“Every year, we produce what we call the Butler County Insider Guide, and it is essentially a one-stop-shop for all the things that are cool, unique, interesting and different, that you might want to explore as either a resident or a visitor,” said Tracy Kocher, vice president of marketing and communications for Butler County Visitors Bureau.
The Butler County Visitors Bureau prints 50,000 copies of the Insider Guide, annually. The Insider Guide is 56 pages, so it’s a magazine-style publication that is published every January.
“This year, I’m excited about a new feature called ‘Explorable,’ where we had a family who has some children with complex medical needs and what they love about Butler County, and what they like to do to get out and explore, so there are all kinds of different things. Every time I give one of these guides to someone, they say, ‘Oh, I never knew that was here. Isn’t that cool?’ So, it’s a really beautiful, visual way to find some new things to do, and to get out and explore this year,” Kocher said.
The Butler County Insider Guide is available at the Butler County Visitors Bureau, and at various distribution points throughout Butler County, such as inside The Foundry at Liberty Center. Residents can also order an Insider Guide and have it mailed to them by filling out a form on the website at gettothebc.com/guide.
A digital link is available online at gettothebc.com/guide The Insider Guide is available to organizations upon request, or by stopping by Butler County Visitors Bureau to pick up copies.
“We feature all sorts of things in there, such as outdoor adventures and food. We have profiles on small business owners and what they love about their business and other businesses around them,” Kocher said.
Every year, the Butler County Visitors Bureau has a meeting of its staff members and publishing team to discuss current travel trends, new openings, and different perspectives they want to incorporate into the Insider Guide. Then, the team produces an editorial plan and puts those plans and ideas together in the Insider Guide.
“The content rotates every year. There are things we feature every year, but each year, we rotate in new things as well. We try to show the breadth and diversity of Butler County from a geographic standpoint, from more urban centers to rural areas, from food, different types of people, and whether or not you want an indoor activity or an outdoor activity,” Kocher said.
She said, “We provide different points of inspiration for lots of different types of travelers, or people who are showing their friends and family the area. We want people to either learn more about their home, or a place that they want to visit.”
The print edition of the Insider Guide is available at area hotels, Liberty Center, Jungle Jim’s International Market, the Butler County Regional Airport, the Butler County Government Services building as well as at all the attractions, such as EnterTRAINment Junction.
“We are very easy to get to. We have great, unique, one-of-a kind places to experience, take Jungle Jim’s for instance, you can never, ever duplicate that anywhere else. The original Jungle Jim’s is like no other place. We also have skydiving here. You can do the Donut Trail, and you can go to an outdoor movie theater. We have incredible local breweries, artisan chocolate shops, and the list goes on and on,” Kocher said.
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