Experience Champaign-Urbana Turns Intelligence into Community Impact

In Champaign-Urbana, data isn’t just a reporting tool - it’s a catalyst for connection, strategy, and transformation.

When Terri Reifsteck set out to rebrand Visit Champaign County into the more regionally resonant “Experience Champaign-Urbana,” she knew she needed more than a new name. She needed evidence, something that could prove where visitors were coming from, what they were spending on, and why the shift made strategic sense.

That’s where Zartico came in.

Terri initially turned to Zartico for support in justifying the rebrand to her board and stakeholders. But as she began working inside the platform, something clicked. Zartico wasn’t just validating her work, it was unlocking a new way to lead.

Using Data to Spark Development

One of Terri’s biggest wins came in Rantoul, Illinois - home to a new sports complex with growing foot traffic but limited surrounding amenities. Zartico data revealed that most visitors were leaving Rantoul and driving into Champaign-Urbana for dining and activities.

Using this insight, Terri worked with the village’s economic development team to show restaurant brands that the demand was real. Today, new eateries have moved in, and efforts to attract fast-casual dining are underway.

“That data helped Rantoul make the case. They could go to potential investors and say: look, this isn’t a risk - it’s a smart bet,” Terri said.

The mission of the Rantoul Family Sports Complex is to create economic impact for the community of Rantoul and Champaign County. 

Supporting Grant Wins That Change Lives

Terri has also leveraged Zartico’s Essential Intelligence to help local businesses apply for state tourism grants - successfully securing over $1 million in funding.

One of her favorite stories involves a local escape room expanding into a mini-golf attraction. With visitor flow, spending, and attraction data from Zartico in hand, Terri helped the owner craft a compelling grant narrative. They got $400,000 in funding.

“It’s not just about tourism, it’s about real people. These are small businesses with limited capacity. We use the data to help them dream bigger and get the funding to make it happen.”

Word has spread. Terri now gets inbound requests all the time from local organizations who want access to the data or getting her to present it to their boards.
Three local businesses successfully secured over $1 million in funding from state tourism grants.

Building Trust Through Transparency

Each month, Terri sends high-level visitor trend reports to local businesses and stakeholders that are custom infographics built using Zartico’s Executive Pulse reports, visualized in a way that makes insights clear and usable.

From showing the impact of Restaurant Week (including a 40% spike in retail spend) to illustrating how tourism supports hospitality workers during peak university weekends, her transparency has helped locals see tourism as a shared win, not an inconvenience.

Smarter Marketing, Stronger Outcomes

When Experience Champaign-Urbana first began using Zartico, it was primarily to validate the direction of their branding and campaign efforts. But what started as a supporting tool quickly became a strategic asset for optimizing their entire marketing approach.

“We were already using Google Analytics, campaign dashboards, and social metrics to tell our story,” Terri shared. “But what we were missing was the most important piece - what visitors were actually doing, spending, and responding to once they arrived.”

Take Peoria and St. Louis, for example, two key drive markets for Champaign-Urbana. While Peoria residents were frequent visitors, they weren’t staying overnight or spending much once they arrived. St. Louis, on the other hand, represented fewer visitors—but significantly higher spend.

Zartico made the difference clear. Armed with that insight, Terri shifted more of her limited media budget toward St. Louis to engage higher-value visitors who stayed longer and spent more. Meanwhile, she fine-tuned efforts toward Peoria, focusing more on niche campaigns and seasonal events like Restaurant Week, where the offer and motivation matched their behavior.

“Instead of treating every market the same, we’re making smarter, more strategic choices,” she said. “Zartico helped us see which audiences were most valuable right now, and that allowed us to meet the moment with intention.”

Beyond geographic targeting, Terri also restructured her media spend across vendors, moving from a scattershot approach to more focused campaigns that are easier to measure and optimize. The result is not only better performance, but more confidence in where every dollar goes.

“With a small team and tight budgets, we don’t have time for waste,” she added. “Zartico gives us the clarity to make smarter decisions and the evidence to back them up.”

It’s a marketing mindset rooted in efficiency, insight, and agility. And it’s helping Experience Champaign-Urbana position itself not just for visitation, but long-term value.

Essential, Every Day

See how Terri Reifsteck uses Zartico to turn data into decisions… and decisions into community-wide impact.

Final Takeaway

Terri’s story isn’t just a case study, it’s a playbook for how destination leaders can use Zartico to lead with confidence, prove value, and serve their communities more meaningfully.

Because Essential Intelligence isn’t just for marketers. It’s for catalysts.

Ready to turn insight into impact?
Schedule a demo and discover what’s possible with Zartico.