Travel and Tourism discuss marketing

The Hot Springs County Travel and Tourism Board met to discuss their current budget with some changes and next year’s budget as well. In her financial report, Tourism Director Jackie Dorothy reported for the current year so far they are under budget with expenses reaching $116,000 out of a total allotment of $200,000. This makes some of their money carryover into the next year.

In Dorothy’s Director’s Report, she discussed their strategic marketing plan. Dorothy wants to focus on this for the next coming months and get a skeleton plan in order and then get details and further input. She also wants to set up a meeting with Ad Bay and have the board attend. Additionally, she wants to increase their digital content and outreach, especially in the coronavirus outbreak time and be more data driven. Dorothy wants to know what people are searching for when it comes to their vacations. She wants to have a media plan as well. 

Dorothy reported that their photo contest is doing great saying, “It’s exceeding my expectations, which is good.” She encouraged people to go to their Facebook page and check out their photo submissions. “We are getting some great representation of what Hot Springs County means to people. It’s been a lot of fun.” 

Partnership building is very important to Dorothy because it extends marketing dollars and marketing reach. She has been doing weekly calls with the Wyoming Office of Tourism and participating in any free programs with free advice they can give, such as Tourism Week. Tourism Week is where the idea of the photo contest came out of. 

In old business, Destiny Next has not yet rescheduled their meeting. They are discussing the possibility of meeting in June. Ad Bay rebranding has sent in worksheets where they explain how they came up with their campaigns. Dorothy notes that the photos for Ad Bay seem to be only focused on the pools, not on the hot springs, canyon, white water rafting, Legend Rock or things of the greater Hot Springs County as a whole. Dorothy said that the swimming pools are important, but Hot Springs County is so much more. Dorothy said with Ad Bay she wants to make sure they get the brand they want. 

Regarding the coming election, the Tourism Lodging Tax is scheduled for the ballot.  Dorothy and County Clerk Rose DeSeyn have been working together to prepare the language for the ballot.

In new business, the COVID-19 Relief Package from 360Truly is something they are giving to anyone in Hot Springs County who wants Google Coaching Sessions, valued at $360, or ongoing Google Marketing Services for free, its value is $10,000-$30,000. The coaching session will make immediate improvements and provide advice on how to maximize the business’s ranking across all Google platforms. The ongoing marketing services are 1-3 year packages that guarantee to help the business receive more leads from Google and rank high on Google searches for mobile and desktops. 368Truly is doing this as a free service because it is a pilot project and they want to be working with more counties in Wyoming and they can show how they took Hot Springs County from their Google Listings as they are and once they help with the businesses they can show how they improved it and affected the community. Dorothy is also starting to reach out to local businesses. She wants the COVID-19 package to get it into their hands and understand what Truly 360 is offering them. 

For the Spirit of Tourism Photography contest there have been many submissions and according to Dorothy, there is a lot of excitement with these photos. The Tourism Board will be judging them soon. The State of Wyoming has reached out to Dorothy seeking content and asks for any of the top photos selected to be used for their social media. The State is lacking in Hot Springs County pictures. The contest will help with this issue. There is a disclaimer for the contest that if you submit a picture, you give the right to the Tourism Board to republished and share with other entities. 

Dorothy made some recommendations to their current budget that ends this fiscal year. The Certified Folders Brochure Distribution monies is being used for other purposes since the Hot Springs County brochure was not produced this year. They decided to not do the distribution which their budget allotted $23,100. 

Dorothy said that the return of investment for the Certified Folders Brochure Distribution is not worth spending over $21,000 for just sending out the brochures. She wants to target certain areas and be more efficient. The brochures are not being printed because they have partnered with the Independent Record on the Visitor Guide. Dorothy said she does not recommend distribution through Certified Folders. Their service is filling out brochure folders in stands at hotels or visitor centers in their lobbies. It costs about $300 per location per month.  

There are several projects Dorothy wants to do next month. The first is with RT Communications to install three live streaming cameras in the state park. RT will pay for the website hosting while the Tourism Board will pay for the hardware and maintain ownership of the gear. The state park will get more free internet. The cameras will be placed by the boat docks and the big springs. The first camera will be on the swinging bridge which can see the bridge, the river and the terraces. Dorothy explains that tourists will love this idea because they can have friends and family watch them on the internet while they are visiting the area and are on the bridge. The streams will be hosted on YouTube. RT Communications and the Tourism Board will cross-promote each other in this partnership. 

The second project is with Schenck Photography, where they are proposing a series of five one-minute videos using drone photography. Each video would have a different focus and would use high energy movement and music. Jeb Schenck has already been shooting test footage in the state park, the Wind River Canyon and the petroglyphs. Schenck is FAA certified and licensed to fly his drone for commercial purposes. The idea is to have high focus and attention with the images and promote the various features of the Hot Springs County. Schenck will be shooting all summer to gather as much footage as possible. The video will be edited and used for promotion next year. 

The third project is doing extra radio in June. However, in their discussion, Dorothy is not certain how much tourism will be done in June. The Tourism Board may wait until July when domestic travel will open up more.

The fourth project is to do social listening with Herman Global and to start it right away. This will help the Board with the strategic plan and branding. Social listening is where research is done by examining bloggers, social media and reporting about Thermopolis, Wyoming or similar content and see where the people’s interests are. 

The Travel and Tourism Board deliberated the projects to be added to the current budget and approved them. 

Finally the Board approved the 2020/2021 budget. Quentin Blair from Cody talked about Yellowstone Park opening up in phases. Both Carl Leyba and Bob Spain are seeing an increase in hotel stays. The Board encourages everyone to continue practicing social measures and to enjoy our open spaces. The safety of our community and visitors is their top priority.