Guyon discusses marketing options with board

At the November 19 Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism board meeting, during old business, Chairman Will Robinson said regarding Tourism Director Angie Guyon’s pending tourism director contract, “It’s in the process. We’ve given you the preliminary or the interim one, then have been working on the final draft. We’re working with the attorney on it and getting it just right. We don’t want to leave out anything… We should have that shortly, hopefully within the next couple weeks.”

Regarding the contract, at the December 17 Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism board meeting Chairman Robinson had stated, “I can tell you that I’m working directly with the attorney, and we are close, and so hopefully within the next week, we’ll have it.”

Guyon was hired as the new Tourism Director on August 1, 2024.

Regarding developing a proposal for an app and website, the board discussed their fees. The company reduced their cost from $599 per month to $499 per month for just the use of their app. If the board wanted to integrate both the app and a new website, the cost would be $10,000 plus $300 per month on top of the $499 per month fee. There is no other setup fee. Widget can also do just the website. 

Chamber of Commerce CEO Meri Ann Dorman added, “One thing Small Business Development Center has is they have the market research down at the University of Wyoming to where you can sign up with them, and they will analyze your website and see what changes need to be made to make sure you are marketing your target audience.” 

Guyon asked Dorman to email her more information about this and said that she would investigate their current plan regarding hosting and other plan offers.

The board’s overall consensus was not being interested in the app, as it was too big in scope. However, they want to receive a total of three bids to consider choosing from to consider a new website.

Regarding advertising through podcasts, the board voted and passed the approval to sign their contract.

Regarding video productions provided by Schenck Photography, Chairman Robinson said, “We’ve been approached by a few other folks that can do the videos, so we were going to compare them and then just try to figure out which one we want to use.” At the November 19 board meeting, Jeb Schenck provided a contract for the sale of two finished videos and options for edits of a variety of durations.

Guest HSC County Commissioner Paul Galovich asked the board, “If you talk about the video posting page and social media, is there a plan to be able to actually monitor the response that you’re getting from the videos? In other words, I don’t know if Jeb’s company or another company can actually monitor, go ahead and actually target specific groups and then give you the results so you know what kind of bang you’re getting for your buck. I know that’s commonly done in social media. It’s the ability to actually see if you’re reaching or targeting the audiences that you’re looking for….But to make sure it’s targeting the right group of people, and if there’s a way, that somebody can actually show you by way of evidence that they have targeted that group of people.”

The board discussed the use of Schenck’s videos they previously purchased on using them on posts. There was additional conversation about comparing using paid ad campaigns in order to reach new audiences versus posting to their existing audience. 

Regarding information on return on investment for contracting with an online news group, Guyon provided data about internet news service’s analytics and the audience they have. They also provided some packages to consider. Guyon added, “This would be something where they are gaining new followers….through an outside source.” In one of the packages, they dropped their price from $15,000 for three months to $12,000.

Vice Chair Sinclair described his experience looking over news website and examined their ads and said they “were very small” and “I had to look for them.”

There was discussion and question regarding if the group has data about click through rates. The board expressed concerns about how they track people with the advertising.

Guyon shared with Sinclair about a specific package where there are larger leaderboard ads on the site, a newsletter, ads rotating through the home page, category pages and within articles, logos on the side newsletter and a promoted story.

Guyon also explained that they already do advertising where they do not track data. These include billboards, print ads, television commercials, and Guyon discussed their use of QR codes.

Chairman Robinson asked if any of the board members wanted to make a motion to accept the package from the group for $12,000 for a three-month campaign. 

Board member Jess Weber made a motion and Audra Dominguez seconded. The vote was a tie with Weber, Dominguez and Chris Delay in favor and Chairman Robinson, Vice Chair Sinclair, and Quinton Blair voted against. Board Member Ryan Shaffer was not present but Guyon asked the board if she could contact him for his vote, the board approved.  

Regarding Hot Springs State Park brochures, Guyon told the board that board member Delay asked this item to be put on the agenda and that it was a previously budgeted item. Delay said that they had a new design and needed to print more brochures. The board voted and passed the approval to pay for the new brochures for $1,000.

Regarding the board spending money on Way-finding signs, they discussed that this would be a capital expense, and the board would not be allowed to do this. Additionally, they discuss that Way-finding signs are very expensive, costing about $325,000 in one example and that WYDOT would potentially be involved depending upon the location of the sign.

Regarding advertsing in the Go West travel guide, the board voted and passed the approval to spend $11,500 for a full-page ad.

Guyon and the board discussed the Wyoming Tourism Co-op Opportunities. The three included a Paid Social on WOT’s Channels, Search Engine Marketing, and Connected TV. Board member Blair explained that the co-ops have significant funding that is beyond any county’s financial ability by themselves and that the WOT matches the county’s funds for these services. Guyon said, “I certainly think that this board should consider doing all three of these co-op opportunities.”

Chairman Robinson added, “I agree and I’ve read through them. They’re trackable and talk about clicks. I don’t really see a negative point to these opportunities.”

The board voted and passed the approval to pursue all three Wyoming Tourism Co-op opportunities for $20,000.

The board revisited the subject of working with the Independent Record (IR) and getting copies of their Visitor’s Guide and Guyon said, “I don’t want to hold [the IR] up at this point, because I know the board is still, I don’t know, kind of waffling on the decision. I disagreed with the board at the last meeting on when the question was brought up. What are we getting out of this? We are getting 30,000 Visitor Guides out of this that will be distributed, through Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska. That’s what we’re getting out of it. As far as ad revenue, we wouldn’t be getting any ad revenue. We’re not selling the ads and we’re not creating the magazine, but we are gaining 30,000 of those magazines. But at this point, [the IR] wants to put this project together and doesn’t have time for any constraints, which I completely understand.”

Vice Chair Sinclair asked if the IR was willing to come talk to the board. Guyon replied, “I did ask [the IR] to attend the meeting, and they were busy, they had other obligations, but I’m on [the IR’s] side at this point. No offense to the board, but you guys sometimes take a very long time to make a decision on something.”

Guyon will discuss with the IR about purchasing additional 2025 visitor guides and using Certified Folder for distribution. They also will explore doing a different guide in 2026 with a larger size, slicker stock, and new content as long as the tourism board decides in advance on their plan. Guyon will return to the board with costs of options for printing the visitor guides.

Regarding the tourism board’s Photo Contest, Guyon presented the application entry form, rules, and model releases. The board will hold a contest for each season. Entries can be digital or printed. All the photos entered  will be used for marketing purposes for the tourism board. The contest starts immediately.

The next HSC Travel & Tourism board meeting will be on Thursday, January 16, 2025 at the HSSP Headquarters.