VisitRainier Board Minutes: January 2010
The meeting was called to order at 10am by President Jeremy Foust. Attending were Maree Lerchen, Adam Angel, Pam Newlun, Dee Patterson, PC Dickenson, Mary Kay Nelson, and Annalee Tobey. Rehne Copeland-Vanek was absent, Steven Cademartori was delayed.
Financials and 2010 Budget
Mary Kay presented the 2010 Budget and noted a carry forward of $28,386 with $20,000 in reserves. The first draft of the Pierce County budget was turned in and we are waiting for the signed contract to enable us to begin 2010 reimbursements. Jeremy noted we need to watch for application date for the 2011 grant. (March 5, 2010) Lewis County increased their 2010 contribution from $25,000 to $35,000 due to VR’s excellent performance and positive response from local businesses.
Enumclaw (Mayor Liz Reynolds) is very interested in the Visit Rainier program. A meeting date is set for February 25th to discuss funding options.
It was discussed and determined once we have the money reimbursed for January we should invest the dollars in a money market certificate. There was discussion about putting reserves into money market certificate. The board directed Maree to invest in a money market savings and checking rollover account with $30,000. Maree moved, Dee seconded. Motion carried.
The question was asked about the refund to Carol Zahorsky. MK explained the bookkeeper read the wrong amount for the December invoice and overpaid Carol. She issued a check back to VR to refund the amount overpaid.
The board asked if we should consider an annual audit and external review. It was agreed this would be a good idea for procedural, as well as financial reviews. Since a full financial audit was completed in 2009 the board agreed an internal procedural review should be reported to the board this year by the staff. The board asked MK to work with Annalee to prepare a written report.
Election of Board Members and Officers
MK reviewed the status of board member terms. There are no term limits for board members. Officers may serve two consecutive, two year terms. Those elected in even years are up for re-election this year, odd years are next year. Steven PC, Jeremy and Pam are up for re-election. Maree moved, Adam seconded to elect Pam, PC and Jeremy for a two year term. Adam asked for a friendly amendment to add Steven to the list despite his absence. Maree agreed and Steven was added with option for his approval when he arrived. Motion carried unanimously.
Pierce County Lodging Tax Request for 2011
Pam moved, and Maree seconded that "The Visit Rainier board approve for Mary Kay Nelson, to submit the 2011 Lodging Tax funding request through the Pierce County Department of Community Services." Motion carried unanimously.
Editorial Photo Library
Carol Zahorsky researched photographers for an editorial library in December. The board discussed the value of having hi res photos on the website and determined this is something we should do. It was suggested we choose 10-15 photos for the website. Annalee will continue on this project.
Community Outreach Specialist
The position was posted on Craigslist, and in Morton, Enumclaw and Eatonville newspapers as well as being sent out to numerous partners. We received 7 applications which were narrowed to the top two. Dee and Steven offered to interview the applicants and make a recommendation. The board hopes to have the position filled by Feb. 1st.
The board approved the process for hiring and suggested a job orientation could be completed, and a job description should be written up for this position.
2010 Tradeshow Options
Mary Kay presented a preliminary list of options for the Community Outreach Specialist. A tradeshow display booth is being designed by DSi. If budget allows, we will invest in a 10 x 10 tent. The board directed MK to purchase a digital photo frame and TV with DVD capacity for the booth.
MK announced that VR is registered for the 2010 Seattle Travel Show
January 23 & 24 at the Seattle Exhibition Hall
The booth will be in the same area as TRCVB and Mt. St. Helens. There will be no overnight expenses, only registration costs. Logo fleece vests have been purchased for MK, Annalee and the new Communications Specialist. If any board member is interested in having logo wear done, please let MK know. MK has sent out an invitation to Mt Rainier businesses to supply their brochures to be taken to the travel show.
Visit Rainier will be teaming up with Visit Mt. St. Helens (Mark Plotkin, Cowlitz County Tourism) to promote the “Two Mountain Vacation” at the following tradeshows:
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Sunset Celebration Weekend June 6 & 7 in Menlo Park. Mt. St. Helens will pay the registration for this show and Mt. Rainier will pay for an equal amount in advertising in a Sunset co-op ad in order to qualify for the show ($1200 value).
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L.A. Times Adventure and Travel Show February 12 & 13. Washington State Tourism co-op with Spokane, Tri Cities, Skamania County, Snohomish County.
Visit Rainier Logo
A proof of the VR logo was presented to the board. The board approved the design and agreed to use all options (color or B&W and with “.com” and without “.com”) on a case by case basis, but to use the with VisitRainier.com version as the primary version.
2010 Business Partner Outreach
Mary Kay and Annalee are keeping a log of businesses and industry representatives to track the number of contacts made with tourism related businesses. This info will be used to show return on investment and the number of businesses impacted through the VR program each month.
2010 Brochure
40,000 brochures remain at this time. A new supply will be needed by April. MK added there will be a need for additional brochures for travel and tradeshow use. The board reviewed the Certified Folder Display contract for distribution and noted we are also paying $1000 to have the brochures distributed at Ft. Lewis this year. The board agreed we should move forward with a re-design with a new marketing campaign and logo. The only content changes would be to show more activity based program and to re-fresh some of the copy. It was agreed that the title of the brochure should say Visit Rainier.
VisitRainier.com 2.1
The new dedicated server came on-line in December. The 2.1 site's naming scheme is very descriptive for search engines. All of the pages have been completely re-coded for use of jQuery javascript coding According to Ken “All in all, the pages look pretty much the same as the current site. It is completely different "under the hood."
Brainkinetics has indicated the launch will be completed in January. There will be new admin site changes – more user friendly, with easier photo placement, allowing new amenities (RV hookups), ability to add new search engine terms provided by properties, and added rate information. Clicks on websites, phone calls, email, or reservations will record and create data to be reported to the property on their admin page.
DSi and Sara are working together to coordinate design, color, photos etc. according to the new marketing design. The VR Board is interested in developing performance goals and a measurement matrix.
Social Media Update
Annalee reported that VR has 1153 followers on Twitter and is following 871, with having done 836 tweets. Annalee uses URL tracking through bit.ly and does an estimated 3.7 tweets/day through the Tweetdeck and Twitter calendar.
A contest was held in Dec. to give away Crystal Mountain lift tickets and the site acquired 46 new followers. Goals are to increase chat, increase followers, add twitpics, and increase contest effectiveness.
There are 334 fans on Facebook. We have imported a Blog Feed and Twitter Feed and are now posting on snowshoeing, snowplay, winter hours, snow reports. The goals are to: increase fan numbers, more engagement, and post more photos.
YouTube- 22 VR videos have been uploaded and formatted on the VR YouTube channel. There are now links to YouTube from Facebook & Twitter with 7,776 views since Sept. 27th and 244 channel views. 42% views have come since Dec. 17th. A YouTube link has been added to the VR website. The goals are: increase views, channel views, work on channel design.
Visit Rainier Blog - http://visitrainier.blogspot.com has links to lodging, activities, events, road conditions and weather pages on VisitRainier.com. The blog features newsletter signup, a rotating photo slideshow, twitter feed and YouTube video bar. Goals: further develop content and design, add Facebook widget and “Tweet This” link. Sara can help with design of blog site.
Website Content
During the past two months, content was changed to winter content and we are now working on a Spa, Wellness & Fitness Page. We have received training on new 2.1 lodging admin site.
Annalee continues to post press releases, contests, specials, homepage slides and plans to begin a slideshow on the hiking page.
Tourism Day in Olympia
We have been invited to participate with the Washington State DMO (Destination Marketing Organizations) to meet with our legislators on Feb. 9th. MK will attend this and invited board members to join her. She will be meeting with legislators with Tacoma Regional CVB this year.
Tacoma Regional CVB
Mary Kay had a meeting with TRCVB staff in late December and discussed with Zak Nelson, their PR Specialist their media pitch calendar, how photos help stories get picked up and clipping services. He suggested it is a good idea to respond to blogs and doing a user generated photo diary of activities, photos and events on website. Andrea Mensick discussed co-op marketing opportunities for print ads. Shauna Lunde is the travel and trade shows expert and shared an opportunity to participate in the upcoming Ft. Lewis Passport to Travel Show scheduled in March 2010. They plan to attend the Vancouver Travel Show in 2011. Tammy Blount discussed the pre and post cruise market and noted there is a need for much more time and resources to develop this particular market.
Tammy invited MK to attend the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) where they are launching a new program called- BATIYOBY… Be a Tourist in Your Own Backyard.
Washington State’s Tourism Website www.ExperienceWa.com
The website has a new look and was re-launched on 1/12/10. Mk is still not satisfied with the radius search feature. Four new POI’s (Mt. Rainier entrances at boundary) were added to enable the search to locate businesses in relation to park boundaries instead of the summit of Mt. Rainier. MK will work with staff at WST to work through this ongoing issue.
Video Project
There have been no sign ups since October. The board discussed options and decided to give the businesses one last opportunity to sign up for the year and then use the remaining budget and match to create a Mt. Rainier video/DVD that can be used at travel shows. $4800 has been spent of the $7,097 grant. $2297 remains. VR’s match is $7,097
2010 Advertising
Advertising campaigns have begun for Visit Rainier. MK shared copies of the ads placed in AAA Journey for Jan/Feb and NW Travel, Jan/Feb issue. An online campaign is being accomplished through Sunset.com which includes two ads Run of Site (ROS) March thru June to gain over 133,000 impressions. It also includes a link from premium channels: travel, food/wine, garden and home and a one month exclusive text on the home channel in April. As added value there will be a listing on Sunset.com Marketplace Travel Getaway with a link to our site and 25 word copy and image. The effectiveness of the Google Adword campaign was discussed. Annalee assured the board that VR is paying only for effective key words.
Marketing Plan
The Board reviewed the Marketing Plan and noted the following projects are still ahead for the coming year: Develop design & communications guidelines, obtain a trademark for the logo and VisitRainier.com, continue to build website, continue to pursue co-op advertising and refine media schedule, and develop and extend social marketing. We will create a media pitch calendar and editorial calendar, create storylines for niche markets, and put the media press room on a CD for tradeshows.
It was suggested we can obtain stories and photos in exchange for contests and continue collecting email addresses and send e-newsletters. In order to assist with reporting and measurements, we will need to establish baselines, benchmarks, annual survey and annual reporting, along with written strategy guidelines for Visit Rainier.
2010 meeting dates are:
March 11 – Alta Crystal Resort,
June 10 – Ashford - Whittaker Mountaineering,
October 27-28 Retreat - TBD