Digital weighs heavily on 2022 marketing campaign
The 2022 marketing plan approved earlier this week by the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission continues a strategy developed during the pandemic that relies mostly on digital advertising, in lieu of more traditional advertising that entailed placing television commercials in major feeder markets.
Traditionally, those markets have been based on drive-times to Hot Springs from areas like Dallas, Shreveport, La., Springfield, Mo., and in-state markets such as northwest Arkansas. A couple of years ago, Visit Hot Springs, the convention and visitors bureau operated by the commission, started to branch out, in-house, to “cast a wider net,” according to Bill Solleder, director of marketing.
“So the net is just further out,” Solleder said in an interview at The Sentinel-record offices following the commission meeting. “Again, you know, I’ll say this a million times … we can turn New Orleans on or off whenever we want. We can turn Nashville on or off whenever we want.”
The visitor center operated by the commission, which keeps track of the states visitors say they are from, has also noted a change. “Of course, most everything’s coming from Texas. But we’re seeing more and more people come from further away,” Solleder said.
“And I think that this is working. Austin just did a really great piece on their television station … on Hot Springs, you know, maybe it’s because we’re starting to push the message a little further out,” he said.
“Production for television is through the roof. Again, we can make something for television that’s pricey; it’s expensive. And then … we don’t know what the message is going to be. So now we’ve made this spot and we may not be able to use it.”
CJRW, the Little Rock agency the commission contracts with to place its advertising, will have
a budget of $468,918 in 2022, which includes a new website that accounts for $85,000 of the budget; about $20,000 of that amount has already been paid.
Some of the other items in the CJRW budget include billboards, radio, and an annual vacation guide.
“Again, you’ll look at the only broadcast item on there is zero dollars, because it’s complimentary through the state,” through an Arkansas tourism co-op program, he said.
In contrast, the in-house marketing budget is $153,000. Those costs include video and blog production, Youtube advertising, and an influencer campaign.
“Additional advertising programs,” which total $277,100, include special events like the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, at $65,000, the Bass Fishing League Tournament, at $100,000, and Hot Springs Baseball Weekend, at $50,000.
“Events, to us, are advertising,” Solleder said.
“This is much less, I mean, much less but so much more. Because we’re doing this every single day; there is content going out every day.”
Solleder, when asked about the perception that advertising was being cut because less money is being spent on it, responds, “I’m saying that we can spend our money wisely.”
“I believe that the combination of all of these things is winning. We’re winning; this is happening. But I believe that this piece here, the in-house budget, which is less, includes so much more — I mean, so much more. We’re talking like content every day where we’re working there, we’re talking to people every single day … it just adds up to be more and more people are on these platforms that we’re talking to every single day, then just general ads that are just popping up, you know, digitally or on television or whatnot,” Solleder said.
“You know, the big television question is, who’s watching? Where can we advertise? Hulu? You know, we’ve done a little bit of Hulu. The only place that I really see a real value in broadcast television advertising is maybe the news. … I don’t have television. I have streaming services, and none of them have ads on it. So where can I reach people?”
The proof of that success, according to Solleder, rests in the numbers for last year, and the current year.
In 2021, visits to the commission’s websites totaled 1,191,864, a 77% increase.
The $664,993 the commission reported in September collections of the 3% sales tax it levies on prepared food and lodging in the city — considered the key measure of tourism in the Spa City — beat the previous September by 14.30%, or $83,196, the newspaper reported last month.
The $6,224,718 the sales tax collected through the first three quarters exceeded 2020 by 34.62%, or $1,600,717.
The first nine months of collections surpassed the first three quarters of pre-pandemic 2019 by 14.44%, or $785,484, and the first three quarters of 2018 by 24.38%, or $1,220,208.
“It’s basically the same formula, although we’ve given a little more money to the inhouse budget, we’ve actually, with the websites included, we’ve given more money to CJRW this year than we did last year. So we’re not really decreasing budget at all, it’s actually more than it was last year, as we move forward and try to navigate whatever is in front of us,” he said.
“Again, we can change at a drop of a hat. We can add and we can take away.”
The key to the 2022 program will be its ability to pivot, and pivot quickly, especially if a variant of the virus arises that changes the landscape once again, according to Solleder.
“We can continue to do messaging in-house and we can just continue to change it you know, and … it’s not as pricey as if we go to the agency or to a large production crew. So that’s what’s happening. Yeah, it’s crazy,” he said.
A key component of the 2022 plan is a re-imagining of the hotsprings.org website operated by the commission. In addition to the stock information offered about meetings and conventions, attractions, restaurants and lodging, the website in 2022 will offer curated itineraries, based on their individual interests.
“In late 2019, early 2020, we had a problem with the hotsprings.org (website). Basically, the bones of it are out of date. We’re having a security issue with it, so we had to like quickly CJRW had to come in, do some work to it just to kind of like Band-aid it together to make sure it was secure. And at that time, they were like ‘You need a new new new website. It’s been a while. It’s just an old platform,” he said.
“We’re real excited about this one. So we’re showing them some curated itineraries, and we’re giving them a chance to curate their own itineraries.”
For example, someone coming for a day trip can click on a menu of choices ranging from Oaklawn, to mountain biking, or just eating out.
“Then we suggest itineraries to them that they can look at. Same with weekend trips and … on down the line to seasonal trips. That’s something that they can print or download and keep and add to their phone while they’re planning their vacation,” he said.
“I think that giving the user a chance to like see what there is to do, and we have plenty to do. I think it’s attractive. I think this will help draw people in.”
Visitors can also customize their itinerary.
“What kind of traveler am I? Well, I may come in with my girlfriend, so I’m a love bird, we’re going to go out to eat, so I’m a foodie. And I’m a naturalist. This will be a big one, because it’s going to be all about being outside. So they click on those three things. The website then populates an itinerary for them that they can look and it’ll suggest things for them to do,” Solleder said.
“What you can do is very like social is that you can like things throughout the website. And it will throw it over to an itinerary that you can save, and at the end, you can unlike them and trim down or add your itinerary as you go along. Really cool, interactive piece to the website,” he said.