Winning business in the meetings and sports tourism category is a long-lead process — planners research, network and build relationships with a destination well before an RFP is ever issued. Paradise recognized that Spartanburg’s core disadvantage, low awareness relative to established Southeast competitors, could be reframed as an opportunity: a destination with a genuinely differentiated story earns more attention introducing itself for the first time than a familiar destination repeating the same pitch.

Rather than default to broad brand advertising, Paradise built a media strategy around three coordinated tracks: executive interviews, thought-leadership placements and targeted LinkedIn campaigns to establish OneSpartanburg’s leadership as credible voices; native advertorial content in trusted trade publications, including Prevue, Sports Destination Management and Sports Business Journal, to introduce and educate planners; and sponsorships at the industry events where planners actually gather, including Connect Sports Marketplace and the South Carolina Society of Association Executives Annual Conference, to build a positive, human association with the Spartanburg name.