By David A. Brown
Special to BassFan
It’s been a long time since anyone’s called her “Minnow Girl,” but there’s probably a strong connection between Dena Woerner’s early fishing exposure and the passion for productive processes that drive her today.
Indeed, as a social media marketing pro and fishing brands consultant, she has a deeply rooted love for the sport and a deeply instilled understanding of how and why modern communication achieves marketing and promotional goals.
More on that in a moment. For now, let’s look at where Minnow Girl cut her teeth.
Background
Her grandparents' lakefront home on Fort Phantom Lake in Abilene, Texas provided dependable crappie action, along with catfish by night and the occasional heart-pounding giant carp engagement. Corking minnows did the trick for those speckled perch duties and it was this pre-trip routine that taught Woerner the discipline of details.
“I often had the job of ‘minnow girl,’’’ she recalls. “My grandpa had a large cement minnow pond and I’d check nets, carry the minnow bucket and make sure the aerator was working in the pond.”
Several years of visiting her grandparents gave her plenty of practice with minnow management, while a nearby farm pond yielded her first bass. She nabbed that initial largemouth on a plastic worm she acquired from a kind-hearted bait shop owner impressed with her adolescent angling interest.
Here and Now
Flash forward to 2015 and Woerner leads Argia Media, LLC as president of this contemporary, progressive marketing firm specializing in the hunting and fishing trades. She also serves as a strategist for several reputable companies represented by Traditions Media, LLC.
Through both agencies, Woerner draws upon a deep well of marketing and management experience including public relations, multi-channel campaign development and execution, social networking and mobile marketing. Facilitating the ongoing media relationships, she plans and organizes fishing industry writer's events and photo shoots.
Prior to her fishing industry career, Woerner was the tourism division communications director for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism (ADPT), where she edited the state tourism publications, blogs and web content. She also helped create and execute successful marketing programs for Arkansas and helped the state become the nation’s first to develop and offer a state tourism iPhone App and to utilize QR codes in tourism marketing campaigns. Additionally, Woerner created the first ADPT social media plan and wrote COVER (the Communication of Vacancies Emergency Response plan).
Okay, so how’d we get from minnows to marketing? Read on.
Where It All Started
Woerner holds a B.A. in marketing from the University of Arkansas and an M.A. in professional communication from Purdue University. She’s also certified in tourism crisis communications from the University of Florida.
With a decade between her bachelor's degree and her master's, Woerner entered her post-graduate program right around the time a young Mark Zuckerberg launched a little project he called Facebook.
“A fellow student and member of my peer review group was fixated on social disclosure,” Woerner recalls. “In order to review her papers, I joined the Purdue and Indiana University Facebook Communities.
“Intrigued with her work, I took it a step further – she wanted to know what motivated people to disclose their personal information on a social platform. I wanted to know what motivated these people to make purchasing decisions. I applied marketing and communication theory to consumer behavior theory and started looking at patterns.”
Woerner frequently combines two of her greatest passions – biking and fishing.
After graduation, Woerner took the ADPT job, where she was tasked with generating new ideas for destination marketing. Suffice it to say, she took the ball and ran with it.
“At this time it was just an account and the ‘friends’ mostly came from colleges – Purdue, Indiana University and the University of Memphis – my assistant had just earned her MA in Memphis,” Woerner said. “Later, the account became a Fan Page.”
The Great Outdoors
Woerner enjoyed her time with ADPT and when she identified opportunities n the outdoors industry, the transition was seamless. In addition to the marketing and promotional work, Woerner’s print and digital writing has appeared in River Management Journal, Arkansas Wild, North American Fisherman, National Wildlife Federation publications and Fishing Tackle Retailer. Her editing work includes Arkansas Wild, Bike Arkansas and ANPA (American Native Press Archives) Newsletter.
Woerner has appeared in Outdoor Life photo essays, Sporting Clays magazine, and has been a featured guest on episodes of Midwest Outdoors, Illinois Outdoors, Wisconsin Outdoors and local Arkansas television fishing segments.
Because she started working with modern digital social media from its inception, Woerner had the benefit of becoming a beta tester for many sites. As she explains, applying communication and marketing theory to build integrated social media strategies has fostered tremendous campaign success.
“Fishing has always been a passion of mine and when offered the opportunity to work in the fishing industry, I jumped at the chance,” Woerner said. “I thoroughly enjoy helping grow the fishing industry.
“I realized that I could help companies in the fishing industry and took my business knowledge and started working with industry leaders as well as continuing to write and edit material for the outdoor (media).”
Personal Glimpses
An avid cyclist, Woerner competes in women's cross country cycling events and rides regularly for fitness and relaxation. Her fishing scorecard shows bass catches in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Iowa and Missouri.
Combining these activities yields Woerner’s nirvana – bike fishing.
“One of the reasons I love mountain biking is that you can get to places you can’t easily find in a truck or are too far to walk to on foot,” She said. “This hobby of mine started when I would climb to overlooks and vistas and see bodies of water below.
“I’d snap photos and send them to (Traditions president Noel Vick) and type, ‘We have to fish there.’ The big question was 'How in the world do you get there?' On the bike, of course.”
Describing herself as typically a bank or kayak angler, Woerner said the bike allows her to fish spots less traveled.
“I graduated from the awkward mountain bike to the Cogburn – a fat-tire bike designed to hold my gear, climb rocks and push through sand, mud, water,” she said. “Finding Cogburn was a confidence builder. I realized that I’m not the only bike angler out there.”
Probably just the only one who’d answer to “Minnow Girl.”
