Research Outline

Steamboat Springs Event Marketing

Goals

Gain a list of large tourist events that have happened in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to gain an understanding of how events are marketed in this area and any additional insight about targeting visitors, in order to support a competitive analysis for a client.


Early Findings

We found the following events, all of which offered collaboration or educational value to the local community, and focused both on addressing the interests of locals and drawing in participants from around the country, via online and print media.

Strings Music Festival

  • This music festival has been held in Steamboat Springs for the last 30 years.
  • The event hosts classical music, jazz, rock, country, bluegrass, world rhythms, and often includes "Grammy Award-winners and nominees, major competition winners and principal players from the most renowned orchestras".
  • In addition to their website, the company uses print ads which are paid for via ad partnerships with local companies.
  • They also promote via offering educational outreach to the community throughout the year, and have recently begun to offer free online music and arts resources as well.
  • While there was limited data on number of attendees, the event is held at a 569 seat venue.

Backcountry Film Festival

Steamboat Marathon

  • The Steamboat Marathon is another well-known event in the area.
  • The marathon has been hosted since 1981, and has been featured nationally, as both one of the Top 10 Destination Marathons in North America" and as a "Bucket List Marathon" by Runner's World.
  • They primarily advertise via promotional partnerships with local and regional businesses.
  • While there was not a note of the average number of participants available, it is noted that the race is still relatively small in participants compared to similarly well-known races.