Town of Bluffton Q4 2019-2020 Industry Metrics & Update

Q4 2019-2020

Town of Bluffton Industry Metrics & Update

TM

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 1

Q4 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS & UPDATE As the Town of Bluffton Designated Marketing Organization (DMO) we are uniquely positioned to promote the destination, even within these unprecedented times. Unfortunately the extreme impact of COVID-19 has been felt across the globe, the travel and tourism industry and within our community. Montage Palmetto Bluff and other tourism partners temporarily shuttered due to the pandemic for several weeks. March of 2020 we adjusted our out-marketing and promotional efforts, in order to align with travel sentiment and lag in demand. This approach allowed for the DMO to shift our focus and efforts temporarily to the The Path Forward initiative. The Path Forward efforts were built and put in place to ensure, as a community, we were ready to re-open when the time was right. The performance within our key channels of measure, social and website, indicate the shift in efforts however, we are positioned well to build ourselves into the positive within the calendar year of 2020.

Additional efforts beyond the contract metrics we are reporting on for Q4 2019-2020 included the following: • Development and execution of the Path Forward Readiness Plan, a uniform set of recommended protocols for businesses to follow, providing an consistent and evidence-based approach to protecting the health of our residents, workforce and visitors. This included ThePathForward.org build out which features information on Staying Safe Together for locals and visitors as well as resources for businesses to operate safely as they welcome guests.

• Distributed Help4Hope gift cards at Bluffton AME Church and USCB Bluffton Campus to 700 attendees.

• Supported the Mask Up efforts for the Town of Bluffton with promotion of the Mask Up seal on our website.

• On June 18th, we met with Lindsay Housaman to tour the streets of Bluffton and talk through historic locations and upcoming initiatives to highlight within our marketing efforts.

• While the impact of COVID-19 caused us to decrease our paid social marketing efforts, we still saw strong engagement and growth through our organic efforts.

Results are included on pages 5 and 6 within this document.

• In working with Lindsay Housaman and the town closely, we were able to finalize the 2020-2021 Town of Bluffton Marketing Plan which was printed and delivered July 22nd.

2

2 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

Q4 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS As the official Designated Marketing Organization (DMO) for the Town of Bluffton and based on our official contract, please find detailed below for the quarterly metrics defined within the contract for the timeframe of April 1, 2020 June 30, 2020. These quarterly metrics are defined in the contract under section 2, item 2.1 and coincide with letters. *Montage Palmetto Bluff closed from late March to early June.

OCC: Occupancy Rates APRIL

MAY

JUNE

25.0%

47.0%

59.9%

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

-70.5%

-41.3%

-27.1% Smith Travel Research Monthly Report

ADR: Average Daily Rate APRIL

MAY

JUNE

$75.15

$76.68

$182.23

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

-65.9%

-63.6%

-6.2% Smith Travel Research Monthly Report

RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room APRIL

MAY

JUNE

$18.80

$36.05

$109.22

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

-89.9%

-78.6%

-31.6% Smith Travel Research Monthly Report

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 3

Q4 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Referrals Made to Area Businesses/ Click Throughs Made to Area Businesses

1,332

Percent Change YOY

-54%

Mail Fulfillment

Website Hits

8,183

-36%

Source: VERB Interactive

Source: VERB Interactive

3,780

Percent Change YOY

Vacation Planners and Golf Planners Distributed Source: Kennickell Fulfillment / HHIB Chamber of Commerce

For the Q4 2019-2020 timeframe, our organization’s events included 55 virtual meetings, 2 Help4Hope distributions in Bluffton and the annual Chamber Business Golf Classic at Oldfield Golf Club.

Participation in Events

by Chamber Members

Events Held

62

6,897

Public Relations Efforts IMPRESSIONS

651,487,530

AD VALUE

$2,782,441

STORIES AND MENTIONS

APRIL Golf.com (UVPM: 376,310)

MAY TravelAndLeisure.com (UVPM: 2,395,366)

JUNE CNTraveler.com (UVPM: 925,425)

UPROXX.com (UVPM: 1,079,889)

BusinessInsider.com (UVPM: 35,370,424)

MSN.com (UVPM: 69,470,745)

SouthernLiving.com (UVPM: 1,693,427)

272

BusinessInsider.com (UVPM: 35,370,424) Source:Weber Shandwick

4 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

Q4 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Quarterly Social Report Performance •

Our most successful boosted Facebook post received over 3K engagements, had a 45.9% engagement rate, and was the top post within our competitor landscape during the quarter.

•

On Facebook we saw a 5.1% increased in following over the previous period.

•

The top performing tweet of Q4 was another stunning photo of a Bluffton sunrise, which resulted in 20 engagements in total.

•

Our Instagram audience grew by nearly 20% while seeing an increase in total comments as well. Content that contained call-to-actions such as “Hot coffee or iced coffee? Let us know your summertime pick in the comments” garnered the most attention.

FACEBOOK PAGE LIKES

7,669

INSTAGRAM FOLLOWED BY

1,773

TWITTER FOLLOWERS

620

B V A

FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENTS

324,438

INSTAGRAM ENGAGEMENTS

114,665

TWITTER ENGAGEMENTS

415

Source: VERB Interactive

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 5

Q4 2019-2020 PERFORMANCE METRICS Quarterly Social Report Insights & Recommendations •

Our Bluffton social media audience continues to be composed of primarily female users (74.7%) age 55+.

We’ve seen the most growth in our 35-44 demographic this quarter, which has increased by 164.2% over the Jan-Mar period.

•

Top Cities: Charlotte, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York and Raleigh

•

Competitor Landscape: We were the landscape leader for Social Audience growth this quarter, ranking 1st of 6 companies in our landscape.

•

Popular hashtags this quarter included many special “days” like #EarthDay2020 and #WorldHeritageDay. Consider including upcoming celebration hashtags in next quarter’s content when appropriate.

•

Posts about local business accompanied by calls-to action such as “what’s your favorite brunch?” or “do you like your coffee hot or iced?” are performing best, so we’ll continue to boost community engagement on Instagram using these tactics.

Most Growth 35-44 Demographic

74.7% Female

6 | Bluffton Quarterly Update

25.3% Male

164.2% Jan - Mar 2020 Source: VERB Interactive

QUARTERLY BUDGET HILTON HEAD ISLAND - BLUFFTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INC. DESTINATION MARKETING ORGANIZATION FOR THE TOWN OF BLUFFTON QUARTERLY REPORT SCHEDULE OF FUNCTIONAL REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES, APRIL 1, 2020 - JUNE 30, 2020 UNAUDITED

BLUFFTON ACCOMMODATIONS TAX

Revenues - Town of Bluffton DMO Town of Bluffton Special Grant - Special

$

218,920 25,000

Total Revenue

243,920

Expenses: Bluffton Fulfillment (estimated) Vacation Planner (estimated) Digital Promotions - Social Media Digital Promotions - Website/SEO Digital Promotions - Google/Facebook Leisure Marketing (Southern Living) Leisure Marketing (Departures Magazine) Leisure Marketing - Other Town of Bluffton Grant - Special Projects Bluffton Visitor Research Total direct marketing expenses

3,950 8,437 37,200 15,000 27,428 31,100 14,850 49 25,000 1,000 164,013

Administrative (Based on 36.5% of ATAX revenues, excluding supplemental funding) Salaries Payroll taxes Employee benefits - 401K Employee benefits - Insurance Operations - Other Operations - Building Expense Total administrative Total expenses

54,817 3,908 2,741 5,605 9,081 3,754 79,906 243,919

Excess of revenues over expenses

0

Notes: As of August 13, 2020, these financials are unaudited & are subject to change.

Financials will not be considered final until audit completion and Board approval in September 2020.

Important Note on Estimated Costs: The Vacation Planner/Fulfillment are shared expenses with 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.

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 7

MEET YOUR TEAM Executive

Communications

Connie Killmar Assistant to the President ckillmar@hiltonheadisland.org

Hallie Martin Communications Manager hmartin@hiltonheadisland.org

Bill Miles President & CEO bmiles@hiltonheadisland.org

Charlie Clark Vice President, Communications cclark@hiltonheadisland.org

Shelby Wielgus Public Relations Coordinator swielgus@hiltonheadisland.org

Finance & Administration Ray Deal Controller rdeal@hiltonheadisland.org

Kelly McCallister Assistant Controller kmccallister@hiltonheadisland.org

Visitor & Convention Bureau Ariana Pernice Vice President, Visitor & Convention Bureau apernice@hiltonheadisland.org Kayla Boyter Senior Marketing Manager kboyter@hiltonheadisland.org Kim Nelson Sales Manager knelson@hiltonheadisland.org Zack Shedd Multimedia Sales Manager zshedd@hiltonheadisland.org Alyssa Whitehouse Creative Manager awhitehouse@hiltonheadisland.org Cristian Slaton Research & Digital Marketing Coordinator cslaton@hiltonheadisland.org

Information Specialist Kathy Winings Information Specialist kwinings@hiltonheadisland.org

TM

8 | Bluffton Quarterly Update