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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-12-2016 Item 06 Council Reading File Community Promotions - 2016-17 TBID Chamber ProposalProposals 2016-17 Proposal to City of San Luis Obispo Tourism Business Improvement District April 2016 Guest Services and Public Relations Purpose: Build on the partnership between the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and the City of San Luis Obispo’s Tourism Business Improvement District in order to strengthen San Luis Obispo as an unforgettable place where visitors engage in a unique lifestyle they aspire to live, become emotionally attached and return to for renewal. Expertise: The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce looks forward to building on our existing strengths including a successful track record of promoting San Luis Obispo, strong relationships throughout the community, extensive experience providing public relations and visitor services, and powerful online reach. Looking forward: For more than 40 years, the Chamber has worked with the City of San Luis Obispo to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of our community. We continue to seek new opportunities to deepen our partnership and further the understanding of San Luis Obispo as an exceptional community to live and visit. 1 Proposals 2016-17 Table of Contents Cover letter 1 Qualifications 3 Project Team 4 2016-17 Proposals 5 Summary 14 2 Proposals 2016-17 Qualifications The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce offers a distinctive and powerful combination of strengths to assist the Tourism Business Improvement District in fulfilling its mission and strategic direction. • Direct relationships with more than 1,450 local business members who represent more than 33,000 employees throughout the county. These long-term relationships allow us to work cohesively with local businesses to execute promotions, projects and media visits. • Constant interaction with visitors in our downtown Visitor Center. More than 80,000 visitors were personally greeted and assisted in 2015. The center, which is open seven days a week, is staffed by visitor information professionals who are trained to answer questions and accommodate requests of locals, visitors and travel writers. • Productive relationships with the media, rooted in our 40+ years of work in San Luis Obispo public relations. We are the go-to resource for travel writers due to the strength of the “Chamber of Commerce” brand and the strong relationships we have built through the years. • We have a nimble, responsive PR team, which is well informed about what is happening in the city and is able to get journalists timely information and contacts. • Long-term strategic alliances with local organizations and events that attract visitors and enhance the tourist experience, including Hearst Castle, SLO Wine Country, Cal Poly, Festival Mozaic, the PAC, the SLO Film Festival and more. • Access to a library of more than 50,000 current and historical images of San Luis Obispo and the surrounding area. The award-winning images have appeared in publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Los Angeles Times, Outside Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle and many more. • Connected with more than 385,000 unique visitors a year through our local websites and engage with both locals and visitors multiple times a day in person, over the phone and digitally. • Produce and distribute a high-quality visitors guide on an annual basis that highlights the assets of the city and surrounding areas and supports our media relations. Each year the guide contains current information as well as new photos of the best things to see and do throughout San Luis Obispo County. • The Chamber continues to stay on top of the trends in tourism promotions, working with regional, statewide and national partners to identify and act on emerging trends and best practices. 3 Proposals 2016-17 Project Team The SLO Chamber has an experienced, professional staff of 16, who work together to execute projects to completion with a track record of success. The key team members who will lead the work for the Tourism Business Improvement District include: Dusty Colyer-Worth Visitor Center Manager Dusty Colyer-Worth officially joined the Chamber staff as the Visitor Center Manager in February of this year bringing his background in marketing and retail management from his years with Whole Foods/New Frontiers. Managing a Visitor Center staff of seven customer service professionals, Dusty leads the Chamber’s guest services efforts. Molly Kern Director of Communications and Business Education Molly Kern has been with the Chamber in various roles since December 2012, including leading the public relations efforts on behalf of the city for the last two years. In this role Molly works to share “why” San Luis Obispo is a wonderful place to vacation, live, work and generally enjoy life. Keri Forsberg Communications Coordinator Joining the Chamber staff in 2015, Communications Coordinator Keri Forsberg has a degree in Recreation, Parks and Tourism from Cal Poly and specializes in connecting with digital and emerging writers to enhance the region’s tourism promotion efforts. Aaron Lambert Lead Content Creator Aaron Lambert manages and produces the Chamber’s website content, including blogs, photographs, videos and social media entries as well as all editorial for printed Chamber materials. A professional photographer, Lambert’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and USA Today among others. Ermina Karim President / CEO Ermina Karim’s focus is on helping local businesses thrive. She brings her professional experience and personal passion in economic development to assisting on the contracts with the TBID and PCC. In addition, she has an extensive background in journalism including as a local reporter for The Tribune as well as many years in both print and online media in New York. 4 Proposals 2016-17 TBID-Specific Guest Services The Chamber’s Visitor Center is in a unique position to provide the San Luis Obispo guest with a friendly and informative experience before their arrival. This not only entices visitors to San Luis Obispo but plays a pivotal role in the overall guest experience, encouraging travelers to stay in and return to SLO. Through relationships developed with each of the TBID constituents we are able to capitalize on the Visitor Center’s significant face-to-face, phone and email traffic to encourage travelers to stay in San Luis Obispo and match the right guest with the right property. To this end, we are proposing to continue and enhance the current services we provide the TBID. The Chamber provides a hotel availability service that is currently exclusive to the TBID. Visitor Center staff contact every TBID property each week and maintain a record of which hotels are sold out and which have availability for each Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well as impacted weekdays throughout the year to help guests, who would otherwise need to call each property on their own, easily find a room in SLO. This service also allows for TBID properties to refer their clients directly to the Visitor Center for centralized guest services. In addition, this information is widely utilized to assist visitors to the Visitor Center in keeping the traveler in the City of San Luis Obispo. Since July, 2015, the Chamber was able to make use of this availability information in conjunction with TBID marketing materials to refer SLO TBID properties 4,905 times. In addition, the Chamber answers each call made to the TBID’s 1-877-SLO-TOWN number, which is serves as a response tool to the TBID’s advertising efforts and digital presence. This creates the option for a ‘real person’ to assist in trip planning, ensuring that travelers seeking personal guidance have a friendly, live voice to shape their experience of San Luis Obispo before even arriving. The telephone number, 1-877-SLO-TOWN, is a separate line that rings in the Chamber and is used solely to refer and promote TBID properties. 1-877-SLO-TOWN is answered by a Visitor Center employee during the hours of operation and includes voicemail for after-hours in which calls are returned during the next day’s hours of operation. The Visitor Center is open seven days a week, 55 hours a week, Sunday-Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. 5 Proposals 2016-17 Scope of work The scope of work within this proposal includes: 1) Tracking room availability Thursday – Saturday through weekly email and phone calls to all constituents and sharing hotel availability information with every TBID property each Thursday to support their front desk in keeping travelers in SLO. 2) Inclusion in advertising on exterior facing monitor which will display hotels with availability for weekends and impacted weeks when the Visitor Center is not open. The information will be displayed in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Chinese. 3) Guest service and direct booking of guests that call the customer service line seeking tourist information on 1-877-SLO-TOWN. 4) Deepen training of Visitor Center staff on the individual hotel properties, through techniques such as scheduled hotel property visits, to gain an authentic understanding of each property. 5) Assisting visitors who are in the Visitor Center in booking their SLO City hotel room either by booking for them or allowing them to book on their own using the Chamber provided iPad in the Visitor Center. 6) Visitor Center on the Road service to assist in tourism promotion at off-site events, such as trade shows or in-county TBID sponsored events that fall upon mutually agreed dates. (3 times/year) $34,000 a year for Guest Services 6 Proposals 2016-17 Live Chat In exploring options to better serve the TBID, enhance the San Luis Obispo guest experience, and assist in overall tourism promotion efforts, we propose adding a live chat service to make sure that no potential guest encounters barriers to staying in SLO. Live chat gives you the opportunity to interact with website users in real-time through dedicated Visitor Center staff and begin a great San Luis Obispo experience before arrival. Having helpful, knowledgeable customer service can increase the likelihood of booking and help us better understand the interest, needs and impressions of our potential visitors. Scope of work For the coming year, we propose adding to our existing customer service support with a live chat service: 1) Assist guests that are on the SanLuisObispoVacations.com site with questions, hotel availability and booking assistance via an integrated Live Chat tool. 2) Live chat available during peak website and travel information gathering days/hours: Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. & 3:30-6 p.m. While chat agents are offline a guest can leave a message and their email address so that agents can respond later. 3) Provide analytic reporting on guests assisted via live chat including results of chats, FAQs and general website use statistics. 4) Utilize “triggers” to initiate chats with website guests. (i.e. guest has been on site for 1 minute, guest initiates an event search) 5) Work with TBID marketing agencies to ensure the look of chat widow is consistent with the website. $24,000 a year for Live Chat Support Trial Period on Live Chat Understanding the need to test new strategies, we recommend a trial period on the Live Chat feature with a successful trial leading to a full year implementation. 1) Two months – August & September 2) Scope of work will run the same as full-year version. $4,000 for two month trial of Live Chat Support 7 Proposals 2016-17 Special Promotions Partnership While piloting the utilization of the Visitor Center as a fulfillment location for special promotions, close to 200 Visitor Center staff hours were spent assisting guests specifically with the Rainy Day Promotion. After a successful, free, trial run with the Rainy Day Promotion, we have an opportunity to further enhance our services and relationship by proposing the addition of special promotions support and build on that success. Scope of work For the coming year, we propose adding to our existing customer service support with assistance, planning and execution of up to four TBID focused Special Promotions: 1) Involvement of Visitor Center Manager in the planning of Special Promotions to ensure seamless fulfillment. (involvement to begin 1 month prior to launch of promotion) 2) Utilize Visitor Center as fulfillment location for guest pick-up/delivery of promotion. 3) Utilize Visitor Center staff to respond to phone and email inquiries regarding promotion. We believe this will help maximize the guest experience in regards to Special Promotions and also free up marketing partners to focus their time and efforts on the advertising and planning of promotional items. $8,000 a year for Special Promotions Partnership 8 Proposals 2016-17 Public Relations Overview of 2015-16 The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce leads tourism public relations for the City of San Luis Obispo through a partnership between the Promotional Coordinating Committee and the Tourism Business Improvement District. In this role, the Chamber is responsible for responsive and proactive public relations to showcase the best of San Luis Obispo. Contract elements include: pitching to media, bringing in media, coordinating media trips, sending out media releases, responding to natural media inquiries, use of the Chamber’s photography library for editorial requests and press releases, planning and executing press trips and developing media kits. We do all of this public relations work for just one client – San Luis Obispo. This focused effort is paying off; in the past year, we have contributed to nearly 270 media placements that highlight San Luis Obispo including those in the New York Times, GQ China, National Geographic Traveler and Travel+Leisure. 2016-17 Strategy Objectives 1. Build awareness to grow tourism, serving as the voice of San Luis Obispo 2. Promote San Luis Obispo as a regional trade, recreation and tourist center Target audiences The two geographic areas of focus for SLO promotional efforts will be: a. Visitors from outside the area b. SLO County residents Across these geographic distinctions, groups that we will focus on include: • Families – new to travel, interested in outdoor activities, child-friendly events as well as family friendly restaurants. Safety, ease and fun are their main concerns. • Outdoor Adventurers – interested in outdoor activities as well as events, food, wine and beer. Looking to get away from an urban environment or explore a new challenge. • Foodies – interested in the locally grown and sourced foods throughout the area as well as wine and beer. They care about the process behind every bite and sip. • Millennials – seeking boutique destinations, insider knowledge, and hidden gems. Millennials are the ultimate experience seekers and value travel as an integral part of their lives. 9 Proposals 2016-17 • Arts Enthusiasts – interested in experiencing the arts in new and unique ways from non- traditional venues and outdoor installations to intimate spaces for theater and performing arts and music. • Budget Travelers – interested in experiencing all a destination has to offer for a good price. Often overlaps with millennial and Cal Poly associated visitors. • Cal Poly Alum and Parents – interested in re-visiting their college stomping grounds and knowing about where their children are going to school, looking for fun local experiences while they’re here. • Travelers with Pets – interested in knowing their pets are warmly welcomed. They feel valued and comfortable when their pet is. Tactics to reach target audiences Telling the right story in the right place Identifying and pitching the experience that each audience will connect with to the media that they trust by: • Selectively pitching San Luis Obispo to writers and outlets that are seen by the target audience as a go-to source for trusted information and inspirational content. • Focusing on delivering content and stories that appeal to what our target audience values and what will activate their impulse to travel. Leveraging City-supported events Pairing writers that reach our ideal traveler with events that showcase a particular facet of San Luis Obispo will make the City’s sponsorship more meaningful and rewarding. We propose a focused partnership with up to five city-supported events to enhance the writer’s experience of San Luis Obispo. This could include: • Promoting the event in a way that ties the destination and event together • Meeting in-person, or by phone with events to sync messaging • Pitching and hosting writers who will reach a specific target audience • Working with event organizers to host select writers that are being brought to the area by the event. Writers would be vetted to ensure that their audience and tone are beneficial to SLO City tourism before being hosted. Enhancing information delivery Updating the format and content of the San Luis Obispo media kit to highlight new tourism promotions assets including: • Photography • Video • Interactive itinerary planning features • SanLuisObispoVacations.com 10 Proposals 2016-17 Increasing proactive outreach We have been successful in hosting individual writers, partnering to host large, international FAM tours and in pitching San Luis Obispo via email and over the phone. This year, we propose an expansion of these efforts to increase awareness and grow tourism in San Luis Obispo. A combination of tactics to increase awareness could include a total of three activations of the following: • FAM Trip: o Bringing 3-5 writers to San Luis Obispo for a 2-3 day familiarization trip. A trip completely organized and executed for the purpose of promoting the City of SLO for a few select writers will be a laser focus tactic that will generate extended coverage. o We recommend again setting aside $5,000 at the Tourism Manager’s discretion for hard costs associated with hosting a FAM. • Out-of-area promotional trip: o Possible opportunities include pairing out of area trips that strategic partners are already making to promote a specific facet of our destination, such as SLO Wine, or sponsored events that take place out of the area but have a strong San Luis Obispo component like Bacon and Barrels. Foster Key Relationships Nationally Primary targets will be media outlets in California and the Western United States. Western United States is defined to include Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. In addition, the Chamber will proactively outreach to major national media outlets including magazines and newspapers as well as target guide books for updated and enhanced content. Internationally The Chamber will collaborate on international public relations efforts with California’s State Office of Tourism as well as the Central Coast Tourism Council on their international public relation campaigns. The Chamber will continue to build relationships with those organizations to make the City of San Luis Obispo a top of mind choice for those trips. Digitally Primary targets include influential lifestyle, outdoors and parent with long-term, loyal and engaged audiences that are in line with San Luis Obispo’s focused messaging efforts. The Chamber will proactively connect with digital outlets and collaborate with the City’s social marketing partners for a seamless digital experience. Locally The Chamber will proactively seek ways of working with other organizations to both cross market through public relations initiatives as well as building strategic alliances to promote the City. In the upcoming year we are excited to deepen our collaboration with local events and organizations that contribute to the city’s cultural vibrancy. 11 Proposals 2016-17 Scope of work The scope of work within this proposal includes: • Proactively pitching story ideas on a monthly basis to national, regional and online media as well as travel and lifestyle bloggers. • Writing at least 12 press releases a year and distributing through all channels including an online media management tool. • Hosting travel writers on individual trips throughout the year. • Fulfilling all media requests that are received. • Proactively tying in with the State Tourism Office’s public relations efforts to enhance local visibility. • Access to image and video library for Chamber-executed public relations work • Promoting San Luis Obispo as the perfect destination for target audiences • Updating media kit to highlight new tourism promotions assets. Kit would be integrated into SanLuisObispoVacations.com • Participation in and pitching of comprehensive promotions designed to drive shoulder season stays • Increasing proactive outreach through up to three activations of: o Digital FAM trip (2-3 days, 3-5 digital writers) o Out-of-area promotional trips (possible opportunities include partnerships with strategic partners such as SLO Wine as well as sponsored events like bacon and barrels and SLO Craft Beer Week). Lodging expenses would be covered by the City, similar to tradeshows. • Enhanced media presence at up to five significant TIBD-supported events o Promoting the event in a way that ties the destination and event together o Meeting in-person, or by phone with events to sync messaging o Pitching and hosting event specific writers o Working with event organizers to host select writers that are being brought to the area by the event. Writers would need to be vetted to make sure that their audience and tone are beneficial to SLO City tourism before being hosted. • Working in coordination with TBID marketing agencies in order to achieve comprehensive marketing plan and increase brand awareness across all platforms $85,000 a year for PR Services, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC 12 Proposals 2016-17 Media monitoring Over the past years, the PCC and TBID have enhanced their PR strategy with a media monitoring tool. Last year Vocus merged with Cision and is now able to provide us an enhanced version of the Vocus PR Suite that brings together the best features including access to 1.6 million writers and editors, an expanded press release distribution network and expanded monitoring through partnerships including Associated Press, LexisNexis, Critical Mention and Twitter. This tool has allowed better access to journalists, assesses media impact and has allowed the PCC and TBID to know that the Chamber is effectively fulfilling the contract. This year, we again recommend that the PCC and TBID invest in this pass-through contract. $8,00 for Media Monitoring Services, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC 13 Proposals 2016-17 Summary Guest Services $34,000 a year 1-877-SLO-TOWN, Availability, Tradeshows Special Promotion Partnership $8,000 a year Live Chat Support $24,000 a year $4,000 for two month trial Public Relations $42,500 a year* $85,000, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC Media Monitoring Services $4,000 a year* $8,745, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC *if costs are shared 50/50 between TBID and PCC 14