The City Advertising and Promotion Commission went through several funding requests and received updates from Paradise Marketing and staff at the May 25 meeting.
The first portion of the meeting was a review of Paradise’s marketing efforts, with continued shows of video completion rates and click through rates on ads higher than industry average for paid media, social, and search. Of observed visitors in April, 77.2 percent stayed overnight, with Kansas City and Springfield continuing to be major markets. Kansas City surpassed Springfield April for overnight stays. Compared to April 2022 the average visitor spend has gone up from $129 – $172 and was up two dollars when compared to March.
In top places of interest, Lake Leatherwood was at the top with the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels, Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, The Aud, Nelson’s, and Slane Tavern and Grotto beng featured on the slides as top spots, as well.
In staff reports, Katelyn Jerrell showed three digital billboards in Harrison at Walmart Drive and US 62 with an estimated 9,490,000 vehicles passing by per year. They also showed their ad in the Eureka Springs Fun Guide for June, as well as Instagram and Facebook Reels (short form videos) to help show different aspects of town including local businesses and “hidden gems” that aren’t as heavily advertised in other marketing. The 5 – 30 second videos showed 10 – 20K views on Facebook and Instagram each. Staff are also working to develop an app to go along with the visiteurekasprings.com website and audio ads for Spotify.
Laci Moffitt requested $5,000 for Jeep Jam that runs Sept. 14 – 17. The event is expanding to include Thursday – Sunday and Moffitt said they are working with Facebook advertising. The event will be at the Passion Play and the parade route will not follow US 62 to avoid traffic jams that happened in 2022. The parade will also have a $10 charge. Five dollars of that charge will be given to the Passion Play as thanks for the free use of the grounds and staff assistance, and $5 will go to the Eureka Springs Police Department for assisting in the parade route and general event safety. The event is a fundraiser for Peterson’s Outdoor Ministries. That request was OK’d unanimously.
Two more funding requests were given unanimously to the Eureka Springs Historical Museum. The first at $3,250 for Witches Escape and $4,525 for Silent City
Witches Escape is being extended to two days and moving back to October for cooler weather, with tie-ins to the alternative healing history in town. Funds will be used for tickets, direct mail, and advertising in the ES Fun Guide. The event will include a “witches bootcamp” and the second day will have shopping and a scavenger hunt and an opportunity for folks to dress up and roleplay as they learn and experience about Eureka Springs
The second request included marketing in the Fun Guide and on social media, rack cards, and tickets. The Silent City event is held in the cemetery with actors playing past residents to help teach visitors about town. The event is the biggest event for the museum and its main fundraiser.
Eureka Springs Channel partnership put on hold
Commissioners discussed two proposals by Melodye Purdy who runs the Eureka Springs Channel. Commissioner David Avanzino suggested that partnering with her could help with content for local advertising. Executive Director Scott Bardin took issue that she had sent the proposals to commissioners before the tourism director.
A review from Paradise Marketing was not positive. Avanzino pointed out that Paradise would suggest not working with Purdy as she would be a competitor.
Avanzino suggested that they could hire Purdy to help create content for advertisement. Commissioners agreed to postpone the topic until Purdy could be present.
Other Items
- Commissioners will be discussing changes to bylaws before making those changes permanent in a meeting and handing them to City Council for approval.
- In discussing whether the director handles the final hire of staff or not commissioner David Avanzino had concern over whether CAPC law required the commission to hire and fire. Over the course of the CAPC’s lifetime tradition has shifted from the commission only hiring the tourism director and allowing them the power to hire to the commission giving final pass on candidates.
- Commissioners agreed to discuss how many meetings and workshops are needed each month in the next workshop. The topic focused mostly on whether workshops should be as needed or a fixed once per month though if two meetings per month are needed was floated between commissioners.