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marketing

TDC Marketing Meeting – New Web Site Update, Summer Marketing Talk

January 23, 2009 · 1 comment

in Calendar, TDC Meeting Agendas, Tourism

Tuesday’s Marketing Committee meeting should bring joy and laughter as we all dance around a silly little hat singing kumbaya.  Wait, scratch that, what?!

On the agenda is discussion (or updates, rather) of the new destination web site and discussion of the summer marketing campaign.  With last year’s failure of the Summer White Sale, I’m sure very anxious to see what they’ve come up with this year.  The nature of the Summer White Sale had promises of creative success, perhaps the way it was carried out and the essence of the body was what failed.  Anyway, I digress, it’s in the past.

Agenda can be downloaded here, or observed below:

AGENDA

MARKETING COMMITTEE MEETING
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, January 27, 2009           2:00 p.m.            Board Room, Visitor
Information Center

I.    CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II.    ROLL CALL

III.    REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV.    UPDATE ON DESTINATION WEBSITE, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

V.    DISCUSSION OF 2009 SUMMER MARKETING CAMPAIGN, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing, and Ms. Kathy Fordham, YPartnership

VI.    AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

VII.    ADJOURNMENT

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How to sell your home during the Holidays

December 8, 2008 · 0 comments

in Real Estate Market, Tips

The holiday season offers the perfect opportunity to showcase your home at its sparkling best, especially if you follow a few simple tips.

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression; so, of course, this first impression starts as the potential buyer drives up to your home.  Twinkling lights hung neatly on doorways and trees are very attractive and festive, but don’t overdo it.  Less is generally more!  Leave those inflatable lawn displays in the box this year.  Giant bobbing snowmen or Santas on the roof are very cute for the kids, but do nothing to entice buyers to your front door.  Opt for a simple, attractive wreath for your door and perhaps some white lights strategically placed on shrubbery in the yard.

Don’t let your Christmas tree take over the living area.  The smaller the square feet of the home, the fewer decorations you should use.  Keep it simple, not cluttered, with a few decorations and some fresh greenery, like poinsettias and fresh garland.  A larger home can handle more decorations and the décor should be a little more elaborate.  Most importantly, subtle, yet attractive décor allows the potential buyer to see the warmth of your lovely home during the holiday season.

Enhance that special holiday feeling by playing soft, seasonal background music to set the stage for a showing.  Although Jingle Bell Rock and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer may be holiday favorites of yours, soothing music will make that potential buyer think that your home is comfortable and desirable.

Finally, allow the aroma of the holidays to fill your home with delicious scents that make your visitors want to sit at the kitchen table and share a glass of cider.  Bake a cake or cookies before a showing so the savory smell lingers in the air…or simply leave a pot boiling with cider or packaged Christmas spices.  Place cinnamon sticks in an open jar or include them in a decorative design.

Remember, even though there may be fewer buyers actively looking at this time of year, there are still buyers looking.  It only takes one!  Use this opportunity to showcase your home at its festive best…and that’s a wrap.

If you have any questions about Staging for the Season, I’d love to hear from you.  Let’s look forward to a great 2009!

For more information, please contact Sandy at 850-303-1825 or sandythompson10@comcast.net. You can also visit her websites @ www.ringthebelles.com and www.sandythompsoncondos.com.

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TDC Approves working with MTVu for Spring Break

November 6, 2008 · 7 comments

in Spring Break, TDC Meetings, Tourism

The Tourist Development Council approved moving forward with MTVu for promoting Spring Break 2009.  I guess at this point, it is too late to “go back to the drawing board.”

Here is the evolution of how it all went down.

The original MTVu proposal included a 10 day village with 8 concerts over 4 days, 300 30 second TV ad spots, 10 million online impressions, a database by which to collect user contact info (mobile numbers, email addresses, etc.), and a few more things.

The whole proposal was discussed during a marketing committee meeting and overall a motion was made to approve moving forward, but with the stipulation that the TDC wanted the price to be lowered to $200,000 (stemmed from what some believe as an effort to come up with less co-op money).

When MTVu heard about this, they weren’t that happy and came back with a proposal that was just more than half of their initial proposal for 20% less money.  Of course, that wasn’t gonna work for the TDC.  After calming MTVu down, Dan Rowe, et.al. was able to negotiate 250 30 second TV ad spots, 10 million online impressions, database collection, a 10 campus kick-off tour featuring Panama City Beach as a spring break vacation destination, featured premium placement on the MTVu hub page (what does that mean??), and a link back to the micro site (from where???).

Dan explained that some of the benefits of working with MTVu include that they are regulated by the FCC, they have a brand to protect, that they do NOT advertising any alcoholic products, will not publish any film/pictures of alcoholic related activity or drunk students, and that they are good for our image and our initiative to vacation responsibility.

The board stressed their desire to not spend more than $150,000, and that the rest MUST come from co-op sponsors.  Staff (Dan and co.) have so far received commitments for co-op in the amount of $50,500 and anticipates that number to grow as we come closer to spring break.  All additional funds generated will go first to operational costs associated (costs can be up to $90,000 above and beyond the $150,000 – someone correct me if I’m wrong here), then go to paying the TDC back for the initial $150,000 investment.

This year, compared to last year, there are actually three categories for co-op sponsors:

  • Lodging – hotels, condos, resorts, etc.
    • There will be two levels of sponsorship opportunities, premium and all the others.  Premium will be limited to 6 advertisers and will have premium placement on the main lodging page, and all the others will be on a page linked to through an “all offers”, or “all other offers” text or graphic link from the main lodging page.
  • Food/entertainment – restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. For this category, there are unlimited opportunities available, for premium and otherwise.  The premium sponsors will have the opportunity to have their specials, etc. broadcasted to the TDC database via text messages (that is supposed to be geo-targeted).
  • Retail/attractions – the new element (can’t beleive this never existed before), includes retails stores or services such as Victoria Secrets or California Cycles.  This category will have the same premium “text message” opportunity as the food/entertainment category.

There are a lot of cool things that can be done with text messaging marketing.  I’m not sure the geo-targeting aspects are all they are cracked up to be as they require to user to have an application up and running on their phone in order to receive messages, and I’m not sure that students will be walking around with their phones open and an app running, or if they’d even start the app in the first place.

Also, with doing just plain text message advertisements are still limited to 160 characters per messasge, which can get used up pretty quick.

Can this be done without MTVu, I’m sure of it.  However, at this point, what are the alternatives?  I don’t know, and neither does the TDC.  I’m sure they would be open to suggestions of anyone that could come in, set up a whole online marketing campaign with millions of impressions, put on a fairly large scale show with several concerts, incorporating a variety of web and tv posibilities and do it all for a package price.  Anyone?

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TDC’s $52 million improvement iniative

November 6, 2008 · 1 comment

in Growth, Marketing, TDC Meetings, Tourism

Wednesday, the TDC’s Revenue Enhancement Committee (fancy for bed tax committee) met to discuss improvement ideas for Panama City Beach and how to fund it all.

The ideas range from a new beach trash disposal system to a grass amphitheatre with bathroom and concessions facilities at Aaron Bessant Park.

The ideas stem from the Strategic Plan and include:

  • TDC Marketing and Awareness
    • Welcome to the Beach campaign which would include welcome signs west of the Hathaway Bridge and along Highway 79, and replacing existing signs.
    • New beach trash disposal system to replace the existing blue refuse containers.
    • Beach safety campaign to increase public awareness about the flag warning system and fund additional flag poles. (THIS ISN’T ENOUGH, PEOPLE, AND YOU KNOW IT!)
    • Estimated total cost of $500,000 per year.
  • Special Events Marketing
    • Construct a permanent stage suitable for concerts and theatrical performances at Aaron Bessant Park, at Pier Park.
    • Build an amphitheatre ‘bowl’ with a grass covered berm with restroom and concession space on the back/underside of the grass ‘bowl’.  Should be capable of a 5,000 capacity.
    • Create space for tents, vendor areas, or other festival support areas in the flat areas of the park.
    • Estimated total coast of $5 million

I think this is a really neat idea, and definitely worth looking into, but we need to be planning for 25,000 people, not 5,000 people.  Aaron Bessant Park needs some renovation, but will never have the capability to have anything much larger than the summer Concerts in the Park series.  We need to be looking at improving larger capacity facilities, like Frank Brown Park.

  • Sports Marketing – Frank Brown Park
    • Develop two additional ‘pinwheels’ of softball/youth baseball fields with the appropriate infrastructure.
    • Make two of the fields in the new ‘pinwheels’ the ‘marquee’ fields with additional seating, dugouts, press boxes, etc., one for baseball, one for softball.
    • Look at building a warm-up pool and permanent seating at the aquatic center to enhance potential at attracting regional swimming competitions.
    • Enhance the equestrian facilities
    • Estimated total cost is $7.5 to $10 million
  • Sports Marketing – Sports Village Complex (in addition to Frank Brown Park, would need to acquire additional land)
    • Develop indoor field house to expand offerings to include court and mat sports.
    • Develop 8 to 12 rectangular fields for soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, flag football, etc. Some would have grass, others artificial turf
    • Develop 8 full-sized baseball fields for additional tournaments and practicing facilities.
    • Estimated total cost is $33 to $35 million
  • Destination Marketing
    • Begin international marketing efforts when the new airport comes online and our area becomes more easily accessed.
    • Increase domestic advertising – more money is needed in order to fully penetrate our core markets and expand outside the southeast (or we could just use the $500k that was wasted on the Summer White Sale campaign for something that is more innovative, creative, and effective)
    • Enhance the Visitor Center with new technology and look and feel
    • Estimated total cost is $1 to $2 million

Now, where did all these numbers come from?  That is an unknown as of now, just estimations.  The committee requested of Dan and Staff to ‘zero-base’ the numbers and give details to how much each aspect of these improvements will cost, ideally to have everything spelled out by the December TDC meeting.  The goal is to have everything in order to request an additional 2cents be added to the bed tax first part of the year.

Staff counsel, Doug Sale said that from implementation to actual collection could be up to 90 days, so if they could get the tax implemented first of the year, collections could start rolling in for the new season in spring break.

I’m in total agreement that we need to collect additional bed tax in order to keep up with the competition.  I’ve not been too impressed with the way the money has been spent in the past, however.  I will give kudos to TDC Chair Andy Phillips for staying on everyone to be sure the numbers included will have some specificity in the near future.

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TDC to Discuss MTVu and New Web Site Presentations

November 4, 2008 · 0 comments

in TDC Meeting Agendas, Tourism

The TDC meeting scheduled for Thursday at 2pm in the council room should be very interesting to say the least. On the agenda will be to discuss the MTVu program and hear from the interactive agencies bidding to build the new “Panama City Beach” web site.  I fully expect the meeting to be long and arduous and some tough decisions to be made.

I also assume there will be tons in attendance, so come early.

I will be making live updates from my cell phone using the lovely Twitter service, so be sure to sign up and follow pcbdaily.  And be sure to set up your mobile devices if you don’t want to keep checking our twitter page.

——————————————————-

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Thursday, November 6, 2008                 2:00 p.m.        Council Room, PCB City Hall

I.    CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II.    ROLL CALL

A.    Invocation
B.    Pledge of Allegiance

III.    REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV.    UPDATE ON BED TAX COLLECTIONS, Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist

V.    BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Coastal Planning & Engineering Invoice #81029, Invoice #81030, and Invoice #81032, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VI.    BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A.    Review and Discuss mtvU Program, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VII.    INTERACTIVE AGENCY PRESENTATIONS AND BOARD DISCUSSION (Order of Presentations Will Be Selected at Random)

A.    JB, Inc.
Presentation by Ms. Jennifer A. Barbee, Ms. Annette Gilespie, Ms. Kim Powers, and Ms. Marianne Cushing
B.    Miles Media
Presentation by Mr. Roger Miles, Mr. Ryan Nance, Ms. Elena Prostova, and Mr. Scott Templeton
C.    SimpleView
Presentation by Mr. Kevin Bate and Ms. Cara Scholke

VIII.    AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

IX.    ADJOURNMENT

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Should We ‘Kick’ MTV ‘to the curb’?

November 3, 2008 · 31 comments

in Marketing, Spring Break, Tourism

Well, should we?  It would seem to me that we aren’t good enough for them.  Maybe we should take our $250k (read $200k) and do something more productive with it, rather than waste it on some antediluvian has-been.  I mean, seriously, who watches MTV anymore anyway.  Sure, all the left-wing east west coasters that are too concerned about the color of their hair than what is actually happening in the real world may still watch it but the ‘kids’ that vacation here during their college spring break spend their free time working, partying, or hanging out with friends, not watching the melodrama unfold between Paris Hilton and her new BFF.

Not to mention that we aren’t even talking about MTV, we are taking about MTVu, a trifle subsidiary of the Bid Dawg.  Sure it is college specific, but again, what does that mean today?

So what are these snobs up to now?  Well, the last marketing committee meeting, the committee motioned to reduce the amount paid to MTVu from $250k to $200k.  When confronted with this issue, MTVu basically cut what they were willing to bring to the table in half.

As per the MTVu Program Recap, the $250k vs. $200k:

  • In-market, main stage for 5 days instead of 10
  • Village for 7 days instead of 10
  • 2 concert days with 4 performances instead of 4 concert days with 8 performances
  • 225 :30 TV spots instead of 300
  • 5 million online impressions instead of 10 million
  • No database
  • No sweepstakes
  • No opt-in opportunity onsite

What?  They’re basically cutting their offering in half, for only $50,000 less.  What’s their deal?  Well, apparently, we aren’t good enough for them.  Apparently $200k is small potatoes for very little on their part.  I say we ditch the Brand and do it ourselves.  For $200k, we can hire someone else to put on a good show and do a lot of marketing, a-lot-of-marketing.  MTVu isn’t the only game in town.

I don’t like to criticize unless I have a good solution, but in this case, I’m doing just that.  There are others being paid to find a solution to this, and they’ve come up with MTVu.  I suggest we find an alternative.  The reality is, if we throw a big enough party (and for $200k, we can throw a pretty big party) MTV will be here anyway, because that is where the action will be.

Now, to you tourism leaders, resort owners and the like:  what are you afraid of?  What happened to good ‘ol fashioned marketing.  Most of you big guys are paying a salaried marketing person to come up with great ideas to get your brand out there.  Why have we become so reliant on the Government to supply us with our business?  Furthermore, the sky will not fall if the beloved MTVu brand turns their pink nose up at us.  The reality is that college kids still love to come here, others can organize huge shows to keep the crowds busy and the party will still be in Panama City Beach during Spring Break 2009.

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TDC Needs New Formula for Special Events

September 17, 2008 · 3 comments

in Event News, Tourism

Special events at the beach are wonderful for Bay County.  The biggest events, Spring Break and Thunder Beach,  drive huge amounts of tourists to Panama City Beach.

Smaller events bring in good revenue for the bed tax collectors (and beneficiaries), such as the Ironman and Gulf Coast Triathlons, Emerald Coast Cruizin’ car show, and hopefully, the new Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine, & Music Festival.

There are a few other small events, but we need many more small and large in order for the tourism economy to thrive year-round.  It is  — and should be –  a top priority  for the TDC/CVB to enable and promote special events.

But with special events come special interests, and special interests have no place in our government spending decisions.

Therefore, in order for the TDC to be fair to all event planners, promoters, the bed tax collectors (and beneficiaries), and the citizens of Bay County, they must avoid any conflict of special interests.

Here are a few ways to make this happen:

1. Put bed tax dollars into infrastructure that holds special events, such as stages, fairgrounds, parking lots, ball fields and other outdoor venues. Make it a great place for a promoter to put on an event and succeed.

2. Provide additional support for safety and trash-control during events.

3. Maintain infrastructure.

4. Instead of paying to promote events to tourists, promote Panama City Beach to potential event promoters.

5. Provide marketing research staff to survey event attendees. This tells the individual businesses which events bring what tourists, and helps them do their own marketing/advertising/event sponsorships accordingly.

6. Provide Public Relations support and website exposure for all events.

There! Good! No complaints from anyone.

Hopefully bed tax collectors will agree there needs to be a new policy.  But whether you do or not, here are some clear examples of what has happened recently to prove why it is unwise for the TDC to put funding into promoters’ pockets.

1. There is a process in place that a promoter must go through to be considered for TDC event funding.  As pointed out in recent PCBDaily.com articles, that policy has not been followed.  Therefore, it’s unfair to some, very fair to others and no fair to the rest of us.

2.  The promoters are sometimes more shifty than thrifty.  Some claim they don’t need TDC money, then get it anyway.  Some disappear.  Some make promises they have no intention of keeping.  It’s no fun watching – or participating in – a government body that must make spending decisions on people / events that really do not have to be accountable.

3. Events can fail.  The Circus by the Sea proposal was unique in that they approached the TDC for a $100K “loan” that would be paid back upon success.  Most everyone on the TDC and in the business community, including myself, was certain the circus would be a success.  Unfortunately it was not.  That money is gone, unless the Circus by the Sea miraculously figures out how to market its event and fill its tent.  We would have been better off buying 100,000 Lotto tickets.

Hey… Lotto Tickets with Bed Tax Dollars!  Not a bad idea compared to the way Special Event money has been handed out lately.

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Fix our Beach, THEN advertise.

September 8, 2008 · 4 comments

in Marketing, Tourism

Here are the thoughts I summed up for the TDC board after comments Tuesday.
——————————————
1. Advertising Budget

We should not advertise until the “product is fixed.” What is wrong with our product?

* Lack of Cleanliness
* Lack of Safety
* Lack of Proper Marketing Research distributed to all Tourism Businesses
* Lack of Sports Complexes to meet Demand
* and above all – A broken image. Our current advertising cannot improve an image. An image must be improved by providing a great product and service… which starts with clean, safe beaches.

I realize Mr. Rowe and Staff are aware of many of these issues and are working to improve them. But if we put our advertising budget into our problems, they will be resolved more quickly.

Another problem I have with spending tax dollars on advertising – no matter what event or message you promote, you’re going to be held accountable by the community. If you quit advertising, and just provided infrastructure support, marketing research and public relations, no one could blame the TDC on problems such as Spring Break disasters, drownings, etc. Can you imagine having TDC meetings without people like Charles Mason, Bryan Durta and myself because we have nothing to complain about? ;c) Get rid of advertising, replace it with tangible research and infrastructure, and get rid of complainers.

So, if we did not advertise, how would we promote our destination?

a. Market Research. This is being done with our existing guests (400 surveys per month), but much more could be accomplished in this area. Imagine giving a report to all local businesses that show who is most likely to visit, where they live, and how to reach them. Then let the hotels, condos, restaurants, fishing boats, retail, attractions and events do their own advertising.

b. In-house creative: Imagine the CVB/TDC offering a beautiful catalog of stock photography and video of Bay County that small businesses could use in their own advertising.

c. In-house Public Relations: I am thankful there is now an in-house marketing team; they should be able to handle Public Relations.

d. Most Importantly – provide a reason for our guests to return home and say “Panama City Beach is a great place to vacation.”

But since we do have an agency, and we are advertising and outsourcing Public Relations…

* Please hold our agency to REMARKABLE standards. The White Sale did not provide remarkable results, and quite honestly, wasn’t even remarkable out of the gate. It was status-quo. Mr. Yesawich said that himself, basically, when he said others are doing “coupon / value / sales” campaigns and it worked for his clients in the past.

* Please consider that we pay this agency hundreds of thousands of dollars that go out of Bay County into Orlando’s economy. With an in-house marketing team, and the ability to outsource tasks (website development, photography, video, press release writing and distribution), we do not need to spend that kind of money on an agency when we have such a small budget. Perhaps one day when our beaches are clean, beautiful, and Richard even has a little problem filling up all our new sports arenas… then we can afford to invest in advertising

2. Trash

I am thankful you realize this is a serious problem. The method we use is not working, and the county should review other options.

My comment I say often about our beaches and trash … “Do you think Buddy Wilkes lets someone walk through his park with a glass bottle? Do you think he lets a diaper sit around in a public space? Are there cigarette butts everywhere? Is there trash floating in his wave pool? Of course not! So why can’t we protect our beaches just as a private attraction would protect their park?”

We must implement a process of prevention instead of cure when it comes to trash on our beaches. When/if the time does come to discuss new trash ideas, I request that I am notified so I may either assist in planning or pitch my own proposal for beach cleanup.

——————————————

I also made comments in the meeting that $6 per website visitor is too much to pay for our particular tourism industry. I have seen great numbers of people seeking information online for Panama City Beach, and a proper ad campaign can drive thousands of visitors to a PCB vacation website for $1-2.

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Bed Tax Collections are UP, Business Numbers DOWN

August 18, 2008 · 4 comments

in Growth, Marketing, Tourism

Who said the Summer White Sale wouldn’t work? Well, although I was quite critical of the PCB Summer White Sale, I don’t think I ever said, verbatim, that it flat out would not work. But did it? Well, the answer is actually quite a bit more complex than a simple yes or no. Of course, that’s what makes the answer so much fun.

In a recent article, the News Herald reported that so far this year, compared to the same period last year, the bed tax collections are up 3.5%. This is true, additionally I found from October 2006 to June 2007, the bed tax collections were up to $3,953,245.77 or 11.77%. The 2006 number of $3,537,045.14 is up 3.04% from October 2004 to June 2005, and the 2004 numbers were up 5.94%. And because I always hate reading stuff like this in a paragraph, I’m gonna put it all in a nifty table:

READ MORE

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PCB White Sale Campaign update – with stats

May 30, 2008 · 1 comment

in Marketing, Tourism

YPartnership’s PCBWhiteSale launched on May 5 2008 with PR and strategic ad placements hitting all the major feeder markets to our area. Besides the creative being weak at best on their “coupon” web site, the actual campaign numbers don’t look that bad.

Part of what I do at my day job is analyze web stats, so this is right up my alley.

The report, available for download below, defines “total hits” and “user sessions” and reports from May 4 to May 23. Based on what Peter Yesawich of YPartnership was saying at the strategy workshop I can only assume in the web stat world, “user sessions” would have to mean unique visitors. Seeing as total pageviews is defined, I would say this is correct.

READ MORE

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