AGENDA SUMMARY TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015 3:30 P.M. ARROYO GRANDE CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM 300 E. BRANCH STREET, ARROYO GRANDE 1. Approval of Minutes of July 27, 2015 Meeting Documents: TBID Item 1 07-27-15 AGTBID Minutes.pdf 2. Financial Report for Month Ending September, 2015 Documents: TBID Item 2_Financial Report.pdf 3. Update from RG Pacific on Marketing Activity Documents: TBID Item 3 Update RG Pacific_Marketing Activity.pdf 4. 5. Consideration of Bus Wrap Artwork Consideration of Website Redesign Proposal Documents: TBID Item 5_Website redesign proposal 1.pdf 6. Consideration of Fall/Winter Advertising Documents: TBID Item 6 Month Online Calendar.pdf 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. SAVOR the Central Coast Wrap-up Board Member Communications Staff Communications Public Comment Adjournment This agenda was prepared and posted pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.2. Agenda reports can be accessed and downloaded from the City's website at www.arroyogrande.org. If you would like to subscribe to receive email or text message notifications when agendas are posted, you can sign up online through our Notify Me feature. If requested, the agenda shall be made available in appropriate alternative formats to persons with disability, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. To make a request for disabilityrelated modification or accommodation, contact the Legislative and Information Services Department at 805-473-5400 as soon as possible and at least 48 hours prior to the meeting date.
MINUTES REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT (TBID) ADVISORY BOARD MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015, 3:30 PM ARROYO GRANDE COUNCIL CHAMBERS 215 E. BRANCH STREET, ARROYO GRANDE, CA Board members Troi Hoffman, Mike Panchal and Rachel Patranella were present. Also present were Chamber representative Judith Bean and City representative Debbie Malicoat. 1. Introduction of New Board Member Troi Hoffman. Board President Rachel Patranella introduced Troi Hoffman with Western Inn Properties. 2. Approval of Minutes of June 1, 2015. Board members reviewed the minutes from the Special meeting on June 1, 2015. Action: A motion was made by Board member Troi Hoffman to accept the minutes as presented. Board member Mike Panchal seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote. 3. Financial Report for the Month Ending June, 2015. The board members reviewed the financial report for the month ending June, 2015 4. Update from RG Pacific on Marketing Activity. Judith Bean gave an update on activity by RG Pacific since they took over the marketing contract in July of 2015. Bean reported that she coordinated a day-long familiarization tour and meetings with key stakeholders for Ray Galan of RG Pacific. All user names and passwords for social media and website have been forwarded to his team. An Instagram account was added and a geo-location filter was created. Several website fixes were completed including including the Instagram logo on the header, replacing the forecast and video challenge tabs with social media feeds and fixed the sliding banners which were not sliding. They also created a 14-day Facebook ad which targeted surrounding cities as far out as Ventura and Fresno. 5. Consideration of Creating a Booking App. The board discussed the proposal by RG Pacific to create a booking app. Board Chairwoman Rachel Patranella said that it wouldn t be something her hotel would be interested in as they have their own robust booking engine. That sentiment was echoed by both board member Troi Hoffman and Mike Panchal. It was generally felt that this would not be an effective use of funds. Action: The board directed Judith Bean to let RG Pacific know this wasn t an approved expense. 6. Consideration of a Bus Wrap Advertisement. Judith Bean said she d been in contact with Silverado Stages about a bus wrap. The board had discussed having a billboard at previous meetings, but had found the cost to be prohibitive. The board had offered to TBID Item 1 - Page 1
TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT BOARD MEETING JULY 27, 2015 PAGE 2 redesign the current village billboard to the south of the city, but the Village Association board voted against it. Bean said the bus would travel throughout California and the Western States at a cost of $12,000 a year. The board discussed the bus wrap proposal. Board Chairwoman Rachel Patranella said she liked the idea of having a collage of pictures. Board member Troi Hoffman said that she d like to see really good photos and that outreach could be done to local wineries for some of their photos. Judith Bean said that the marketing committee could work on this and bring back artwork for approval to the next board meeting. Action: Board Chairwoman Rachel Patranella made a motion to move forward with the bus wrap proposal. Board member Mike Panchal seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 7. Consideration of Proposal to Sponsor the SAVOR the Central Coast Event. Judith Bean said that she d had several discussions with the new organizers based upon the feedback received from board and committee members. The event organizers are proposing a community garden sponsorship utilizing local Arroyo Grande in Bloom volunteers. The garden would be donated to a local school after the event. The sponsorship included signage at the garden, social media and local publicity campaign, a half page ad in the event program, name listed in the program, a hotlink to the website on the SAVOR website, and name listed in thank you advertisement. The total investment would be $7,500. The board discussed the proposal. Action: Board Chairwoman Rachel Patranella moved to accept the sponsorship proposal. Troi Hoffman seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 8. Board Member Communication. - None 9. Staff Communications. - None 10. Public Comment None 11. Adjournment. The board meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. Approved by Board on TBID Item 1 - Page 2
expstat.rpt 10/16/2015 5:01PM Periods: 0 through 3 Expenditure Status Report CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE 7/1/2015 through 9/30/2015 Page: 1 240 4150 TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT Account Number Adjusted Appropriation Expenditures Year-to-date Expenditures Year-to-date Encumbrances Balance Prct Used 5300 SERVICES 5301 ADVERTISING 95,000.00 33,381.50 33,381.50 0.00 61,618.50 35.14 5303 CONTRACTUAL SERVICES 42,500.00 7,500.00 7,500.00 0.00 35,000.00 17.65 5304 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total SERVICES 137,500.00 40,881.50 40,881.50 0.00 96,618.50 29.73 5500 MISC. EXPENSES 5503 MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS 5,500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5,500.00 0.00 5504 PUBLIC RELATIONS 40,000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 40,000.00 0.00 Total MISC. EXPENSES 45,500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 45,500.00 0.00 5900 TRANSFERS 5910 TRANSFERS OUT - GENERAL FUND 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total TRANSFERS 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT 183,000.00 40,881.50 40,881.50 0.00 142,118.50 22.34 Grand Total 183,000.00 40,881.50 40,881.50 0.00 142,118.50 22.34 Page: 1 TBID Item 2 - Page 1
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Website Pages & Updates The events page is one of the most visited pages, and content was often lacking. We added content to event pages to keep people on the website longer, and added links to the Stay page. Contact forms were created and added to the Directions page. An e-mail subscription form were added to the Sip page to segment the list just for people interested in wine tours & tastings. Added Past Events category to events o Archived past events to this category to decrease webmaster tools sitemap errors. Analytics Since we started tracking data in July, we have seen a noticeable improvement in the overall bounce rate, increased traffic, and more interactions. Overview We blocked referral spam to the website that causes high bounce rate. For example; the chamber website s bounce rate is at 80% while the Visit Arroyo Grande site is at 15.99%. This shows that people that visit the website stay on the site and they don t leave after visiting the homepage. When people visit the website they view at least 6 pages per visit. Acquisition Previously, the data received in July showed that organic search accounted for 51% of incoming traffic and traffic driven from Social Networks was only 3.5%. As a results, our efforts since we started tracking traffic we have noticed increased referral, paid, and social traffic. The majority of the website s visitors are acquired through organic search (30.7%) and referral (29.6%), which accounts for 60% of visitors. The majority of the website s visitors during the month of August were acquired through organic search (30.7%) and referral (29.6%), which accounts for 60% of visitors. Location People that visit the website are in Los Angeles (330), San Francisco (144), Bakersfield (65), Fresno (50), and San Jose (31) where most of our marketing efforts are targeted. It is important to note that website visitors from Santa Barbara view more pages and spend more time on www.visitarroyogrande.org In general, California is where website traffic comes in addition to other states. TBID Item 3 - Page 1
Marketing SEO The sitemap was submitted to Google in order to update the index pages and missing pages. The events page posts that were deleted use to create errors; such as, broken links. Now, we update events and place them under Past Events after they events pass. We also optimized the site with the latest SEO software to increase organic search and track keyword ranking. Additionally, we started submitting the website to travel and tourism directories for backlink building. Social Media Twitter Manage daily Follow relevant accounts Instagram Followers have increased from the time we started using the Instagram account o 448 to 602 organic followers in one month Like #ArroyoGrande posts and GEO-Location based posts daily Create graphics for social media posts Share posts Facebook From August 1 to 31, 2015 we increased followers 1233 to 1761 o Paid advertising is used to increase likes and boost posts. We have achieved more post shares organically, and have increased the reach through engaging posts. The previous marketing efforts only targeted Arroyo Grande. As a result, RG Pacific targeted ad placements in surrounding cities; such as, Bakersfield. There are more website visitors being referred by Facebook than TripAdvisor. TBID Item 3 - Page 2
Updated the Facebook cover photo to encompass all that Arroyo Grande has to offer. E-Mail Marketing E-mails were sent during the month of August to: Subscribers o We e-mailed subscribers an e-mail that encouraged visiting Arroyo Grande for Labor Day weekend that featured things to do. http://www.visitarroyogrande.org/plan-your-laborday-weekend-escape/ Hoteliers & Wineries o We reached out to hotels and wineries for deals twice in order to promote Labor Day deals. We increased subscribers by more than 50% and subscribers continue to opt-in on the site. [Report Attached] TBID Item 3 - Page 3
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Sitelinks Attribute Values URL Clicks Impressions CTR Things to Do http://www.visitarroyogrande.org/play/ 213 18423 1.16% Wine Tasting http://www.visitarroyogrande.org/sip/ 228 22261 1.02% Events http://www.visitarroyogrande.org/eventsposts/ 215 18601 1.16% Hotels & Lodging http://www.visitarroyogrande.org/stay/ 234 22775 1.03% Call Extensions Click type Attribute Values Clicks Impressions CTR Sitelink (805) 489-1595 6 1111 0.54% Phone calls (805) 489-1595 6 1556 0.39% Headline (805) 489-1595 20 1763 1.13% TBID Item 3 - Page 5
Avg. CPC Cost Avg. position 3.42 729.01 1.6 3.26 743.8 1.5 3.43 737.28 1.6 3.26 762.55 1.5 Avg. CPC Cost Avg. position 3.18 19.08 1.3 3.7 22.23 1.4 3.36 67.2 1.5 TBID Item 3 - Page 6
Title Subject List Send Date Send Weekday HOTELS Labor Day 2015 (copy 01) Labor Day 2015 WINE Labor Day 2015 HOTELS Labor Day 2015 Last Minute Accomodation Deals for Arroyo Grande Visitors Hoteliers 8/28/2015 14:58 Friday Plan Your Labor Day Weekend Escape Subscribers 8/21/2015 13:54 Friday Last Minute Labor Day Deals for Arroyo Grande Visitors Wineries 8/21/2015 13:53 Friday Last Minute Labor Day Deals for Arroyo Grande Visitors Hoteliers 8/21/2015 13:06 Friday TBID Item 3 - Page 7
Total Recipients Successful Deliveries Soft Bounces Hard Bounces Total Bounces Times Forwarded Forwarded Opens Unique Opens Open Rate 7 6 1 0 1 0 0 3 50.00% 16 16 0 0 0 0 0 13 81.25% 11 11 0 0 0 0 0 6 54.55% 7 6 1 0 1 0 0 3 50.00% TBID Item 3 - Page 8
Total Opens Unique Clicks Click Rate Total Clicks Unsubscribes 17 1 16.67% 1 0 37 2 12.50% 2 0 14 1 9.09% 2 0 3 0 0.00% 0 1 TBID Item 3 - Page 9
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RG PACIFIC LLC Website Redesign Proposal Visitarroyogrande.org Ray Galan, MBA 9/21/2015 TBID Item 5 - Page 1
AG Website Redesign Proposal - Homepage o More clean, aesthetic, minimalist look that better pushes visitors to our best pages o Based on Google Analytics, our homepage is both the most visited and the page with the biggest bounce rate (they come and leave under 5 seconds). We must make it more of a tool and utilize it to push visitors to find what they want. o Sources of reference for the design were SanFrancisco.travel and others whom of which are the best online in pushing conversions and retaining high traffic volume - Play Page o The Play page, which talks about activities, is among the most popular pages on the website but one of the least utilized to push visitors to visit local businesses or explore what AG has to offer. They spend under 8 seconds on this page, we want to triple that. TBID Item 5 - Page 2
The new design we created will center on giving an easy way for visitors to explore what AG has to offer visually an easily without leaving to another page. - Dine Page o The Dine page is also one of the most visited pages, and surprisingly, viewed more by local AG visitors than other pages. Thus, with this in mind, we feel this page will be important both to local visitors and those who are in town looking for somewhere to TBID Item 5 - Page 3
dine. They need to find the type of food they want quickly and easily, so our dine page will make it simple for them to find what they are looking for, also on one page. - Sip Page TBID Item 5 - Page 4
o The most important page of all, and one that is trending, is the page that highlights AG Wine Tasting, the Sip page. We want to highlight each winery and also give visitors a more visual experience when exploring AG wineries. From our initial online advertising, wine tour based searches are searched the most by visitors and heavily pushed by surrounding cities, so expanding on this and making a push towards wine tour is a central goal. There will be an entry page which has tour offers, then a page with listings. TBID Item 5 - Page 5
We are asking the board for additional funding of $10,000 from the Website fund to revamp the website with these new designs. We will work on them right away and assure that both mobile views and tracking tools are also initiated with the new designs to better serve our website visitors. TBID Item 5 - Page 6
3-Month Timeline (OCT-DEC) Month October November December Date Holiday Date Holiday Date Holiday 12-Oct Columbus Day 11-Nov Veterans Day 25-Dec Christmas Day 31-Oct Halloween 26-Nov Thanksgiving Day October Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Plan FAM Tours (Contact Hotels & Wineries) Monthly Report Create FAM Tours Page - Build Content Create Invitations Write Articles Contact / Promote FAM Tours 50+ Expo at the South County Regional Center AGTBID Meeting Halloween Carnival and Haunted Maze November Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 AG Christmas Concert & Parade Monthly Report Live Nativity Scene at the Harvest Church Christmas Caroling, Lighting of Tree in the Village Turkey Trot Fun Run SLO Vintners Rockin' Harvest Weekend December Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Elegant Christmas in the Vilage Monthly Report South County Holiday Parade & Santa's Workshop Holiday Giveaway Promote Wine Tours as Gifts E-mail Holiday Specials Annouce Giveaway winners October Create a FAM Tour page with content for FAM Tour Requests. The page will offer travel agents an incentive to visit Arroyo Grande. We will also promote FAM tours to publishers to generate online content. November Prepare e-mails to send for Thanksgiving weekend in AG. Send e-mail with events for subscribers. Plan giveaway for December. December Push Wine tour packages as holiday gifts. Offer holiday specials and special coupon codes to use when booking. Social Media Updates - Updates are made daily on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. TBID Item 6 - Page 1
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