Reaching the LGBT Market through the Lavender Listings and Visit Gay Columbus

The 2010-2011 edition represents our 26th edition of this free resource guide to the Columbus Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Community. Stonewall Columbus has one of the most active and best GLBT-targeted mailing lists in Columbus. As an advertiser in this resource directory, your business is recognized as being gay-friendly and becomes a valuable part of serving this large local GLBT community.

•  Nationally, the buying power of gay and lesbian consumers is expected to total $835.3 billion by 2011. This represents cumulative growth of 26.5% since 2007. Locally, there are more than 70,000 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender consumers, with a spending power of over $2 million annually.

•  LGBT consumers are brand Loyal and brand Aware. They support the brands and businesses that support equality and that market directly to them.

•  Stonewall Columbus is a primary contact point via phone calls and walk-in traffic for those seeking a GLBT-friendly business referral and we provide Lavender Listings business names to the public on an almost daily basis, resulting in consistent exposure for our advertisers.

•  The annual Pride Festival brings a multitude of visitors to the city and, in turn, brings customers to our advertisers. Over 180,000 people attended the Columbus Pride Festival in June 2009 and the Lavender Listings is distributed at multiple locations on the festival grounds each year.

•  The Lavender Listings book is available at the Stonewall Center on High and at many establishments in the Short North, OSU, and Clintonville areas, just to name a few.

•  The Lavender Listings is also distributed by Experience Columbus, the official source for Columbus, Ohio travel information. Included in our publication is our Visit Gay Columbus section, which is a Travel & Visitor’s Guide highlighting business and services useful to GLBT visitors.

"In 2008 I received a 1528% return on my advertising dollar spent in the LL & my banner ad on the StonewallColumbus.org website. My accountant said it would be a wise choice to run those ads again. I’m taking her advice!"

Darla Luebbe, CRS/GRI/ABR Keller Williams Capital Partners Realty

We also offer online advertising opportunities throughout the year on our Lavender Listings website, lavenderlistings.com, and our LGBT Visitors and Travel Guide website, visitgaycolumbus.com. These websites provide additional daily advertiser exposure to the local GLBT community. The average traffic across all of the Stonewall Columbus websites, including lavenderlistings.com, is:

• Over 10,000 unique visitors per month and over 25,000 page views per month

• During the Pride season, we experience over 45,000 unique visitors per month and over 100,000 page views per month!

"Columbus, Ohio has one of the largest GLBT populations per capita in the U.S. We saw Lavender Listings as one of the best opportunities to market our vacation rental in St. Pete."

Gulf Front Treasure Girls

About Stonewall Columbus

Stonewall Columbus - the leading visionary, inclusive, and fun-spirited GLBT organization in Central Ohio - sets the pace for increasing the visibility and acceptance of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. We continue to be the driving force on GLBT issues and our Center is the “first stop” for many in the GLBT and allied community.

In response to community need, Stonewall routinely adds programs to our growing roster, facilitates ever- increasing numbers visiting the Center, increases visibility for other agencies, and brings new and innovative perspectives to our service delivery. It is our intent to continually expand programming so that community members seeking a variety of services and activities - in addition to the base services and ongoing support groups we offer - can find ways to connect with others in a safe, comfortable and culturally enriching environment.