2022
Prairie Waters Project Highlights

  • Online Job board
  • New Regional Imagery
  • Calendar of Events
  • Visitor/Relocation Guide
  • Responded to Info Leads
  • Cost of Living Campaigns
  • Website Maintenance
  • Social Media Campaigns
  • Site Selector
  • Billboards
  • Resident Stories


We would like to thank our 2022 Prairie Waters members:

Chippewa County
Montevideo
Milan
Lac qui Parle County
Dawson
Madison
Swift County
Appleton
Kerkhoven
Benson
Yellow Medicine County
Clarkfield
Granite Falls
Canby
The Prairie Waters website is the regional one-stop shop for visitors and those looking to relocate. The website includes information on all the things to do within the region, events, employment opportunities, site selector, housing, education, healthcare, cost of living tool and more!

2022 Google Analytics:

Top viewed pages: 1). Job Listings - 6,473 views (launched page in May)
2). Live here 3). Maynard 4th of July Celebration 4). Events 5). Resident Stories
6). Visitor Guide 7). Chippewa County 8). Montevideo 9). Granite Falls

Visitors by City: 1). Minneapolis 2). Chicago 3). Omaha 4). Willmar 5). Granite Falls
6). Saint Paul 7). Montevideo 8). Dawson
Job Listings - Promoting Employment
Created a new widget on the Prairie Waters website that pulls local employment opportunities from multiple different online job boards and local employers to one location where a user can filter by keywords, employer, and/or location. In addition
we launched a four month Google Adwords marketing campaign to drive
users to the new webpage. View webpage.
Social Media Campaigns
Active on Facebook regularly sharing and posting events, employment opportunities, business highlights, natural assets and more, while engaging with nearly 6,400 followers.

Created targeted campaigns on Facebook and Google Adwords to get the message of moving to our region in-front of the right people based off of their demographics, geographic, interests and behaviors. 

Visitor/Relocation Guide
NEW Regional 2022-2023 Visitor/Relocation Guides!

The guide has a robust listing of all the things to do in the area, information on healthcare, childcare, education, housing, employment opportunities, maps and more. The intent of these guides are to be used for visitors and a recruitment tool for employers. The guide is a snapshot of the region in the palm of your hand.
Employer Outreach - Lifestyle Toolkits
The UMVRDC has created lifestyle “toolkits” that contains lifestyle and relocation information that employers can use during their recruiting process. Employers simply send the toolkit as a link to a potential new employee, where they have access to information on housing, healthcare, education, childcare, employment, telecommuting, things to do, videos, photos, resident stories and more. We continue to reach out to our communities and employers making them aware of the new resource they can utilize while recruiting new residents to the region,
Site Selector

One of the recurring issues that we see in our region is vacant and dilapidated buildings and sites. UMVRDC staff worked to collect data on available buildings and sites throughout our region and uploaded it to LOIS (Location One Information System). LOIS is a nationwide interactive database of available sites and buildings that developers and site selectors utilize. This data is housed on the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development site selector system, as well as our own Prairie Waters Site Selector page.
Shop Local Campaign

Since our local businesses need support more than ever we have created a Shop Local webpage on the Prairie Waters website that includes a robust listing of all of the places to eat, shop and stay in the region. Each tile includes a photo, description and link to website or social media. This Holiday Season we created a Shop Local campaign on Facebook driving viewers to the new webpage on the Prairie Waters website.
Move West Campaign

Placed Billboards throughout the metro area encouraging people to move to our region to live, work, and play. Once the billboard was placed our Google Analyctics of those viewing our website skyrocketed for the metro area.
Aerial Footage & New Regional Videos
Continued to capture new imagery of the region and maintain an inventory of photos and videos that our members are able to download and utilize.
Calendar of Events

Each year Prairie Waters collects information on all the events happening in the region. The Prairie Waters website has a regional calendar where visitors and/or locals can find information on upcoming events.

Events are also posted on the Explore Minnesota Tourism (EMT) website and submitted to the EMT quarterly newsletter.
Explore Minnesota Tourism 

Received $10,000 in grants from Explore Minnesota Tourism to advertise the region. In addition we've done local and regional advertising.

Prairie Waters has a profile on the EMT website where we receive hundreds of leads and visitor guide downloads. We have a great partnership with EMT and utilize and share their opportunities and resources.


Explore MN Tourism Business Listings
We’ve been busy updating the Explore MN Tourism Business listings for our region. Hardly any of our region’s businesses and/or events were populated, so we’ve submitted all places to eat, stay, shop and events to get our region on the map! 
Prairie Waters would like to thank all of those who contributed to the efforts of marketing our region as a great place to live, work and visit!!
Western Minnesota Prairie Waters Regional Tourism
323 W Schlieman Ave Appleton, MN 56208
866.866.5432 || www.prairiewaters.com || Facebook