Braselton Trolley — Building a Community-Favorite Program

Overview

Braselton Trolley grew from a local route into a community-favorite experience and reliable revenue generator. From 2019–2026, I led the program’s growth through clear public-facing messaging, sustained promotion, and the development of signature seasonal tours that consistently sold out.

The challenge

The trolley program needed to:

• Increase awareness and ridership in a market with limited “default” demand for public transportation

• Establish a clear, consistent story—what the trolley is, who it’s for, when to use it, and how to ride

• Grow earned revenue through rentals and ticketed experiences while supporting community goals

• Build a communications and content system the team could sustain year after year (not one-off pushes)

My role

Program growth and communications lead (2019–2026)—responsible for the strategy, messaging, and campaign direction that drove ridership and revenue growth. I led the initial marketing pushes and signature event development, and guided ongoing execution as the team carried the system forward.

What we did

• Built a clear message framework to make the trolley easy to understand and easy to choose (route vs. rentals vs. ticketed tours)

• Designed a repeatable content engine (themes, seasonal beats, and promotional checklists) so the program wasn’t dependent on ad hoc posting

• Created and scaled signature experiences that expanded demand beyond the baseline route

  • Holiday Lights Tour: developed and launched the event and promotional approach that became a high-performing community tradition

  • Halloween Lights Tour: expanded seasonal offerings and built repeatable launch patterns

  • Cocktail Trail: pioneered an urban adventure connecting Braselton restaurants via the trolley’s regular weekend route

• Led outreach and partnership promotion with venues and local stakeholders to expand referrals and group bookings (including weddings and convention-related rentals)

• Improved the structure of public-facing program information by emphasizing web-ready content architecture: clear tour descriptions, ticketing details, FAQs, and decision-friendly language

• Enabled sustained execution with lightweight training and playbooks for promotion, customer-facing communications, and seasonal launches

• Used results to refine and repeat what worked—tracking demand patterns and scaling successful campaigns

Results (evidence of impact)

• Route ridership increased

• Signature tours repeatedly sold out

  • Holiday + Halloween tours sold out, and additional runs were added to meet demand

  • 800+ tickets sold annually for Holiday Lights Tours

• Tour and rental revenue grew and exceeded budget

  • Tour ticket sales increased (supported by new/expanded offerings)

  • Rental revenue increased with repeat referrals from wedding and convention venues

• Revenue capacity expanded

  • I increased the annual revenue budget by ~91% (enabling growth and reinvestment)

Skills demonstrated

Public-sector communications • Web content architecture • Community engagement • Messaging + content strategy • Training/enablement • Measurement and continuous improvement

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Want a similar outcome for your agency? If your program is valuable but underused, I can help you clarify the message, build a maintainable content system, and develop signature campaigns that drive participation year after year.