In 2023, Pikes Peak Region Attractions took a very big risk and shifted some of its small budget to creating in-house content. The team saw immediate growth on all marketing platforms, steadily surpassing seasonal growth goals. On Aug. 1, the team set what seemed an outrageous goal: to hit 12,000 YouTube subscribers by Sept. 1.
On Aug. 11, staff posted a 14-second video on YouTube that caught fire. Starting the day at 8,106 subscribers, PPRA had gained more than 4,000 followers overnight.
By Sept. 1, they had passed 147,000 followers and received their first YouTube play button. That milestone put them past all the travel destination channels in Colorado and other big Colorado names like the Denver Broncos.
In October, they passed the San Diego Zoo, and are on track to surpass the Disney Parks channel (at 1.71 million) in early April. Currently at 1.66 million and averaging about 7,500 new subscribers a day, they expect to hit 2 million by the summer season, making PPRA one of the top travel channels in the world.
“We have a team of four people and a marketing budget smaller than a lot of our member attractions. The fact that we were able to do this and bring this kind of attention to all of our local small tourism businesses — it’s such a win for the underdog,” said PK McPherson, PPRA executive director.
In 1973, local attraction owners looking to pool their resources to help bring travelers to the region founded Pikes Peak Region Attractions. PPRA is still operated as an entirely dues-supported entity under that original agreement, now with a total of 29 member attractions.
Information: pikes-peak.com, 719-685-5894 or adventure@pikes-peak.com.
Check out their youtube channel here!
