“Natural,” “small town,” and “friendly.”
Those words are among the terms used to describe West Virginia in the results of a new national online opinion poll from Widmeyer Communications, a public affairs communications firm based in Washington, D.C.
“The terms they picked are very positive terms and, if you’re in marketing, those are the kinds of terms you really want to maximize,” Scott Widmeyer said of the survey responses.
However, while a quarter of those surveyed have favorable opinions of West Virginia, the survey found that almost two thirds have absolutely no impression of the state.
A total of 76% of the respondents said they do not know much or nothing at all about the Mountain State. Roughly 8% of those questioned said they thought West Virginia was part of Virginia and another 16% were not even sure if it was a separate state.
Widmeyer sees those numbers as opportunities to make good impressions, especially since 17% of those responding to the survey said they are likely to visit the state for leisure purposes during the next three years.
“The state is doing a lot to market West Virginia around the country, but there’s still quite an unknown factor in terms of everything that the state represents,” he said.
He says the survey’s findings make it clear the state needs to capitalize on the “small town, friendly charm” that, he says, West Virginia offers.
Widmeyer presented the survey’s findings to the those attending the Governor’s Conference on Tourism back in October.
A state native and West Virginia University graduate who now lives in New York City, Widmeyer was a guest on Thursday’s MetroNews Talkline. The show is broadcasting from Manhattan, this week, ahead of Saturday’s New Era Pinstripe Bowl.