FY 22 - Q1 Performance Metrics

TOWN OF BLUFFTON INDUSTRY METRICS

Q1 Performance Metrics

Q1 Performance Metrics & Update As the Town of Bluffton’s official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) we are the leader in promoting tourism to the destination. By understanding today’s traveler and adapting to the changing landscape of the industry, we are able to execute on the comprehensive Town of Bluffton Marketing Plan.

The quarterly report focuses on the metrics outlined within the contract, but we also wanted to share the additional efforts and initiatives worked on during Q1 2021 – 2022.

Town of Bluffton Presentations Ariana Pernice, Vice President of the Visitor & Convention Bureau, presented the Q4 quarterly update on September 14, 2021 to Bluffton Town Council.

Bluffton Video Series - Explore Bluffton • The Bluffton video series continues to compliment the Heart of the Lowcountry

by exploring the rich culture and highlighting its genuine hospitality.

• For the period of July 1 - September 30, the Bluffton Video series has

received 2,741 views.

Views

2741

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VisitBluffton.org

#LoveBlufftonSC

Dedicated Official Bluffton Vacation Planner The 2021 Official Vacation Planner is the first touchpoint visitor’s receive when planning their visit to the Heart of the Lowcountry. We continue to fulfill our publication through our third-party fulfillment partner, Kennickell. We have also started the process for the development of the 2022 Official Bluffton Vacation Planner set to be delivered the first week of January.

Mail Fulfillment Official Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Daufuskie Island Vacation Planner: Official Bluffton Vacation Planner: 7,333

17,722

Research • We continue to move forward with the College of Charleston on creating the Town

of Bluffton Economic Impact Report and Visitor Profile Study.

• Our website has collected over 100 emails for the database and Visitor Survey

drip campaign.

ExploreBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

VisitBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

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Bluffton Website As a standalone website, VisitBluffton.org was launched March 31, 2021. The website has been finely tuned with imagery and a new video series as well as the addition of Bluffton advertisers.

Referrals/Click Throughs Made to Area Business

Website Visits

11,008

Website Hits

40,733

**compared to HHI site for YoY as standalone Bluffton site launched in March 2021.

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VisitBluffton.org

#LoveBlufftonSC

Ribbon Cuttings The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce promoted and supported four ribbon cuttings for this quarter with local business chamber members: B Tours, Cora Physical Therapy, Palmetto Benefit Solutions and Woof Gang Bakery.

B tours

Cora Physical Therapy

Woof Gang Bakery

Palmetto Benefit Solution

ExploreBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

VisitBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

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Destination Metrics As the Official DMO for the Town of Bluffton and based on our official contract, below are the quarterly metrics for the 1 timeframe July 1, 2021 - September 30, 2021.

July

OCC: Occupancy Rates

88.3%

70.6%

18.8% YOY

20.0% YOY

July

ADR: Average Daily Rate

$352 41.2% YOY

July

RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room

August

$311 67.7% YOY

August

$313 54.4% YOY

August

$221 85.2% YOY

Source: Smith Travel Research (STR) / Monthly Trend Report *YOY percentages are large due to Covid-19

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VisitBluffton.org

#LoveBlufftonSC

September

64.8% 6.0% YOY

September

$248

37.4% YOY

September

$161

45.6% YOY

Events For the Q1 2021 timeframe, our organization’s events included Tele-Town Halls, Coffee Chats, Ribbon Cuttings, Public Policy Meetings, and Conversation + Cocktails.

Participation in Events

by Chamber Members

Events Held

4,000

20 Public Relations Efforts Bluffton ONLY Mentions July – September.

Impressions

605,020,475

Ad Value

$232,980.93

Placements:

135

Source: Critical Mention / BurrellesLuce / Weber Shandwick

ExploreBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

VisitBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

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Bluffton Story Highlights July – September July Elle Decor Online (UVPM: 813,037): These Luxe Destination Spas Are a Road Trip Away Robb Report Online (UVPM: 496,013): From Seattle to Dubai, 8 Men’s Spa Treatments Worth the Trip BRIDES (UVPM: 860,210): The 10 Best U.S. Honeymoon Resorts of 2021

August Fodor’s Travel (UVPM: 494,227): The 11 U.S. Hotels Have Some of the Best Restaurants in the Country USA Today (UVPM: 20,613,846): 4 beach towns to hit this fall once the crowds are gone: Carolinas, California, Oregon Sherman’s Travel (UVPM: 96,285): Best Luxury Resorts in Every U.S. State

September US Weekly (UVPM: 2,238,756): Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin’s Relationship Timeline PureWow (UVPM: 1,128,004): 16 Thanksgiving Getaways That Are Calling Your Name Pursuitist (UVPM: 24,061): 5 Reasons to Visit Montage Palmetto Bluff

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VisitBluffton.org

#LoveBlufftonSC

Quarterly Social Report Performance Pinterest Insights: We currently have 10 Pins in the queue before the end of 2021.

Facebook Insights: Facebook is seeing great growth overall, with our audience doubling over the past year to 22,114 Fans. Our Impressions grew 34% to 2,426,501, with both Paid and Organic growing 34%, respectively. 803 people “shared” our Facebook posts this quarter — an impressive 136% more Shares than last.

Instagram Insights: Instagram continues to grow, with our Engagements growing 36.5% to 14,400 this quarter. We saw quality engagement types like Comments (+29%) and Saves (+19%) grow, which shows people are engaging with us in more meaningful ways than simple “likes”.

Twitter Insights: In exchange for developing a Pinterest presence, we slowed down Tweeting in July, with only 7 tweets going out this quarter. We did see a decline in our efforts because of this strategy. It’s important to realize how few interactions / quality engagements we were receiving on Twitter, even when Tweeting every day. Our audience on the platform is low, and it’s worth exploring our reach on Pinterest instead of Twitter. There may even be desire to close our Twitter account out / hide it so people don’t find a low activity account when they search Bluffton, SC on Twitter. Something to consider for 2022.

Facebook Page Likes

22,114

Facebook Engagements 113% YOY

Instagram Followed By

5,503

ExploreBlufftonSC

27% YOY

Instagram Engagements 133% YOY

Twitter Followers

618

107,059 14,348

173% YOY

Twitter Engagements 0.7% YOY

ExploreBlufftonSC

36

VisitBlufftonSC

81% YOY

ExploreBlufftonSC

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Quarterly Budget Destination Marketing Organization

$ 146,868

Revenues - Town of Bluffton DMO

-

Town of Bluffton Special Grant - Special

$ 146,868

Total Revenue Expenses: Bluffton Fulfillment (estimated) Vacation Planner (estimated) Digital Promotions - Social Media Digital Promotions - Website/SEO Digital Promotions - Google/Facebook

$ 1,750 $ 3,750 $ 3,750 $ 5,860 $ 18,268

Total direct marketing expenses

$33,378

Administrative (Based on 37% of revenues) Salaries Payroll taxes Employee benefits - 401K Employee benefits - Insurance Operations - Other Operations - Building Expense

$ 37,279 $ 2,658 $ 1,864 $ 3,812 $ 6,176 $ 2,553

Total administrative

$ 54,341

Total expenses

$ 87,720

Excess of revenues over expenses

$ 59,148

Important Note on Estimated Costs: The Vacation Planner/Fulfillment are shared expenseswith the Town of Hilton Head Island, Beaufort County, and the State of South Carolina and are not reconciled until the end of the fiscal year.

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VisitBluffton.org

#LoveBlufftonSC

Meet Your Team Executive

Visitor & Convention Bureau

BILL M ILES President & CEO bmiles@hiltonheadisland.org

ARIANA PERNICE Vice President, Visitor & Convention Bureau apernice@hiltonheadisland.org

CONNIE KILLMAR Assistant to the President ckillmar@hiltonheadisland.org

KAYLA BOYTER Senior Marketing Manager kboyter@hiltonheadisland.org

Communications

KI M NELSON Sales Manager knelson@hiltonheadisland.org

CHARLIE CLARK Vice President, Communications cclark@hiltonheadisland.org HALLIE MARTIN Communications Manager hmartin@hiltonheadisland.org LILLY STRICKLAND Visual Content Manager lstrickland@hiltonheadisland.org M EGAN GOHEEN Visual Content Coordinator mgoheen@hiltonheadisland.org

CRISTIAN SLATON Research & Digital Marketing Coordinator cslaton@hiltonheadisland.org ROBIN BRIDGERS Group Sales Coordinator rbridgers@hiltonheadisland.org

Information Specialist

Finance & Administration RAY DEAL Controller rdeal@hiltonheadisland.org

KATHY WININGS Information Specialist kwinings@hiltonheadisland.org LAURA HIGGINS Information Specialist lhiggins@hiltonheadisland.org

KELLY MCCALLISTER Assistant Controller kmccallister@hiltonheadisland.org

ExploreBlufftonSC

ZACK SHEDD Multimedia Sales Manager zshedd@hiltonheadisland.org

ExploreBlufftonSC

LINDA LANIER Information Specialist llanier@hiltonheadisland.org

VisitBlufftonSC

ExploreBlufftonSC

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