testimonial
CANTON · STARK COUNTY CONVENTION AND VISITORS' BUREAU

As the Executive Director of the Canton/Stark County Convention & Visitors' Bureau, I had been pretty excited about most of the focus of my organization through last year - with the woeful exception of the Bureau's website. On this key marketing piece, we suffered from a lack of direction and a dearth of creativity. This may have been mostly because we had no one in the Bureau who was capable of more than tech administration. We had tried several affiliations with designers, but these partnerships were incomplete and consequently, unsatisfactory. We needed a web master in every sense of the term.

I can say unequivocally that with the hiring of Studio1337, our concerns evaporated. A site was created from the ground up utilizing the crucial aspects of tourism partner data. Our new site offered us enormous exposure, and more importantly, a vast improvement in user efficiency. www.cantonstarkcvb.com has moved from the brand item we were most reluctant to tout to the mainstay of our marketing campaign. It has given us the ability to have our guests book hotel rooms online, place our visitors' guide and annual report in PDF formats, and add an industry-specific section. For next year's tourism calendar, our partners will be able to add their own events to the system (with the Bureau's final approval, of course).

At every turn, Paul Hirsch has been quickly available to answer questions and make needed changes that those of us who are less computer-savvy could not make. Paul has also enabled us to control as much of the site administration as we wished. Our investment in Studio1337 has been more than worthwhile. Considering how much we rely on accurate and easy-to-use information at a CVB, this partnership is indispensible.

John Kiste
Executive Director,
Canton · Stark County convention and Visitors' Bureau