The Wrangell Convention and Visitor Bureau met last Wednesday, July 1, to discuss their recently approved marketing plan and what their top priorities should be. The CVB has spent several meetings, recently, to put together a marketing plan for Wrangell, which could be funded through the CARES Act. This plan, requesting a total of $146,516, was approved by the borough assembly in their June 23 meeting. With their plans approved, the CVB needed to decide what to work on first, as there was a time limit on when their funding could be used.
"The money has to be spent by the end of December," said Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. "So, it's a question of trying to prioritize what you guys, what order of things you want to jump right into."
One idea in the CVB's marketing plan, that they felt should be given a high priority, was to spend money on Wrangell's branding to draw in visitors. This project is estimated at $25,000, according to the plan approved by the assembly. This is considered "critical" by the CVB, according to the June 23 agenda packet, as the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt Wrangell's tourism industry.
Rushmore said that they would need to send out requests for proposals and contract with some branding firm. There was some discussion about hiring someone local to do that, but Rushmore said there was no local company that managed branding. Rushmore said this should be a priority because the process of contracting with someone and improving Wrangell's branding could take several months, and the clock was running on getting their funding spent.
"I think for the timeline and the scope, we need to just target visitors and what they think of us, or what we want them, to think we are." said Brenda Schwartz-Yeager.
Another topic that the CVB decided should be a high priority is recruiting personnel to assist the CVB with social media. The cost for hiring a social media person, on a temporary basis, was estimated at $12,000. This person would assist the bureau in getting some online marketing programs up and running, the packet reads. This new hire would be important, too, because bureau staff are already being pulled in several directions with other jobs, as well as responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a social media person to focus solely on tourism marketing would be very helpful.
The CVB largely agreed that this should also be a priority for them to pursue. They also agreed, after some discussion, that it would be preferable to hire a local than somebody from out of town. A Wrangell resident would largely already know the Wrangell community, their reasoning went, and would be able to represent the community through social media better.
Other marketing ideas approved in the CVB's packet include creating a new visitor's guide, spending money for online advertising, purchasing new signage for ports of entries around town with relevant COVID-19 information, and targeting yacht travelers, among other plans.
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