The Wrightsville Beach Marketing Advisory Committee has agreed to shift its advertising strategy during fiscal year 2015-16 from a shoulder season push to a year-round brand awareness campaign. During the committee’s April 22 meeting, it heard from its partner agencies how that shift in strategy would affect the coming year’s media plan.
The county has not yet completed its budget, so the plan is based on 2014’s numbers, said Shawn Braden, Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau vice president of marketing. A proposal being considered by the Tourism Development Authority to hold back room occupancy tax funds every year to be used in the event of a catastrophic storm adds further uncertainly to the town’s marketing budget.
Regardless of potential changes in the final budget, Clean Design media planner Steve Kelly said the main shift from last year’s campaign is to distribute the marketing efforts more evenly throughout the year. It won’t be an entirely equal spread — less money will be spent in the peak of summer and the middle of winter, he said — but the focus will be on driving a general increase in awareness for what Wrightsville Beach offers.
Natalie Best, executive vice president of public relations firm French West Vaughan, said the town’s social media budget would focus more on Facebook and Instagram.
She said, especially with the shift in message from accessibility to destination, it makes sense to direct efforts into social media platforms that center around striking visuals. She also recommended spending money on Facebook ads now that changes in the platform’s algorithm make it harder to reach fans organically.
Part of the marketing budget will also go to print ads, Kelly said, but he recommended purchasing full-page ads rather than half-page ads, which tend to get lost on the page.
The agencies also stressed the importance of video as a way of marketing the beauty of the beach. Kelly said consumers use videos to figure out where to vacation as well as during the planning phase of the trip.
“People are consuming more and more video every day,” Kelly said. “It’s one of the fastest growing ways to consume content and even more so through a mobile device.”
Braden said the town is currently filming GoPro videos to be released in May on the beach’s YouTube channel. Short clips will also be used for pre-roll advertising, or promotional video messages that precede content a user selects.
By the committee’s May 12 meeting, the county will have approved its budget, Braden said, so during that meeting the agencies will present even more specific recommendations that fit within the actual budget.
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