Town of Bluffton Q3 Industry Metrics & Update

Q3 2020-2021

Town of Bluffton Industry Metrics & Update

TM

Bluffton Quarterly Update | 1

Q3 2020-2021 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 Q3 2020-2021.

Town Council Presentation • Ariana Pernice, Vice President of the Visitor & Convention Bureau, presented to Town Council on March 9, 2021 about marketing efforts and performance for Q2 (October - December 2020).

Bluffton Video Series A dedicated YouTube channel was added to the Explore Bluffton social assets. The seven videos produced showcase the Bluffton locals’ perspectives on the destination from a tourism lens. A campaign for promotion in conjunction with website integration is being finalized. An overview video pulling highlights from all videos is also in final development.

ExploreBlufftonSC

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Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS & UPDATE Dedicated Official Bluffton Vacation Planner • Developed and captured content for the Official Bluffton Vacation Planner.

• Worked with Destination Creative Group on layout and design.

• Proofed and edited multiple rounds.

The final pdf will be sent to the printer mid May with books in hand the week following. There will be 3,000 ordered for distribution.

Research Ongoing conversations with the College of Charleston and University of South Carolina Beaufort to understand and move towards capturing and reporting metrics within the contract. We are currently finalizing the visitor profile study survey for implementation and the process for capturing data at Bluffton events.

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Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS & UPDATE

• Island Escapes Issue (January / February) • Full-page brand ad • Receive weekly leads from Southern Living • Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and the Midwest

917,000 Distributed

Ribbon Cuttings Promoted and supported 7 ribbon cuttings for this quarter (Jan / Feb / March) with local business chamber members: Burnt Church Distillery, Smart Company Kids Zone, Maggie & Me, Hilton Head Christian Academy, the Southern Cafe at Old South Golf Links, GHC Hospice and Tio’s Bluffton.

Burnt Church Distillery

Smart Company Kids Zone

Maggie and Me

Tio’s Bluffton

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Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS As the official Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for the Town of Bluffton and based on our official contract, below are the quarterly metrics for the timeframe of January 1, 2021 - March 31, 2021. These quarterly metrics are defined in the contract under section 2, item 2.1, letters (a) through (l).

OCC: Occupancy Rates JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

42.1%

48.6%

71.5%

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

1.2%

16.4%

56.1%

ADR: Average Daily Rate JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

$188.97

$234.91

$312.56

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

31.0%

37.5%

86.4%

RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

$79.56

$114.11

$223.43

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

Percent Change YTD

29.4%

14.9%

191.0%

RevPAR, OCC and ADR Source: Smith Travel Research: Monthly Trends Report YoY

Mail Fulfillment

26,187 Vacation Planners and Golf Planners Distributed Source: Kennickell Fulfillment / HHIB Chamber of Commerce

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Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS & UPDATE Dedicated Standalone Bluffton Website At the end of March, VisitBluffton.org as a standalone website went live. Prior to this, work was done internally to ensure the launch was smooth with content and imagery reviewed. The website is still being fine tuned and enhanced. Note that the numbers below are from prior to the launch of VisitBluffton.org.

Referrals / Click Throughs Made to Area Businesses

5,423 17.84%

Percent Change YOY

Source: Google Analytics / VERB Interactive

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Website Hits

28,497 55%

Percent Change YOY

Source: Google Analytics / VERB Interactive

Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS Q2 Events For the Q3 2021 timeframe, our organization’s events included Tele-Town Halls, Coffee Chats, Ribbon Cuttings, Get Smart Series, Public Policy, Golf Classic and Conversation + Cocktails.

Participation in Events

by Chamber Members

Events Held

18

2,889 Public Relations Efforts

IMPRESSIONS

AD VALUE

3,822,535,020 $3,899,817.43

STORIES AND MENTIONS

1,016

Source: Critical Mention / BurrellesLuce / Weber Shandwick

JANUARY Yahoo Lifestyle (UVPM: 149,324,782) - 18 Romantic Escapes for a Valentine’s Day Getaway Food & Wine (UVPM: 24,094,245) - 7 Hotels That Will Restore You After a Long Year

FEBRUARY Travel + Leisure (UVPM: 2,005,222) - Travel + Leisure 500 Conde Nast Traveler (UVPM: 1,069,148) - 9 Unforgettable Family Vacation Ideas

MARCH MSN Sports (UVPM: 67,151,557) - Best Golf Resorts In The Americas MSN Travel (UVPM: 67,151,557) - These Are the 16 Best Resorts in the South Source: Weber Shandwick

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Q3 2020-2021 PERFORMANCE METRICS Quarterly Social Report Performance • Paid: Paid efforts drove almost 16K website sessions (+30% from 12K last quarter). This can be attributed to the increase in spend, boosting metrics such as impressions which facilitate sessions.

• Facebook: Q3 saw growth in Total Fans (+35%), Organic Impressions (+119%), Likes (+8.7%), Comments (+41.5%), and other engagement-related KPIs. More people were sharing our posts (+5.6%), as well. Our Engagement Rate was 3.27% (vs. 0.09% industry avg.).

• Twitter: Top Tweets this quarter included a congratulations to Montage Palmetto Bluff on an award win and a grand opening congratulations to Burnt Church Distillery.

• Instagram: Followers grew by 959 users this quarter, with all of our engagement-related KPIs increasing: Comments (+29%) and Likes (+26%).

FACEBOOK PAGE LIKES

16,386

123%

INSTAGRAM FOLLOWED BY

4,002

164%

TWITTER FOLLOWERS

619

14.6%

FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENTS

95,202

77.6%

INSTAGRAM ENGAGEMENTS

10,781

402.4%

TWITTER ENGAGEMENTS

369

11%

Source: Sprout Social / VERB Interactive

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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, JANUARY 1, 2021 - MARCH 31, 2021 BLUFFTON ACCOMMODATIONS TAX

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

$

181,644 181,644

Expenses: Bluffton Fulfillment (estimated) Vacation Planner (estimated) Vacation Planner (Bluffton only Guide) Digital Promotions - Social Media Digital Promotions - Website/SEO Digital Promotions - Google/Facebook Photography Leisure Marketing - Other Bluffton Visitor Research Total direct marketing expenses

3,750 9,000 9,000 11,350 5,625 7,067 3,174 805 250 50,021

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

46,106 3,287 2,305 4,714 7,638 3,157 67,208

Total expenses

117,229

Excess of revenues over expenses

64,415

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.

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MEET YOUR TEAM Executive

Communications

Visitor & Convention Bureau

President & CEO bmiles@hiltonheadisland.org

Vice President, Communications cclark@hiltonheadisland.org

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

Bill Miles

Connie Killmar

Assistant to the President ckillmar@hiltonheadisland.org

Charlie Clark

Hallie Martin

Communications Manager hmartin@hiltonheadisland.org

Lilly Strickland

Ariana Pernice

Kayla Boyter

Senior Marketing Manager kboyter@hiltonheadisland.org

Visual Content Manager lstrickland@hiltonheadisland.org

Kim Nelson

Finance & Administration

Zack Shedd

Ray Deal

Controller rdeal@hiltonheadisland.org

Kelly McCallister

Assistant Controller kmccallister@hiltonheadisland.org

Information Specialist Kathy Winings

Sales Manager knelson@hiltonheadisland.org

Multimedia Sales Manager zshedd@hiltonheadisland.org

Alyssa Whitehouse

Creative Manager awhitehouse@hiltonheadisland.org

Cristian Slaton

Research & Digital Marketing Coordinator cslaton@hiltonheadisland.org

Information Specialist kwinings@hiltonheadisland.org

Laura Higgins

Information Specialist lhiggins@hiltonheadisland.org

TM

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