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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-12-2016 Item 06 Council Reading File Community Promotions 2016-17 PCC Chamber ProposalProposals 2016-17 Proposal to City of San Luis Obispo Promotional Coordinating Committee April 2016 Visitor and Promotional Services Purpose: Build on the partnership between the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and the City of San Luis Obispo’s Promotional Coordinating Committee in order to enhance and enrich the resident and visitor experience in San Luis Obispo, create a central hub of community and visitor information, and promote the region to potential visitors. 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’s Promotional Coordinating Committee to create new programs and utilize existing Chamber assets to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of the community we live in; we continue to seek new opportunities to deepen our partnership and further the understanding of San Luis Obispo as an exceptional place to live and visit. 1 Proposals 2016-17 Table of Contents Cover letter 1 Qualifications 3 Project Team 4 Proposals 5 Summary 12 2 Proposals 2016-17 Qualifications • 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 with a track record of success. The key team members who will lead the work for the Promotional Coordinating Committee 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 the “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 Visitor Center The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center is a professionally staffed visitor center open every day of the week, serving community members and tourists that are walking in, calling and emailing with questions. Additionally, we take the visitor center information and professional service on the road to two of the most influential Cal Poly events, Parents Weekend and Open House. Being on campus during these events allows us to reach a group of people that will likely be returning again and again to San Luis Obispo. In 2015-16, the Chamber implemented a pilot program that expanded the Visitor Center presence to the Thursday night Farmers’ Market. During that five week trial, we reached over 2,000 individuals that we would have otherwise missed. In 2016-17, we propose shifting resources to staff a visitor information booth at Farmers’ Market during peak traffic times. This would include closing the Visitor Center at 6 p.m. on select Thursdays to concentrate staff resources where visitors are most likely to be –enjoying Farmers’ Market. Presence at Farmers’ Market from 6-9 p.m. on high traffic Thursdays would extend operational hours and reach additional visitors that are looking for information but may not be accustomed to seeking out a visitor center. For those that come to the center between 6-7 p.m. on these Thursdays, signage directing visitors to the informational booth would be prominently placed at the Visitor Center so that no one was left unserved. $103,000 a year for the 2016-17 fiscal year (no change) 5 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. 6 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 • Updated SanLuisObispoVacations.com 7 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. • 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. 8 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 9 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. $8,000 for Media Monitoring Services, funded jointly between the PCC and the TBID 10 Proposals 2016-17 GIA Marketing Support Over the last six years, the Chamber has provided event promotion and public relations support to the PCC’s grants-in-aid recipients. This contract has been aimed at driving attendance and support by residents and visitors to events in the city. In the 2016-17 year, we propose a continuation of this service as it serves the goal of supporting community events that enhance San Luis Obispo in a way that direct funding can’t. Together, the marketing support and funding provided by the PCC help the events succeed. Elements of the contract include: • Writing press releases and distributing to local, regional and national media outlets • Promoting events through social media channels • Including events in event calendars to local tourism-related businesses • Including events in upcoming event releases to local media outlets • Meeting in-person, or by phone with groups • Offering to sell tickets through the Visitor Center (at no charge) • Promoting events through the Visitor Center by display of event materials- brochures, posters, etc. • Distribution of the easy-to-use, monthly local events one-pager to local hospitality partners that is consistent with the “look and feel” of the city’s messaging efforts $28,000 a year San Luis Obispo City Maps The tear-off, tableted city maps are the most utilized visitor resource in our Visitor Center as well as throughout San Luis Obispo. It is distributed quarterly and on-demand to all San Luis Obispo city hotels as well as hospitality partners including Amtrak, wineries and local museums. In 2014-15, the PCC grew the printing to 150,000 maps, a 50 percent increase over past years, and refreshed the map content. The project will be updated and printed this spring for the 2015- 16 fiscal year. We are proposing another print run of 150,000 to keep up with the current demand for distribution of approximately 37,500 maps each quarter. $8,500 for 150,000 maps with minor edits 11 Proposals 2016-17 Summary Visitor Center Operations $103,000 a year (no change) Public Relations Services $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 GIA Marketing Support $28,000 a year San Luis Obispo City Maps $8,500 a year *if shared 50/50 between the TBID and PCC 12