Franklin visitors are looking for experiences in the mountains.
During the Feb. 9 Franklin Town Council meeting, Stewart Communications presented a report on marketing efforts for the Franklin Tourism Development Authority. The firm, based in Franklin, received the contract in 2024 and was approved for a second year in 2025.
Morgan Stewart said their research and surveys of visitors reinforced what is widely known:
“Number one, they’re coming to the mountains. Number two, they like waterfalls, they like beautiful hiking, they want experiences,” he said. “And that goes across all ages, all generations, socioeconomics. That’s what they want. Franklin offers so many of those experiences they want.”
In meetings with local stakeholders, Stewart said those businesses involved with tourism want to see more events. “The things we want to do to try to drive people to come to town. They want more of that. They want to see the town being actively seeking tourists and bringing them here.”
Stewart talked about how following Hurricane Helene they partnered with Visit Smokies (formerly Smoky Mountain Host) to get messaging out that while parts of Western North Carolina had suffered great damage that most areas in the far western part of the state, including Franklin, were open for business.
During the first year, Stewart Communications took the TDA through a rebranding process, changing from the former “Discover Franklin” slogan to “Experience Franklin.”
They built a new website (experiencefranklinnc.com). “That’s where the visitor gets the full story of Franklin,” Stewart said. They also launched new social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. “If you look at our posts, and you see the comments and the responses that we’re seeing on a daily basis, people have a relationship with this town and they love it,” Stewart said.
In addition to paid advertising on social media, current marketing efforts include a billboard on I-75 just north of the Florida line and one in Clayton, Georgia. Franklin and the TDA are also included in the Visit Smokies visitors guide and are featured in the videos shown at the visitors center on Georgia Road. The TDA and the Chamber of Commerce’s Tourism Development Committee partnered for video advertising with Our State magazine. The two organizations also helped pay for new banners to be placed throughout town.
“I think we’re doing OK,” Stewart said, citing that Franklin’s lodging tax collections last year were the second highest on record. He said the county’s occupancy tax is also up and that many visitors who stay outside the town limits come into Franklin to dine out and shop.
For 2026, Stewart said they want to create a visitor guide/pamphlet, double the number of Facebook followers, double the number of recipients on their email list, and add more interactive features on the website to engage potential visitors. He said they also want to continue to ensure that the branding shows Franklin as authentic, affordable and approachable.
The TDA is funded with the lodging tax collected at hotels/motels, inns, vacation rentals (VRBO, Airbnb), and campgrounds within the town limits. Legislation requires that two-thirds of the lodging tax collected be spent on advertising that promotes tourism in Franklin. The remaining one-third can be spent on “tourism-related” expenditures.
TDA chair Timothy Crabtree said they have put together a committee to talk about ideas for ways to spend that money that will create a long-term investment in the town and tourism, such as beautification projects, murals, artwork, sculptures, etc. He said things like that play a role in promoting the area as people take pictures and share them on social media.
He said the committee will look at what is the best use of the money. “We’re going to do everything we can with the money that we have to get people into Franklin.”
Vice Mayor Mike Lewis said, “You spend money on that [advertising] and that money is gone. You spend it on something tangible and physical – that’s a year-after-year ROI [return on investment] that you’re getting.”
Council member Rita Salain asked if they had promoted the Women’s History Park and the sculpture. Stewart said it is included on the website and they have talked about ways to promote that as part of cultural tourism.
“It differentiates us from our competitors, our neighbors, and it’s got great possibility for the town to bring some attention,” Stewart said.
Mayor Stacy Guffey said with the mountains being the major reason people visit, it shows that issues such as publicly owned land, the floodplain, farmland preservation, water quality and conservation are not just environmental issues, they are economic issues as well.