Marketing firm shares strategy for promoting city
The firm hired by the city of Eureka to revamp its image and draw more tourists to the area was set to roll out a new brand and marketing campaign in April with a large, in-person celebration.
“COVID had different plans for us, so we ended up doing a mostly virtual brand launch,” Emily Kirsch, senior community marketing coordinator with Virginiabased marketing firm Eddy Alexander, told the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce on Monday during a virtual meeting.
COVID has been “a gamechanger in terms of strategy, visitation trends, local community comfort and safety concerns,” Kirsch said, but the firm has used both data and new technology to come up with strategies for the future and keep visitors engaged, such as a Snapchat scavenger hunt.
“So folks could travel around the city to iconic places and find little hidden Snapchat geofilters like the Eureka Theatre and the Carson Mansion,” Kirsch said. ” … We were super surprised that actually had a ton of engagement.”
The firm launched a new visiteureka.com, which has seen a 300% increase in web traffic and the length of stay on the website, she said. The firm had some physical elements associated with the campaign, too, such as billboards with the new branding along U.S. Highway 101 and on Eureka City Hall, “Resilient Eureka” banners and pins, and branded giveaways, Kirsch said.
“Although we weren’t able to have a big celebration party, I think it went pretty well,” Kirsch said.
The firm promoted Eureka in other ways, including being responsible for the media coverage related to the Wiyot land transfer, getting Eureka and homelessness advocate Betty Chinn to be featured in Sunset Magazine, and helping the city apply for HGTV’s “Hometown Takeover,” Kirsch said.
“They didn’t end up picking Eureka,” Kirsch said. ” … But they did reach out and request to use the little clip … that’s City Hall folks all holding a #HometownEureka sign, so we’re hopeful that when the show airs that clip might make it out there and generate some interest in Eureka.”
Among the things Eddy Alexander was hired to do was increase the time tourists spend in the city and increase the transit occupancy tax generated from overnight stays in hotels, Kirsch said.
COVID-19 has impacted the way people usually travel, but not as much as expected, Kirsch said, though “folks are saying it’s going to start recovering, 2021 is looking OK.”
“But this year hasn’t been terrible either because a lot of folks are canceling their domestic flights or international travel and looking to places where they can
drive,” she said.
Cell phone data shows most of the visitors to the area are coming from the San Francisco Bay Area followed by the Sacramento and Stockton area, Kirsch said. The most popular place for them to visit in the city is Old Town, she said.
Initially, the firm was going to market Eureka as a cultural hub with events and night life, but now it’s focusing “more heavily into the natural assets that are within the city.”
At the moment, Kirsch said traveler sentiment is indicating people want to go to rural locations with outdoor recreation, and places with access to beaches, forests, mountains, national parks and state parks are in high demand.
“The shelter-in-place has shifted travel priorities,”
Kirsch said, “but it’s also created a lot of pent-up demand so folks right now are indicating, traveler sentiment is indicating, that people are open for inspiration, they’re open to being seeing advertising to plan for future trips.”