Tilma Group hits the ground running in Queensland

Oct 27

In October 2014 the Tilma Group successfully opened a second office in Southern Queensland, providing Managing Director Linda Tillman with the opportunity to expand the successful regional agency, whilst at the same time enjoy the proximity to family.

Since opening in early October Linda has been on the road meeting new clients, presenting at conferences and enjoying time networking with peers and industry colleagues.

In the past three weeks Linda has travelled over 11,000km, from Toowoomba to Sydney, Sydney to Longreach, Longreach to Brisbane, Brisbane to Wagga Wagga and Wagga Wagga to Port Stephens. It has been a very intense month for the company, but exciting and fun at the same time!

Not many people get the opportunity to travel to amazing destinations to experience the leisure activity, and call that work!

Over the past three weeks Linda has been fortunate to experience the following destinations:

Longreach/Outback Queensland

In September 2014 the Tilma Group signed with Outback Queensland Tourism Association to undertake the Destination Marketing and PR activity for the region. For someone who loves the Outback, Linda was in her element during the month, when she went into the region to experience the product on offer. River cruises down the Thomson River, Cobb n Co tours, station tours, camp oven and damper meals, live music, outback shows and amazing characters were some of the highlights of the five-day trip. Whilst there is still so much to experience, the team has hit the ground running with a new website under construction, national media currently in region and more itineraries being planned for journo famils, social media strategy and event marketing. This is an all-encompassing destination-marketing contract that is tapping into all of the speciliased skills that the team at the Tilma Group has to offer.

Sydney

For the fifth year running Managing Director Linda Tillman has volunteered to judge the NSW Tourism Awards. Despite an overlap with the move to Qld, Linda successfully judged over 12 submissions and made the trip back to Sydney to undertake the formalities. With the judging over, Linda had the opportunity to network with fellow judges from throughout the state over a dinner at Rydges.

Wagga Wagga/Riverina

As promised Linda headed back to Tilma HQ in mid October, spending time with staff and meeting with clients. Despite feeling a little strange being in region as a ‘visitor’ Linda made the most of looking at the projects, destinations and clients from a different viewpoint. The visit was timed well, with hundreds of events on the region, to celebrate the annual Taste Riverina Food Festival, an event that was initiated by Riverina Regional Tourism three years ago when the Tilma Group was acting in the EO position. Linda took this opportunity to partake in the Whiskey Degustation Dinner at the Junee Licorice and Chocolate factory, and Fusion Multicultural Festival in Wagga Wagga.

Port Stephens

The annual Australian Regional Tourism Convention is always on the calendar for Tilma staff. This year Linda and Lisa attended for the duration and enjoyed the interactive sessions and many opportunities for networking. Not only dies this allow staff to take away new skills and insights for the Tilma Group, it allows staff to gain tips on how to enhance results for clients, for example, Linda was able to create a new contact in Austrade, who is excited about assisting with the development of the Riverina Agri Tours.

Toowoomba/Southern Queensland

Home to the new Tilma Group office, Linda was excite to be invited to present at the Southern Queensland Country Tourism Industry Conference during October. This allowed Linda to gain insight into the challenges and opportunities facing Southern Queensland, whilst also developing networks with operators such as Felton Food Festival, Warwick Tourism and Events, Toowoomba Regional Council and Tourism and Events Queensland.

Warwick Gold Cup Rodeo

After ten days away from family, Linda enjoyed a weekend out at the famous Warwick Gold Cup (Rodeo and Campdraft). This event brings close to 30,000 people into Warwick for a 3-7 day period…one can only imagine how much that injects into the visitor economy!

Looking forward the Tilma Group will be working hard to continue providing results for clients, whilst at the same time meeting prospective new clients who are looking to engage the reputable tourism, events and marketing services of the company.

Cristy Houghton

Cristy's unique career has taken her from country NSW to the city lights of Clarendon Street South Melbourne and back again. With an early career in radio as a copywriter and creative strategist, she is now a Jill of all trades as a graphic designer, website builder, blog writer, video editor, social media manager, marketing strategist and more.

In fact, give her any task and this chick will figure out how to do it! Go on, we dare you!

No, really, we DARE you!!

Cristy has won two Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) for Best Ad and Best Sales Promotion, and even has an 'Employee of the Year' certificate with her name on it.

Cristy and her husband James have traveled extensively through Russia, China and South East Asia, and have two fur-babies, Sooty (cat) and Panda (puppy). Cristy loves drinking coffee, meeting people to drink coffee, coffee tasting and coffee flavoured cocktails. She also enjoys road trips, TED Talks and watching cat videos on youtube.

http://www.embarketing.com.au