Table of Contents. MobiManage Topic Memo

Transcription

1 Table of Contents Page 2 Pages 3 6 Pages 7 11 Pages Page 16 Agenda Minutes December Financials Website Analytics MobiManage Topic Memo 1

2 Agenda Visit Big Sky January 21, I. Roll Call II. Public Comment III. Chamber Liaison report Action Items IV. Approval of Minutes Catherine V. Approval of Financials Dan VI. Press Relations Catherine Information Items VII. Planning for 2016/17 Catherine VIII. Advertising Update Alex IX. MobiManage App Update Marci X. Other Non-Agenda Items XI. Adjourn Parking Lot: Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) - Summer 2017 Upcoming Important Events: Today, Jan BAH at Gallatin River Task Force 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. Wed. Jan. 27 Transportation Meeting at Big Sky Chapel 9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Wed. Feb. 3 Transportation Meeting at Big Sky Chapel 6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Thurs. Feb. 4 Transportation Meeting at Big Sky Chapel 4:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 2

3 Visit Big Sky Meeting Minutes Visit Big Sky 55 Lone Mountain Trail Big Sky, Montana December 17, Present: Catherine Gilb, Ennion Williams, Dan Martin, Crystal Snook, Glenniss Indreland, Ryan Hamilton, Krista Traxler Not Present: Steve Rager Staff Present: Kitty Clemens and Alex Mansfield Call to order: 8:36 a.m. No Public Comment Chamber Liaison Report: Kitty Clemens, Executive Director The Chamber has accepted (in concept) 3 legislative concepts. Kitty has been given authority to share them with others, to see if there is support. The Chamber is also going to be forming a transportation sub-committee, which is a different format than the housing committee. There will be neighborhood related meetings - one for the Canyon, Meadow/Town Center, and Mountain. It will be to talk about Big Sky s roadway system, not the Skyline bus or airlines. Montana Dept. of Transportation has a 5-year window that they can track in. Dan Martin is on a committee for the City of Bozeman. The county shows up to those meetings, but more for a city perspective. This would be a good thing to piggy back because the top people from Butte attend their meetings and ultimately what is done in Bozeman, affects Big Sky. The Chamber may hire a Public Affairs Consultant to help with an application in order to get roadways funded. Ryan Hamilton asked Ennion Williams if there is an opening on the Transportation board. Ennion Williams replied that there is one spot open for Madison County and one open for Gallatin County. He said the candidates have to actually live in the counties that they represent. It cannot be a second home. Ryan Hamilton asked about the status of the piece of property the Chamber is on and Kitty Clemens replied that she does not know the status. Glenniss Indreland asked when the lease ends and Kitty Clemens replied that it ends in June Kitty Clemens said that if we can t get a long term lease for the unit then we ll look into a long-term lease on the hardware store. ACTION ITEMS Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the minutes was moved by Dan Martin and seconded by Ennion Williams. With all in favor the motion passed unanimously. As Glenniss Indreland was absent from the previous meeting, she abstained. Approval of Financials Dan Martin, Treasurer 3

4 Dan Martin said there is nothing extraordinary about the financials. We received all the funds from BSIA sponsors and cash on hand looks good. In regards to the audit, hopefully we ll be receiving that soon. There is an ongoing conversation about how the collections don t match with what is predicted that we should be receiving. A motion to approve the financials was moved by Ryan Hamilton and seconded by Krista Traxler. There is an amendment to the motion to approve the October 2015 financials. Ryan Hamilton s motion is amended and he accepted the amendment. Krista Traxler also accepted the amendment. With all in favor the motion passed unanimously. A motion to approve the November 2015 financials was moved by Ryan Hamilton and seconded by Crystal Snook. With all in favor the motion passed unanimously. Board Vacancy Appointment Catherine Gilb, Board Chair The recommendation on appointment was deferred by Catherine Gilb. She will meet with the Executive Committee to discuss the vacancy. Press Relations Kitty Clemens, Executive Director and Alex Mansfield, Marketing & PR Coordinator Kitty Clemens stated that the contract with Griffin and Associates has ended. As suggested we ve reached out to other PR firms and we d like to suggest Ken Ellens Communications (KEC), who has worked with John Richardson at 320 Guest Ranch for the past 15 years. He has agreed to a $2000 per month retainer for the 6 months remaining in the fiscal year. What we ve negotiated with Ken Ellens and Derek Lennon is much more robust than what we would have gotten had we continued with Griffin for the same budget. KEC will distribute one press release per month and will represent Visit Big Sky in national efforts and media shows. KEC charges a $99 fee for each press release that he pitches to his own database. The fee helps maintain his client base and keeps his clients front and center for future stories. Derek Lennon will produce about 20 blogs per month and will write each press release for KEC to pitch. We are very comfortable with Derek Lennon s authentic tone and minimal errors. Derek Lennon will also be of assistance in WordPress, helping post and backlink to keep organic content current. Catherine Gilb asked if KEC will also attend POW WOW. She also asked if Kitty Clemens found it helpful for Griffin to attend last year. Kitty Clemens replied that she did not find it helpful to be in the media marketplace. Krista Traxler asked about a contract with KEC. Kitty replied that we will have a contract until the end of the fiscal year and hope to continue it next year at Resort Tax appropriations. Glenniss Indreland asked if we could get an outline of services from KEC. KEC will be more in tune with Montana in general because of his representation of 320 Guest Ranch. Catherine Gilb asked if KEC will provide guidance for what time of press releases to write. Krista Traxler asked how Griffin responded and Kitty Clemens said they were just surprised. Glenniss Indreland said maybe it s a lesson learned. Catherine Gilb agrees, but when you look at their portfolio, it looks good. It was just not something that worked for us. A motion to accept the public relations suggestions for the two individuals, contingent on receiving contracts was moved by Glenniss Indreland and seconded by Ennion Williams. With all in favor the motion passed unanimously. 4

5 Request from Dept. of Revenue Kitty Clemens, Executive Director Kitty Clemens said we have talked to Barb Sanem about our collections and the amount of money Big Sky CVB is predicted to receive versus what is actually received. Because Barb Sanem felt the questions we asked need to be answered by the Dept. of Revenue (DOR), Kitty Clemens would like permission from the board to send a letter to the DOR inquiring about the additional funds. Glenniss Indreland recalls a large amount in the remaining funds. The goal of audits is to show how you re using your marketing plan. Dan Martin said, moving forward, when Big Sky is predicting a good year, the state isn t necessarily predicting the same. We should try to budget at 100%. Catherine Gilb said that each year she and Kitty Clemens take the number projected by Barb Sanem and increase by 10-15%. Catherine Gilb wants to get to a point where we mitigate rollover funds. Dan Martin says to focus on the past two years. Ennion Williams asked if we don t put it in the plan and budget it, does it goes away. Catherine Gilb and Kitty Clemens replied that it does not. It is owed to us. Glenniss Indreland said she s going to talk to Jeri Duran about getting a little tutorial together for all CVBs to better understand. We will hold off on going to the DOR until we have a more concrete number that we think is owed to us. INFORMATION ITEMS Advertising Update Alex Mansfield, Marketing and PR Coordinator Alex Mansfield gave an update on visitbigskymt.com and biggestskiinginamerica.com. VBS site looks good, considering not pushing advertising dollars towards it right now. Still maintaining a high number of page views and time on site, with low bounce rate. BSIA site, seeing a high number of page views, and pages/session, but the time on site is about 15 seconds lower than this time last year. This could be because users who are pushed there are exiting when they see our BSIA brand, but are trying to go to Vail s site. We ve done our own organic testing on Google and when searching Biggest Skiing in America and we still show up before Vail. The BSIA Facebook is still active and should be taken down as it has not been posted on since Kitty Clemens asked Glenniss Indreland if she could help. Glenniss Indreland said she would try. There continues to be an increase in followers and engagement across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Alex Mansfield also talked about the leads that Sunset is bringing in & campaign delivery for ads through November Website Update Alex Mansfield Marketing and PR Coordinator 5

6 There are lots of changes to the site in the WordPress platform. We re not going through with the Trip Planner as it s very clunky and not functional. The events calendar and Chamber Master integration still need to be finalized. We hope to have it live in the next month or so. DestiMetrics The ASSEMBLY Kitty Clemens, Executive Director The ASSEMBLY is coming up at the end of January and there is still time to reserve your spot. They are offering a discount for Chamber Members Kitty Clemens showed the report we receive from DestiMetrics and gave a brief explanation of the market overview. We cannot see the rates for the previous year-over-year since not all participating properties have the capability to provide this data. She told the board that David O Connor gave a long report to the lodging colleagues about using the opportunity to report into this because it helps his business tremendously in terms of bookings. MobiManage App Update Marci Lewandowski, Visitor Services Manager Marci Lewandowski gave a brief report of the current status of the app development. She explained the local board area. It is for when visitors want to know what the locals suggest in the area. Each business who posts on the app will have their own login. Ennion Williams asked who manages the content. Marci Lewandowski replied that staff will review. She mentioned that we will need people to review/test the app when the first test comes out. This would be a good opportunity for individuals who are app savvy and for those who are not to see how the two rate the usability of the app. The written report to Resort Tax is already teed up with financials. Other Non-Agenda Items Glenniss Indreland said Montana Ski Area s Associations & MOTBD hired professional skiers to visits all ski destinations in Montana. This is to benefit all CVBs so they can use the content. There might be an opportunity to join them for a dinner or a different function. Montana Ski Area s Associations will be developing content for their own use as well. Crissy Donaldson and Scott Borrero will be skiing at Big Sky Resort around January 27. Catherine Gilb said that they had someone express interest in being on the Board, but he withdrew his interest. Krista Traxler asked when the potential member could join. Catherine Gilb said they can join at any point. It would be nice to have someone in the outfitters industry. Adjourn A motion to adjourn the meetings was made by Glenniss Indreland and seconded by Krista Traxler. With no other business the meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Alex Mansfield Marketing and PR Coordinator 6

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16 Date: January 21, 2016 To: Visit Big Sky Board of Directors From: Marci Lewandowski, Visitor Services Manager Subject: MobiManage Big Sky App Update SUMMARY EXPLANATION I have been continuing to work with MobiManage to develop the Big Sky App. In addition to development, Kitty, Alex and I will be discussing marketing for the app and how to best reach our target market in order to have the most successful app possible. Below are recent updates and accomplishments relating to development: The RSS Feed is complete. Events and accompanied photos will now link from Visit Big Sky s WordPress site to the app. MobiManage is finalizing the Chamber Master API key. When the Chamber Master API key is complete, the business listings will be integrated into the app. I am working on descriptions for the app store, app keywords and categories for when the app will be available in itunes. MobiManage is working on the creative for the app store icon. I am still gathering photos for the business listings. However, we do have photos for our headers, subcategories and scrolling menu. Kitty, Alex and I will be discussing how to best market the app. I created a marketing plan for an online marketing class I took during the fall semester. We will be pulling aspects of this plan for how we will market the app. Some factors we will include are: The name of the app and its description in the app store. Creating an engaging page on the Visit Big Sky Word Press website. The possibility of creating a sweepstakes. Additional promotional materials in the visitor center and businesses. Other updates: We are still looking for app testers. Mainly, we need Android testers. If you or someone you know would like to test for the app as an Android user, please let myself or Kitty know. 16