Tucumcari sounds out tourism spending

The city of Tucumcari can reap $76,869 in advertising and promotion benefits for the current fiscal year while paying $29,836, according to Joanie Griffin, a principal in Sunny 505, the marketing firm the city has hired to help promote tourism in city.

Electronic media advertising and promotion through Facebook and other social media, internet radio, websites and email are expected to dominate the spending, Griffin said in a public work session for the Tucumcari City Commission on July 25, but the plan includes advertisements in the New Mexico Magazine and the New Mexico True Adventure Guide, published by the tourism department; Route, a Route 66 magazine; and billboards.

Included, Griffin said, is a public relations plan that includes access to the database of Go New Mexico, a firm that collects email addresses of people who have expressed interest in tourism in the Southwest.

Working with the New Mexico True brand of the tourism department has pros and cons, she said.

On the pro side, she said the overall New Mexico True campaign has been “record-breakingly successful.”

The campaign has reached audiences in Denver and Chicago, as well as other cities, she said, with messages that New Mexico is about “sightseeing and adventures.”

Tucumcari was also fortunate to be one of only 14 communities throughout the state to receive grant funds from New Mexico True, she said.

Another benefit, she said, is advertising through the tourism department brings discounts of up to 30 percent on rates because of the size of the state’s accounts.

The cons, she said, include a need to comply with New Mexico True guidelines that include prominent placement for the New Mexico True logo and assuring all advertising photography includes people.

“You can’t just show neon,” she said, “you have to show people.”

Also, she said, the grant is paid on a reimbursement basis, which means the city must spend the money first, then request reimbursement from the tourism department.

In all, she said, the city is set to receive $35,848 from the tourism department for the fiscal year that began July 1 and ends next June 30.

It includes $2,725 for a half-page “advertorial,” an article written for Tucumcari that appears in paid space, in print in the New Mexico Magazine and digital in the tourism department’s Destination Guide, as well as other posts.

The package also includes a half-page in the tourism department’s Adventure Guide, a print publication given away at New Mexico welcome stations at state borders and other tourist stops, valued at $4,148, as well as $11,500 in targeted email advertising and ads on Pandora, a popular music streaming site.

In addition, New Mexico True will assist with Facebook placements, article distribution and ad design credits, according to a document outlining how the money will be spent.

The city likely will be reimbursed $7,100 of $29,776 it spends for advertising not a part of the tourism department package, according to a document Griffin provided, leaving a net of $22,666 spent.

Because the city is spending $50,000 under contract with Sunny 505, Griffin said, that leaves $27,334 that can be spent on a public relations campaign, more social media advertising, updating websites and account management expenses, she said.

The PR campaign will include establishing and publishing an electronic newsletter that will take up $7,000 of the $10,000, the document indicated.

District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya said Tucumcari is getting effective competition from Santa Rosa, which is using more billboard space than Tucumcari to advertise its Wibit inflatable water playground attraction on the city’s Park Lake, as well as its famous Blue Hole, an 80-foot-deep artesian pool that stays clear and blue year round.

To get a hotel room in Santa Rosa, he said, “you have to call ahead. You don’t have to do that here.”

City Manager Britt Lusk said Tucumcari’s lake-related traffic tends to focus on visitors to Conchas Lake, about 35 miles from Tucumcari, rather than Ute Lake at Logan, because Logan has stores and restaurants not present at Conchas Lake.

Lusk said Tucumcari attractions such as the Mesalands Community College Dinosaur Museum and some local motels are keeping track of where visitors come from in preparation for setting up a database of names and addresses for electronic newsletter distribution.

District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis said his only complaint with the campaign is it tends to focus on one or two of the restaurants and motels in Tucumcari, when more should be featured.