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VLMDAC March Meeting PresentationVLMDAC BOARD MEETING MARCH 17, 2022 Agenda INFORMATION & DISCUSSION UPDATES •Monthly Financial Report (5 minutes), Carlie Smith, Town of Vail • DestiMetrics Report (5 minutes), Chris Romer, VVP BOARD DECISIONS/APPROVALS •Supplemental Budget Recommendation (45 minutes), All Partners INFORMATION & DISCUSSION UPDATES •Campaign Production Updates (5 minutes), Cactus •Travel Classics Update (15 minutes), Kristin Yantis, MYPR •Town of Vail Updates (5 minutes), Mia Vlaar & Jeremy Gross, Town of Vail •Other Business MINUTES •VLMDAC January 20 and February 17 Minute Approval •Action Requested of Council MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT Vail Local Marketing District Annual Revenues/Expenditures Revenue Adj Proposed: + $450K Lodging Tax Rev; Flat with 2021 Actual Collections New Fund Balance: $2.75M; $1.68M available over 25% Priority 1 Supplemental Budget Priority 2 Supplemental Budget DESTIMETRICS UPDATE SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET RECOMMENDATION REQUEST 2022 Business Goal + Marketing Priorities BUSINESS GOAL: Drive responsible revenue growth in Vail by focusing on quality of guest, length of stay, and guest spend, along with effective communication of community values. Measurement continues to be through occupancy and average daily rate, lodging and sales tax revenues, especially during lower demand time periods. MARKETING PRIORITIES: ●Optimize Visitation: Maximize longer stays and higher spend ●Grow Database & Build the Relationship: Use Data to understand our guest to enhance engagement & loyalty ●Destination Stewardship: Protecting and sustaining our natural assets and resources while elevating the guest and resident experience. ●Brand Positioning: Position Vail as the Premier International Mountain Resort Community and define, support and deliver on the brand in working with community partners. Supplemental / Data Priority 1: 3rd Party Append •EXISTING •Majority (~90%) of current database records (130k) are only email address and zip code •WHAT •Use Epsilon to append name and address to existing email database (expect ~50% match rate) •Use Epsilon to append demographic and psychographic data to database (~20%-90% match rate by field) •Additional Analytics and CRM support from BAAG to leverage new data •Profile reports that compare our database to Epsilon’s 200M consumer database across demographics and transactions •KPIs •Enables 1:1 marketing and grows the depth of our database •Grow # of records with demographic information, leading to higher engagement rates in email •BUDGET REQUESTED •$60,000 Supplemental / Data Priority 1: Data-Driven Media/Measurement Pilot •EXISTING •Existing media efforts run by Cactus and leveraging Adara for measurement of associated hotel spend •WHAT •Identify an additional data partner to reach past and likely visitors to Vail (via cross-device display and video campaign) with more sophisticated look-alike modeling (include competitive spend and visitation to similar destinations) •Measurement of campaign success will provide a more holistic view of in-town spend •Pilot this concept with one campaign in order to measure success and evaluate the opportunity to run future media spend through this channel •KPIs •Enables 1:1 Marketing to a new audience of prospective visitors •Drive site and town visitation and measurable spend with town merchants •BUDGET REQUESTED •$50,000 (incremental media campaign run through TBD data partner) Supplemental / Data Priority 1: Email Acquisition •EXISTING •All emails sent to our own database, comprised primarily of WiFi users and Newsletter signups •WHAT •Purchase two email acquisition lists from Epsilon (~June and ~October) with 100k contacts each •Contacts are based on look-alike modeling from our existing database •Additional Analytics and CRM support from BAAG to email acquired lists •KPIs •Enables 1:1 marketing with broader reach than our current database allows •Drive town visitation and grow the # of records in our database •BUDGET REQUESTED •$19,000 Supplemental / Data Priority 1: In Village Acquisition •EXISTING •Acquisition of new customer records in-village is limited to WiFi signups and event attendance •WHAT •Create in-village marketing efforts to drive newsletter signups and website visitation through targeted collateral •KPIs •Enables 1:1 marketing by growing the # of records in our database •Drives website visitation and engagement •BUDGET REQUESTED •$12,500 Supplemental / Content Priority 1: Create & Optimize •EXISTING •Current support for content strategy, frequency, implementation, and focus on SEO is insufficient to drive the organic search results for keywords that we should be owning and we are significantly underperforming in our competitive set. •WHAT •Partner: Bring in an existing Brown Analytics partner, 20North, whose principal is Kelly Ladyga, former Eagle County resident and 20+ year employee of Vail Resorts ending her tenure there as the head of corporate PR •Kick-off: Remediate existing tagging and implementation issues on the site and create a new standard by training all content creators on a new process to align with an ongoing and effective keyword driven strategy •Content: Create our keyword strategy, an editorial calendar, 4 long-form blog posts per month, and the associated optimization on the site to maintain brand consistency and technical quality •Newsletters: Create new email templates to align with brand standards, move from one newsletter to three a month with additional segmentation and targeting, increased reporting and analytics against results •SEO: Constant monitoring and optimization of our keyword strategy aligned to and held accountable against our KPI’s with consistent reporting on results •KPIs •Capture data and build the guest relationship through effective engagement •SEO results, organic traffic, time on site, open rates, conversions •BUDGET REQUESTED •$149,350 Supplemental / Contingency Priority 1 •EXISTING •With recent reallocation of funds, contingency budget has decreased to $32,760 •WHAT •Replenish contingency with potential use for International, natural disaster, etc. •KPIs •To be determined based on use •BUDGET REQUESTED •$200,000 Supplemental / Mexico Priority 1: Research •EXISTING •Currently no research being conducting in Mexico •WHAT •Survey Mexico •Assess the viability of the Mexican market with the focus on high income (+100K), international travelers in Mexico. •Understand competition within US mountain resorts, where high end Mexican travelers are going in the U.S., and what they are looking for in their travel experiences. •Gauge familiarity with Vail and the level of existing knowledge about the destination. •KPIs •Total sample of 500 completed surveys with recommendations for future targeting and marketing. •BUDGET REQUESTED •$16,000 Supplemental / Mexico Priority 1: Santander Promotion •EXISTING •Currently are not engaged in any partnership promotions in Mexico •WHAT •Partner with Santander Credit Card company - they purchase 20+ mid-week September/October vacation packages to provide to top spending Credit Card clients •KPIs •Number of packages purchased •Reach of newsletter and other promotional materials to support the promo •BUDGET REQUESTED •$3,000 Supplemental / Content Priority 1: Photo Management ●EXISTING ●Dependant on Vail Resorts Brand Portal for asset storage ●WHAT ●Asset Management Tool that the VLMD has full control over with API connections for things like Wordpress and ActiveCampaign, strong sorting system, and easy to manage permissions for vendors/media/partners ●KPIs ●Increased number of outside vendors with access to tool ●All Town photos uploaded and accessible in one location ●BUDGET REQUESTED ●$25,000* *At highest based on 3 top management tools being considered. Supplemental / Mexico Priority 2: Social Campaign •EXISTING •Currently do not have a system for monitoring Mexico business in Vail. •WHAT •Social media campaign to track Mexico visitors through a photo contest activation with specific hashtag used in-market linked to a reward. •Focus on categories such as nature, dining, town, culture, sports/outdoors. •Also designed to drive engagement on DiscoverVail online networks and increase database sign ups. •KPIs •Number of people using the hashtag •Sign ups to the database and other online networks •BUDGET REQUESTED •$10,000 Supplemental / Mexico Priority 2: Late Season Media Buy •EXISTING •Currently only purchasing a media buy late spring/early summer •WHAT •Retail media buy that promotes a mid-week, fall offer •Partner with a wholesaler to develop the retail offer •KPIs •Number of offers consumed through the wholesale partner •Reach/impression of the media buy •BUDGET REQUESTED •$15,000 Supplemental / Influencer Priority 2: Hotel Co-Op Program ●EXISTING ●Micro/macro influencer program ●WHAT ●Pilot program - develop a co-op program to offset influencer hosting expenses at hotels. Expenses can include dining, activities, spa treatment and/or lodging costs. In return, influencers would be contracted to include DiscoverVail handles and hashtags in posts. ●KPIs ●Number of hotels that participate in the program ●Engagement of @DiscoverVail mentions in posts ●Organic growth in social media followers during the campaign ●BUDGET REQUESTED ●$20,000 ($1,500 fees/$18,500 expenses) Supplemental / In Resort Priority 2: Event Activation •EXISTING •Current budget covers event staff and $20,000 towards something if it is specific to Sustainability. •WHAT •Initial intention of event activation was a Dream interaction that draws in event participants, encouraging data collection and sharing •With the redo of the welcome center educational components, showcasing a sample of the enhancements will drive visitation to the welcome center and serve as guest education on sustainability. •KPIs •Welcome Center Visitation increase •Sustainability Quiz participation •BUDGET REQUESTED •*NA - Would like approval to move forward with the use of these already allocated funds *Recommendation to wait until 2023 to create something bigger and more permanent to closely align with the Destination Stewardship Plan Supplemental / Considered Not Recommended •MEGA INFLUENCER •Contract with one mega influencer (1M+ followers) to conduct a test compared to micro/macro recommendations - cost per impression and engagement •$420,000 for one influencer (same campaign request as micro/macro) •Not recommended due to overall cost and limited engagement stats of this influencer group Supplemental / Summary Priority 1 PRIORITY 1 Budget Request DATA 3rd Party Append $6,000 Transactional Data Media $50,000 Email Acquisition $12,500 EMAIL $19,000 CONTENT $149,350 MEXICO Research $16,000 Promotion $3,000 IN RESORT ACTIVATION $50,000 CONTINGENCY $200,000 TOTAL PRIORITY 1 XXXXXXXXXXX PRIORITY 1 Primary Partner Budget Request DATA: 3rd Party Append BAAG $60,000 DATA: Data-Driven Media BAAG $50,000 DATA: Email Acquisition BAAG $19,000 DATA: In-resort Acquisition BAAG $12,500 CONTENT: Create & Optimize BAAG $149,350 CONTENT: Asset Management TOV $27,000 MEXICO: Research TOV $16,000 MEXICO: Promotion MYPR $3,000 CONTINGENCY TOV $200,000 TOTAL PRIORITY 1 $536,850 Supplemental / Summary Priority 2 PRIORITY 2 Primary Partner Budget Request MEXICO: Social MYPR $10,000 MEXICO: Fall Media MYPR $15,000 INFLUENCER: Hotel Co-Op MYPR $20,000 IN-RESORT: Event Activation TOV $0 TOTAL PRIORITY 2 $45,000 Supplemental / Summary All Board to select which supplemental items to move forward with to be included in May 3 Supplemental Plan PRIORITY ITEM Primary Partner Budget Request 1 DATA: 3rd Party Append BAAG $60,000 1 DATA: Data-Driven Media BAAG $50,000 1 DATA: Email Acquisition BAAG $19,000 1 DATA: In-resort Acquisition BAAG $12,500 1 CONTENT: Create & Optimize BAAG $149,350 1 CONTENT: Asset Management TOV $27,000 1 MEXICO: Research TOV $16,000 1 MEXICO: Promotion MYPR $3,000 1 CONTINGENCY TOV $200,000 TOTAL PRIORITY 1 $536,850 2 MEXICO: Social MYPR $10,000 2 MEXICO: Fall Media MYPR $15,000 2 INFLUENCER: Hotel Co-Op MYPR $20,000 2 IN-RESORT: Event Activation TOV $0 TOTAL PRIORITY 2 $45,000 TOTAL COMBINED $581,850 Fund Balance Distribution Planning Board discussion on interest in creating a high level plan for use of the fund balance in future years. Examples include: •Data and Content Infrastructure •Implementation of Destination Stewardship Plan •Others to be discussed CAMPAIGN PRODUCTION UPDATE Website •More driven by visuals (vs. text) that align with our Dream campaign •Content is more aligned with our hero themes •We will be updating on a monthly basis so that content is new & fresh •A/B test TRAVEL CLASSICS UPDATE Travel Classics Update •MEDIA + EDITOR ATTENDEES •TASTE OF VAIL DINNER - SEPT. 23 •SPONSORSHIP UPDATE •PRE + POST CONFERENCE TRIPS •Wellness + Functional Living •Vail History, 10th Mountain Experience •Backcountry Llama Hike + Overnight •Insider’s Guide to Vail’s Hidden Photography Spots TOWN OF VAIL UPDATES MINUTES APPROVAL Thank you! Upcoming Meetings: VLMDAC Monthly Meeting, April 28, 2022; In Person at Grand View Room Town Council Meeting for Supplemental Request, May 3, 2022 APPENDIX 3RD PARTY DATA APPEND 3rd Party Data Append: Why Epsilon? •BAAG Explored 4 vendors: TowerData, Alesco (Acxiom), Aspire North (Experian) and Epsilon •Recommending Epsilon because they have transactional data available, best in class appends overall, the lowest price and we have an existing relationship with them that will provide us a higher service level than the other vendors Epsilon Data: •200M+ Unique id in the U.S. •7,000+ person-level attributes •56% of all U.S. non-cash transactions •Data vendor for many major brands in travel (including Marriott, Viking Cruise, United Airlines, Princess Cruise) and other verticals 3rd Party Data Append: What Do We Get? 30+ sources, 8 dimensions of data, thousands of available fields Suggested Psychographic Data a.Lifestyle: Camping/Hiking b.Lifestyle: Fishing c.Lifestyle: Skiing/Snowboarding d.Travel: Travel is USA e.Travel: Traveler f.Hobbies: Gourmet Foods g.Hobbies: Arts and Cultural Events Suggested Demographic Data a.Age b.Gender c.Marital Status d.Presence of Children by Age Range e.Income f.Discretionary Income g.Number of Adults h.Niches 5.0 (Persona Clusters) 3rd Party Data Append: Sample Profile Reports 3rd Party Data Append: Sample Profile Reports Epsilon NEI Case Study (Sample Media Vendor) Epsilon NEI Case Study (Sample Media Vendor) CONTENT CREATION & OPTIMIZATION What is Content? Digital content is considered any information that can be downloaded or distributed through electronic media. The quality of the content can affect a website’s rankings - positively or negatively - in search results. Google defines content as the overall quality of the website and includes everything from images, text, layout, page speed and other factors that relate to the user experience. Digital content includes the following: •SEO-Optimized Website Content •Keyword-Rich Blog Posts •Images, Infographics & Video •Keyword-Friendly URLs •Proper Meta Data •Emails & Newsletters SEO-Optimized Content = Increased Search Rankings = Increased Organic Website Traffic Discovervail.com Lags in Domain Authority, Traffic & Keywords 2021-2022 Organic Traffic Comparison Competitive Keyword Overlap Examples of Missed Keyword Opportunities Content Recommendations for Discovervail.com After reviewing the Discovervail.com, we recommend the following content strategies to 1) increase Discovervail.com’s ranking in keyword-based search results, and 2) drive increased organic website traffic. •Fix technical issues that affect how Google ranks your website experience. Good content will not rank well in search results unless technical issues (e.g. missing meta data, duplicate content, missing H1 tags, site speed) are fixed first. •Develop a list of keywords for content to rank for in search results. Conduct extensive keyword research and competitive research to develop a top 100 list of keywords for the content to rank for in search results. •Expand content on all top-level pages. Increase content on top-level pages to 750-1,000 words so that Google will rank them in search results. •Populate a blog page with relevant, unique content that people are searching for. Google rewards websites in search results with blog posts of 1,800 words on average, along with images and graphics. Create four 1,500-word blog posts a month on topics that people are searching for. Start with each of the activities under “Things to Do” and expand on them with specific details, images and infographics. •Rewrite image names. Visual search is becoming increasingly important and by properly naming images on the website and in blog posts with important keywords, you can drive increased organic website traffic. •Create newsletter content. Collaborate with Brown Analytics on content strategy and segmentation for newsletters. Develop content for 2-4 newsletters per month. 20North & Brown Analytics worked together for a Regional Eyecare Center with 14 locations to increase organic web traffic more than 150% and increase KPIs more than 85% in 12 months across their 4 websites. 20North & Brown Analytics Drive Conversions for Eye Care Clinics •When The Center Oregon Orthopedic & Neurosurgery Center retained 20North, they were only seeing 4,000 website visits per month. •20North grew their organic traffic to 70,000 visits per month through on-page and off-page SEO, and search-intent content that increased their authority. Today, The Center’s blog articles now rank on page 1 search results alongside the Mayo Clinic & WebMD. 20North Increases Web Traffic for The Center Oregon •20North developed a “Travel Journal” blog for Vapor Elemental Wear, a sun protection apparel company, and populates it with content about the outdoor activities that people can do while wearing their clothing. Examples of Travel/Lifestyle SEO-Optimized Content •20North developed the website, blog and all content for Moving To Bend, a partnership between the Bend Chamber of Commerce and Bend Relocation Services. The web content and blog feature everything about living, working and playing in Bend, Oregon Examples of Travel/Lifestyle SEO-Optimized Content Lee Ladyga Kelly Ladyga Austin Ball SEO, Content & Paid Media Experts 20North is an end-to-end digital agency with decades of experience in SEO, content, paid media and full stack web development. We help our clients grow their business with results-driven, multi-channel digital strategies. Kelly has spent 30 years leading communications & content marketing in travel/hospitality for Vail Resorts, Colorado Tourism Authority & Colorado Ski Country. An experienced program manager for the likes of Deloitte and TransVoyant, Austin applies a systematic approach to client success in all digital channels. With more than two decades of developing websites, Lee pioneered SEO & SEM strategies for his clients before they became mainstream in marketing today. •Proven track record delivering results. With more than 40 years of experience in digital marketing, PR and content marketing, we are singularly focused on driving organic and paid website traffic that leads to conversions. •21 positions - average aggregate keyword movement after first 30 days •4 pages on Google - average keyword aggregate movement in 90 days •Average ROI for Ecommerce after 90 days – 1.8—2.5x •Outstanding customer service. We take pride in our 94% client retention rate. We consider ourselves an extension of our client’s marketing team and are invested in the growth and success of their business. •Knowledge of Vail. Kelly has two decades of experience successfully promoting Vail as a year-round destination in the U.S. and abroad. •Strong relationships with key stakeholders in Vail. Over her career at Vail Resorts, Kelly has built strong ties within the company, Town of Vail and greater Vail Valley community. In addition, she has worked closely with other Town of Vail partners such as Malen Yantis PR. •A team of seasoned professionals is assigned to every client account , including SEO analysts, content marketing specialists and a customer success manager. Why 20North? ●Content is a critical component of SEO, from keyword-rich meta tags to relevant, engaging on-page content that ranks on page 1 of search results. ●Successful content begins with selecting the right keywords, and we recommend: o Identifying gaps on the current site o Understanding which keywords are driving traffic to the site o Examining keywords competitors are using o Conducting keyword research and determining keywords to use Good Content Begins with Keyword Strategy Pages with Short Titles 60 characters are allowed before Google truncates in the search results. 2 Pages w/ Duplicate Meta Descriptions Google penalizes for Duplicate content on pages 67 1 Too Much Text in Title Tags Google Allows 60 characters in the title tag before cutting it off. 4 Missing H1 Tags Header tags are a key component of onpage ranking factors. Exclusion of an H1 tag reduces ability to rank. 15 Pages with Missing Meta Description Pages without meta descriptions rely on Google to pull/create a description to show in the SERP. 19 Pages with Low Word Count Google likes content. Content pages should have 500-1,000 words on every page. Discovervail.com Content at a Glance See supporting excel sheets Thin Content Pages will Have Difficulty Ranking ●We recommend more content (up to 1,000 words) and internal linking on your top-level pages. ●Blogs should have a minimum of 1,500 words and original photos and infographics. (Google recommends 1,800 words on average.) ●In order to rank for primary keywords, the amount of content should be increased (minimum amount of content is based on keyword). Image Naming It is important for organic search results to label your images with SEO keywords. This will help with on- page keyword density and in Google image searches. Several of the image names on the site can be improved. Linking Overview Internal links, such as those from navigation or within content, help Google and other spiders understand what each page on the site is about. As a wesite owner, you have full control over the content to link, an opportunity that should not be squandered. ●Outbound links to other websites are a sign of a high quality experience. In simple terms, good websites link to other good websites. ●External links, or links from other websites, act as “votes” indicating that your site is good and providing an indication about the topic or theme of a website. ●External links differ greatly in value that they contribute to a website. Some of the factors include: ○The quality, or domain rating, of the website linking to your website. ○The page on the website from which the link originates. ○Whether the link is used within content or if it’s in a list of links. ○The words used in the link (anchor text) - “fleet tracking” adds more value than “click here”. ○Whether the link is a “follow” link or “nofollow” - follow links pass value, while nofollow links pass more limited value. Nofollow attributes in outgoing external links "Nofollow" links don’t pass any link juice or anchor texts to referred webpages.9 Links with no anchor text Google considers anchor text when indexing a page. A missing anchor represents a lost opportunity to optimize the performance of the linked-to page in search results. 53 5 Pages with only one internal link Having very few incoming internal links means very few visits, or even none, and fewer chances of placing in search results. Links w/non-descriptive anchor text This type of anchor provides little value to users and search engines as it doesn't provide any information about the target page. 8 Permanent redirects Every time you redirect one of your website's pages, it decreases your crawl budget, which may run out before search engines can crawl the page you want to be indexed. 9 Resources formatted as page links Search engines will crawl your site from page to page by following these HTML page links. When following a page link that contains a resource, for example, an image, the returned page will not contain anything except an image. 34 Discovervail.com Internal Linking at a Glance Discovervail.com Internal Link Distribution Redirect a larger percentage of internal links to “strong” pages in order to improve search results. Create Strategy to Gain More High Domain Backlinks Less than 11% of your total backlinks are 61 or higher. Work on obtaining a higher ratio of high domain backlinks. Discovervail.com’s Footer is Missing Valuable Links Discover Vail’s footer does not have links to specific pages on the site that are valuable for SEO. Discover Vail should utilize the footer to spread authority to valuable pages and increase the chances of critical sections of the site to rank higher. Telluride.com Discovervail.com Discovervail.com Link-Building Takeaways ●Focus on new backlink acquisition to balance and improve link profile. ●Leverage PR to generate high-quality backlinks from high-authority domains (e.g., Travel & Leisure). ●Implement a content marketing outreach strategy to create backlinks from other high-authority sites. ●Create a blog with relevant, shareable content to encourage more high-quality backlinks. SEO & Content Marketing Plan for Discovervail.com Below is a 6-month SEO/content marketing plan designed to improve site performance and based on our recommendations across different areas. Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Site Structure And Keyword Research Content Gap Analysis & Duplicate Content Check Google My Business Optimization High Risk Backlink Removal Site Speed Analysis and Recommendations Site Speed Fixes Up to 100 pages meta titles and descriptions Correct Techinical Issues Content Optimization for 5 sub level pages Content Optimization for 5 blog pages Content Optimization for 5 pages Content Optimization for 5 pages Optimize 30 images Content Optimization for 5 top level pages Structured Data Markup Analysis Conversion Optimazation Implementation Content Creation for 1 Additional Website Page Content Creation for 1 Additional Website Page Major Crawl of Site For Techinical Issues Google My Business Optimization Heatmap all Major Pages for UX/UI design for conversions Alt Tag Naming for Images Alt Tag Naming for Images Alt Tag Naming for Images Access Analytics and Set Up Tracking Competitive Research and Analysis Hihg Risk Backlink Review Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Write 1 Long From Blog with Creative Assets Linkbuilding Linkbuilding Linkbuilding Linkbuilding Linkbuilding Linkbuilding