Visit Springfield IL: Using Virtual Tours to Promote a Historic State Capitol

Amy Beadle (Marketing Manager)  and Michael Riefler (Data Coordinator)  with Visit Springfield, IL have worked with Threshold 360 for the past two years to help promote all that Springfield has to offer. As the capitol of Illinois and home of Abraham Lincoln, it is a city chalk full of history.  In today’s #StepInside blog post, Amy and Michael share all of the ways they use Threshold 360:

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We started working with Threshold 360 to assist the Sales Team with site proposals. We wanted to enhance the customer journey through a more visual tool. Visit Springfield is not a membership DMO.  Everything we do for our partners is free of charge so they have a very high value in what we offer them.

When we offered some of our partners the complimentary Threshold 360 tour, many were thrilled and happy to have this provided for them. It took a bit of coaxing and chasing them around to get them to understand the full concept and that it was free, but those that are on board are very thankful and appreciative and many are using it for their benefit on websites, social media, etc.

We have used the Threshold 360 platform in many different ways, from embedding on our website to sharing maps on our social media & blogs. We have used Native CTAs to direct viewers back to our sales team to assist with booking conventions. We also started a quarterly email newsletter with our partners to keep them informed not only on ways we/they can use their tour but also to highlight new features. It’s been a great way to let them know that the virtual tour capture they did months and months ago can be used in new and exciting ways.

After one of our employees attended the Threshold 360 customer user group meeting, it really helped change our thinking on how we can utilize the platform.  We saw how other DMOs were heavily using the custom map feature of Threshold’s platform. This helped spark ideas on how we can use that aspect of Threshold 360 to help our visitors.  The meeting was also a great way to learn more about the upcoming new features and how we can implement them. 

Threshold 360s Chicago Customer User Group

Bank of Springfield Center

Threshold 360 has been a great tool not only to give prospective business clients a visual on our convention & hotel spaces but also a great platform to build maps for our leisure visitors for things like our Explorer Passports or our Breweries. We plan to use many of the features of Threshold’s platform to help tailor experiences to our visitors’ needs in the future.