Of 425 counties in 11 Western states, 405 promote outdoor recreation as a primary lure for tourists. Included in that figure: all 56 counties in Montana.

As a result, "outdoor recreation" stinks as a lure for out-of-town visitors, according to tourism and marketing expert Roger Brooks.

"If you can take the things you're marketing about your community and insert the name of another town, it's too generic," Brooks said Monday at the Governor's Conference on Tourism and Recreation. "What do you have that I can't get closer to home? What sets you apart from everyone else? What you need to do is find the thing that's unique to you, and if you don't have something, create it."

Brooks, who spoke in Helena earlier this year about the need to create a specific brand and enhance route-finding around the city, impressed local officials with the potential for increasing tourism here.

Business Improvement District director Jim McHugh said the BID and other groups have signed a $75,000 contract with Brooks' firm, Destination Development of Olympia, Wash., for a branding and marketing program.

"What came out of Roger's presentation in January is that branding is a much bigger need on a community-wide basis," McHugh said.

That process will begin in May and last up to a year, he said. Contributing to the effort are the City of Helena and a resurrected Helena Improvement Society, among other funders.

Brooks eschews focus groups and says outside consultants making branding decisions for a community can eliminate the local politics that often get in the way of such decisions.

"The days of generic marketing are over. You can not be all things to all people," Brooks said.

For instance, rather than focus on "the arts" or "outdoor recreation," Helena businesses (Brooks said successful branding is driven by the private sector) might decide to put their marketing dollars behind the Archie Bray Foundation or the city's extensive network of hiking and biking trails, attractions Brooks said are comparatively unique to Helena.

"What do you think your brand should be? What is so unique that it will get me here from Seattle?" he asked.

Once tourists are here for the ceramic arts or mountain biking, for instance, they'll spend time at Helena's museums, downtown and at other attractions that are more common in other locations. These secondary attractions will see business grow too, he said, since visitors rarely spend more than a few hours a day with the main attraction.

"Always promote the primary lure, and then the diversionary activities," he said.

At the state level, Brooks told the 400-plus tourism pros from around Montana that it's more difficult to market as specifically. Because of the politics and public funding involved, state tourism boards have an obligation to sell everything the state has to offer.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.