The Franklin Tourism Development Authority held its annual board retreat Monday night, which included a vote approving the 2015-16 fiscal year budget of $113,700.
Premiere Marketing, which volunteers its services to the TDA, showed the TDA how its dollars were used over the last year and how to better utilize funds in the coming year. According to D’Anne Maddox with Premiere Marketing, with a revamp of the TDA’s website recently, Google Analytics reports that the top two cities visiting the TDA’s website include Atlanta, Ga., and Charlotte, NC, which are the two cities Premiere focused its targeted marketing last year. According to Maddox, about 50 percent of the TDA’s website visits came from Atlanta and Charlotte, while the other 50 percent included areas such as Durham, N.C., Rock Hill, S.C., Houston, Texas, and New York.
Last year, the TDA spent $35,000 on billboards in the Atlanta area; $20,000 for ads on the music streaming application Pandora; $5,200 for a membership for the Charlotte Chamber; $10,000 for Facebook; and $10,000 for Google AdWords.
Maddox covered how each of those advertising mediums fared over the year and explained to the TDA board how those funds could be maximized in the coming year. Looking toward the coming year, Premiere Marketing recommended that the TDA continue to market in the Atlanta area, but instead of having billboard placed in high traffic area for highway travelers, increase the number of billboards that are targeted for residential areas surrounding Atlanta.
Premiere Marketing also recommended advertising through Trip Advisor and targeting those efforts for the Charlotte and Atlanta areas, as well as contracting with the Asheville Citizen-Times for targeted and native advertising with sister online publications such as USA Today.
Premiere’s proposed budget for the TDA also includes $30,000 for festivals and miscellaneous requests and $4,000 for the contract for the mandatory annual audit.
Premiere Marketing has volunteered its services since Josh Drake was appointed to the board in 2013. Maddox presented TDA members with a look at the work the company has done for the TDA. Since May 13, 2013, Premiere Marketing has spent 597 man hours working on projects for the TDA, and if that is billed using account services rates, it accounts for $38,805 over the past two years. Because Premiere’s partnership with the TDA comes at no cost to the TDA, Maddox noted that the services holds a minimum annual value of $19,402.50.
During the retreat, the TDA voted to allow board member Summer Woodard to post advertisements for the vacancies on the board. Matt Bateman, who has served on the board since October 2011, gave the board his resignation before the retreat began. According to Bateman, his resignation was due to not having enough time to dedicate to the position. Bateman’s resignation leaves three vacancies on the board.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the TDA will be July 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the boardroom at town hall.
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