Establishing a Comprehensive Tourism Marketing Strategy for Hunterdon County as a Country Escape Destination

Authors

  • Jennifer Barr Stockton University
  • Jim Strong California State University, Stanislaus

Keywords:

tourism, destination marketing organization (DMO), branding

Abstract

Decline in tourism dollars and lack of a coordinated, more centralized effort to formally position Hunterdon County as a viable tourism destination were the impetus for an investigation that focused on marketing, branding, social media, and multi-generational marketing. Infusing technology into a well-orchestrated strategy was also considered pivotal to elevating awareness and appealing to previously untapped markets. Drawing more visitors to the region was identified as essential to both the immediate need for growth in tourism spend and the long-term economic health of the region. 

Author Biographies

  • Jennifer Barr, Stockton University

    Jennifer Barr is a full professor and has been on the faculty at Stockton University for 33 years. She holds a PhD and MBA in business administration from Drexel University and a BA in Advertising (School of Journalism) from the Pennsylvania State University. She teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and course offerings include Strategic Marketing, Managing Technological Change, Strategic Brand Management, and Ads, Fads & Consumer Culture.

    A hallmark of Dr. Barr’s work has been the use of experiential learning to build relevance into coursework through community engagement. During her career, she directed nearly 400 student projects for various service-learning partners including United Way, the Boys & Girls Club, The Community Food Bank, and Stockton University. About half of the projects involved marketing research studies that informed organizations, enabling them to secure funding for new initiatives and improve upon existing services. Dr. Barr was also instrumental in shaping and teaching in an executive MBA program for advanced-degree healthcare professionals from AtlantiCare. She steered several projects as part of the MBA capstone which were ultimately implemented by the healthcare system.

    Dr. Barr has 25 refereed publications, 11 refereed conference presentations, and nearly 50 additional scholarly contributions that include either leading or participating in  webinars, workshops, seminars, and panels. She has also been invited to speak about marketing strategy, branding, and advertising at various industry events and her expertise has also been sought after by reporters about popular press issues and trends. Notably, much of her work focuses on the impact of service-learning on students’ personal, educational, and professional development. Dr. Barr served as a founding faculty fellow for the Stockton Center for Community Engagement and recognition for her civic efforts include the 2014 American Red Cross (Southern Shore Chapter) Education Champion Award for outstanding community leadership, and the 2010 Stockton Community Engagement Faculty Award for exemplary service, leadership, and commitment to the community and the college.

    Advocating the internship experience for business students has also been an experiential learning priority. Dr. Barr has been involved in the evolution and restructuring of the program since its inception, continually striving for optimal outcomes for both students and internship partners.

    Dr. Barr has served on hundreds of internal and external committees and task forces during her academic career and she has held leadership roles in curriculum, the dual-degree in business, accreditation, campus climate initiatives, and faculty recruitment, mentorship and retention.

  • Jim Strong, California State University, Stanislaus

    James T. Strong, Ph.D. has 36 years of academic experience as a faculty member and an administrator. Dr. Strong has served for over 20 years as an administrator in the roles of provost and vice president of academic affairs, California State University, Stanislaus; dean, College of Business and Public Policy, California State University, Dominguez Hills; and associate dean, College of Business Administration, The University of Akron and chair of the Department of Management, Operations, and Marketing California State University, Stanislaus effective July 1, 2019. He has 18 years of experience as a faculty member with The University of Akron, Rowan University, and CSU Stanislaus with a strong record of academic accomplishment in teaching, scholarship, and service. He earned tenure and promotion to professor at The University of Akron and his publication record consists of over 82 publications and 19 refereed articles. He began his career as a marketing representative for Armstrong World Industries and also worked as a marketing and sales manager for two Armstrong distributors. He is currently a professor of marketing at California State University, Stanislaus and served as chair of the Department of Management, Operations, and Marketing California State University. He has a Ph.D. in business administration, with a major in marketing and a minor in organizational behavior from Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; an MBA from the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio; and a BA, with a major in English from Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. As provost and vice president of academic affairs at CSU Stanislaus, Dr. Strong led collaborative efforts to improve the campus climate that yielded impressive results. He provided leadership to significantly improve graduation rates which resulted in the university receiving national recognition in an NPR Planet Money study (October, 2015); Money magazine (July 2015) ranking CSU Stanislaus No. 1 as the top public university/college in the nation for value-added (top 3 including private schools), and The Hechinger Report (March, 2016) ranking CSU Stanislaus as one of a group of 13 who were the best public universities in the nation for high graduation rates with student populations consisting of a large percentage of Pell Grant recipients. Dr. Strong is currently a professor of marketing at California State University, Stanislaus. He has three adult children and resides in Turlock, California with his son.

Comprehensive Marketing Strategy for hunterdon County - Cover

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Published

2022-11-04

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Industry Commentary

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Jennifer Barr, Jim Strong

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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