Arkansas side aims to gain tourists

Marketing firm hired

A Little Rock marketing firm hopes to bring new life to Texarkana, Ark., tourism beginning this year.

Earlier this month, the city Advertising and Promotion Commission hired Sells Agency to attract more travelers to Texarkana. Tourism marketing is an area of special expertise for the agency, which has worked with A&P Commissions in Bentonville, Jacksonville and Fayetteville, Ark.

That experience was a deciding factor for the commission.

“They’ve done great things for the city of Fayetteville, so we’re excited, hoping we’ll be able to get Texarkana out there,” commission Chairperson Joyce Dennington said.

The agency plans to first create a “marketing infrastructure” for the city comprising elements such as a photography and video library, a website, a visitor’s guide and branding.

“We’ll be creating a unique brand that communicates something specific to potential travelers,” including a new logo, color scheme, look and tagline, President and CEO Mike Sells said. Some options should be ready to present to the commission by its next quarterly meeting, in April.

The next step will be pitching the city as a destination, and Sells has already identified one focus of attraction: restaurants. On the popular customer review site Yelp, there are more five-star reviews of Arkansas-side restaurants than of those on the Texas side, and that’s a fact worth promoting, Sells said.

“The restaurant scene in Texarkana is very authentic, and from what we’re seeing there’s a real focus on that Southern hospitality that leads to a memorable customer experience,” he said, adding praise for the city’s hotels.

“The mix of hotel properties in Texarkana, Ark., is very up-to-date, well-known brands, and they’re doing a great job of meeting and exceeding customer expectations,” he said.

The agency uses a range of digital tracking tools to measure the effectiveness of its efforts, but success boils down to one result: increasing the hotel and restaurant tax revenues the commission is responsible for using to promote the city.

“Ultimately it all comes down to: Is the tax growing?” Sells said.

The agency proposed a two-year agreement with the commission, but terms have not been finalized, city Finance Director TyRhonda Henderson said. The agency has agreed to bill the commission monthly.

Dennington said she is unsure how the deal might affect A&P Comission funding awards to local organizations, but she is hopeful Sells can boost everything happening in town.

“I don’t know that it will affect other awards, other than now they’ll have an avenue to work with the Sells Agency to promote events,” she said.