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Welcome Home
®
WINTER TEXAN
• • • the official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
People often ask me how Welcome
Home, Rio Grande Valley came to be. It’s a story I never tire of telling. In 2006, I started a coupon book company. While the majority of our sales were for school fundraisers, I found that Winter Texans enjoyed purchasing the books for additional savings during their time in the Rio Grande Valley. As a small business owner, I didn’t have much of a marketing budget, so I decided to look for ways to maximize my time and resources to market efficiently and effectively to the Winter Texan market. I searched extensively for a way to get ‘in’ to talk to the decision makers at the RV parks but without much success. I found that the only way to do that was to hit the road and start introducing myself and my product to the hundreds of parks across the Rio Grande Valley. Years later, I found myself with solid relationships with the parks, and marketing my coupon books became easy. But it took years to develop those relationships. Most businesses don’t have the luxury of spending years developing
these close relationships, and with over 300 RV parks from Mission to South Padre Island, developing a plan of action can be overwhelming. (Not to mention that every business is different, so what works for one might not work for another.) That’s when it hit me in February of 2008: Why not help local businesses develop marketing plans for the winter market that will successfully fit their individual needs? Fast forward to present day. Welcome Home, Rio Grande Valley now has a variety of products and services to help businesses of all shapes and sizes market their products and services, not only to the winter market but to all retirees. We pride ourselves on offering affordable marketing solutions that work. We know that every business is different and that there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution. We’ve also identified niche markets within the market, which offer even more targeted solutions. At Welcome Home RGV, we’re more than a weekly newspaper. We go beyond the printed page to provide you with a variety of opportunities to promote your business. As you flip through the pages that follow, you will find samples of our new weekly newspaper, each article telling the Welcome Home RGV products and services story. You will also read testimonials from our customers who are YOUR current and potential customers, too. I’d like to invite you to spend a winter with Welcome Home RGV and to tap into the $700 million our Winter Texans spend in the Valley each year. We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
Winter Texan Expo Under New Ownership By Staff Writer
Welcome Home RGV announced in
January that they purchased the rights to the Winter Texan Expo & Health Fair from Holly Smith at Southmost Promotions. Welcome Home RGV has always been committed to providing marketing solutions to the Winter Texan Market, and the purchase of the Winter Texan Expo will allow us to increase our impact by providing our customers with another opportunity to market to the 100,000 plus Winter Texans that flock to the Rio Grande Valley each year. The Winter Texan Expo & Health Fair is a fun-filled, two-day event held each January. The 23rd Annual Winter Texan Expo & Health Fair will be held at the McAllen Convention Center January 19 and 20, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. “We are excited about what this
means for our Winter Texans and vendor partners who have enjoyed our products over the last eight years. We are looking forward to a successful show for everyone involved. In addition to offering top entertainment, we are also featuring free admission, free health screenings, free information and plenty of Door Prizes. We not only welcome our Health Community to participate in our show, we also welcome area businesses and restaurants that provide goods and services to our over-50 crowd. We are planning an Expo that caters to all of our attendees’ needs,” said Kristi Collier, President and CEO of Welcome Home, Rio Grande Valley. For sponsorship or information on becoming a vendor, please call Welcome Home RGV at 956-687-5115 or visit www.wintertexanexpo.com. •
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2014-2015 SEASON SPONSORS