August 2008.

A total of £136,168 has now been awarded to projects within or substantially benefiting Argyll, effectively making possible £272,336 worth of marketing spend.

These figures represent 22% of all awards made throughout Scotland, an achievement of which Argyll businesses can be justly proud.

They also demonstrate the extent to which Argyll is waking up and raising its game. We have been keeping an eye on the Argyll’s Secret Coast initiative – which is one of the most persuasive we have witnessed. It’s very focused on its own place, in every sense, growing skills in Argyll at the same time as promoting it and therefore contributing to business development across a wide spectrum.

VisitScotland’s Growth Fund is designed to encourage businesses to market their products and services to full potential. As is evident in these two awards, the fund can support groups with up to 50% of their marketing costs over a one year period.

The fund is open to national, regional and local groups who are working collaboratively to help them reach new target markets, increase visitor numbers and create the environment for visitors to do more, stay longer and spend more.

Jim Mather, Tourism Minister and Argyll’s MSP, is delighted that the VisitScotland Growth Fund has made these new awards to Argyll: “David Marshall of Cowal Marketing Group and Ken Coley of Kyles Marketing Group and their teams have to be congratulated in bringing money into the Argyll and Bute economy from the VisitScotland Growth Fund.

‘The drive and imagination behind their projects is a great example of what is being achieved throughout Argyll and Bute in pursuit of excellence in our tourist industry’.

The way forwards

There are now quite a range of marketing groups in Argyll, starting to produce strategies and campaigns recognised as worth support.

The fun is that this is reaching a point where the competitive spirit between them should drive standards and achievement higher – all to Argyll’s huge benefit.

What we would say to them all is to use their growing strength to bring other Argyll service industries with them on the climb to better performance.

We’re thinking very particularly of small companies working in the communications that are the red corpuscles in the bloodstream of marketing – the design houses, the online delivery services, the copywriters, the photographers.

The tendency is to rush to the established services in the Central Belt and spend a lot of money getting something professional but bloodless.

Nothing will promote Argyll better than people who know and love it, whose commitment to the place sees them live and work here.

We would not pretend that in some cases the standard of what they produce – at the moment – is professionally as knowledgeable or as technically assured. But that is because they need more work, more adrenaline and more challenges to drive their performance standards upwards.

So we’re saying to all of Argyll’s marketing groups – bring local communications companies with you: challenge them, refuse to accept less than you know you must have, listen to them because they have expertise you do not, share the excitement and grow together.

No one will serve you better than people who share your commitment to this place.