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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Reading File - 2017-18 TBID Proposal Chamber of CommerceMarch 2017 1 Proposal to the City of San Luis Obispo Tourism Business Improvement District March 2017 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 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 as well as extensive experience providing public relations and visitor services. 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 in and visit. March 2017 2 Table of Contents Cover letter 1 Qualifications 3 Project Team 4 2017-18 Proposals 5 Summary 11 March 2017 3 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 1,370 local businesses that represent more than 33,400 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 2016 and we engaged with thousands more over the phone and digitally. 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 capture the attention of as well as respond to journalists with timely information, photography 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 and the SLO Film Festival. • 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. • 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. March 2017 4 Project Team The SLO Chamber has an experienced, professional staff of 20, 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 has been leading the Visitor Center and its team of eight customer service professionals since February 2016. Dusty utilizes his background in community relations, marketing, customer service and retail management to lead 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 three 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 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. March 2017 5 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 the current services we provide to 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, on behalf of the TBID, 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. This helps guests, who would otherwise need to call each property on their own, easily find a room in the city. This service also allows for TBID properties to refer their clients directly to the Visitor Center for centralized guest services. Since July, 2016, the Chamber has been able to utilize this availability information to refer SLO TBID properties more than 9,000 times. In addition, Visitor Center staff answers each call made to the TBID’s 1-877-SLO-TOWN phone number, which 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 Visitor Center 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. In 2017-18, the Visitor Center will be open seven days a week, Sunday-Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. for a total of 55.5 hours a week with additional hours seasonally at the Thursday Downtown Farmers’ Market. Special Promotions The Visitor Center also serves as a fulfillment location and customer service lead for TBID special promotions. From September 2016 through January 2017 more than 300 Visitor Center staff hours have been spent on TBID special promotions with a “concept to completion” approach which includes collaboration with marketing partners by the Visitor Center Manager on the development of promotions, serving as the customer service outlet for guest inquiries in regards to advertised promotions, and the delivery of promotional materials to guests upon their arrival in San Luis Obispo. We propose to continue this partnership as it helps maximize the guest experience in regards marketed promotions and also frees up marketing partners to focus their time and efforts on the advertising and planning of special promotions. March 2017 6 Scope of work The scope of work within this proposal includes: • Tracking room availability Thursday – Saturday through: o Weekly email and phone calls to all constituents as well as additional tracking for impacted weeks throughout the year (i.e. Cal Poly Week of Welcome, Cal Poly Family Weekend) o Availability information for impacted times will provided by TBID properties in order to help maintain guest within the City o Tracking will be extended to TBID Homestay properties that opt in to the service o SLO hotel contact information included in advertising on exterior facing monitor after Visitor Center hours on weekends • Guest service and booking assistance for guests that call the customer service line seeking tourist information on 1-877-SLO-TOWN • Quarterly site visits by Visitor Center staff to each hotel to build understanding of each property’s unique offerings, as well as their needs, to ensure that the Visitor Center is making informed and educated referrals • Assisting visitors who are in the Visitor Center in booking their SLO city hotel room either by booking for them or helping them to book on their own using a Chamber provided iPad in the Visitor Center • Up to four activations per year of Visitor Center on-the-road service to assist in tourism promotion at off-site events, such as trade shows or at in-county TBID sponsored events, that fall upon mutually agreed dates. Lodging expenses would be covered by the city, similar to past years. • Up to four activations per year of Visitor Center involvement in special promotions including: o Involvement of Visitor Center manager in the planning to ensure seamless fulfillment o Utilization of the Visitor Center as a fulfillment location for guest pick-up and delivery of promotion o Utilization of Visitor Center staff to respond to phone and email inquiries regarding those promotions $42,000 a year for Guest Services March 2017 7 Public Relations Overview of 2016-17 Over the past two years, the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce has led 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 story ideas that showcase San Luis Obispo, inviting writers to experience the destination and coordinating those trips, sending out media releases, responding to natural media inquiries, use of the Chamber’s photography library for editorial requests and developing customized media kits. We do all of this public relations work for just one client – San Luis Obispo. This focused effort is paying off; in 2016 alone, we contributed to nearly 350 media placements that highlight San Luis Obispo including those in Lonely Planet, Los Angeles Times, Gambero Rosso, Afar, San Francisco Chronicle, Thrillist and Sweet. 2017-19 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 priorities. • Outdoor Adventurers – interested in outdoor activities, easy access to open space and a laid-back environment. Looking to get away from an urban center or explore a new challenge. • Foodies and Oenophiles – interested in the locally grown and sourced food and wines throughout the area. They care about the process behind every bite and sip almost as much as the final product. • Craft Beer Enthusiasts – love the story behind the pint and an opportunity to connect with likeminded hopheads. Will travel for beer. March 2017 8 • 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. Additional – although narrower – target demographics will be: • Budget Travelers– interested in experiencing all a destination has to offer for a good price; these travelers are motivated by deals and travel specials as well as off-season pricing. • Cal Poly Alum and Parents – interested in revisiting their college stomping grounds and knowing about where their children are going to school, looking for nostalgic and local experiences. • Arts Enthusiasts – interested in experiencing the arts in new and unique ways from non-traditional venues and outdoor installations to intimate spaces for theater, performing arts and music. • Travelers with Pets – interested in knowing their pets are warmly welcomed; they feel valued and comfortable when their pet is taken care of. • Business Travelers – seeking seamless customer service and facilities that allow the traveler to be productive during the day and have engaging after-hours experiences. 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 fruitful. We propose a focused partnership with up to four 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 • Vetting, pitching and hosting writers who will reach a specific audience • Working with event organizers to host select writers that are being brought to the area by the event March 2017 9 Increased 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 a continuation 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 Visit California 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 family centric outlets 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. March 2017 10 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 press releases throughout the year and distributing through all channels utilizing 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 Visit California’s public relations efforts to enhance visibility • Access to image and video library for Chamber-executed public relations work • Promoting San Luis Obispo as the perfect destination for target audiences • Participation in and pitching of City coordinated special promotions • Increasing proactive outreach through up to three activations of: o Digital FAM trip (2-3 days, 3-5 writers) o Out-of-area promotional trips (possible opportunities include partnerships with strategic partners such as SLO Wine as well as sponsored events such as Bacon and Barrels). Lodging expenses would be covered by the city, similar to tradeshows. • Enhanced media presence for up to four 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 will 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 per year for two years, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC In 2016-17, the TBID funded 60% and the PCC funder 40% of the contract March 2017 11 Summary Guest Services $42,000 Public Relations Services for 2017-19 $42,500 a year* $85,000, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC Media Monitoring Services $4,200* $8,400, jointly funded by the TBID and PCC *if shared 50/50 between the TBID and PCC