New Rapid City Airport strategy seeks additional flights

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The Rapid City Regional Airport is trying a new digital marketing strategy, which officials hope will eventually lead to additional flights.

The 2017 Spring Digital Strategy with Lawrence & Schiller, a Sioux Falls-based advertising agency, was approved by the Airport Board of Directors on Tuesday in the amount $56,000, the Rapid City Journal (http://bit.ly/2kKhtzr) reported.

Its goal will be to market the airport and the Black Hills as a destination to people in Chicago, Minneapolis and Dallas. Its target audience will be families that are active, affluent and spend time outdoors.

"We chose those three for this particular campaign because we know the South Dakota Department of Tourism and other tourism entities are marketing heavily in Chicago and Minneapolis," Toni Broom, deputy airport director for finance and administration, said. "Dallas also shows a high propensity of people who would come to the Black Hills."

According to a memo, the strategy approved is part of a larger marketing plan for the airport, which will include a full analysis of data, which will determine final markets and target audiences in the next couple of years.

The advertising agency will create a new home page for the airport for travelers can book their flights, and will include a complete Black Hills vacation package, said the airport's executive director Patrick Dame.

Broom said this is the first time the airport has aimed to market to market to inbound traffic rather than outbound.

The campaign will be running until April.

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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com