HomeMy WebLinkAbout09232019 City Council Laydown - Chamber of Commerce Report / 922-
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Report to COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
Seward Chamber of Commerce. CVB. Cindy Clock
New Chamber members this month:
The Lone Chicharron Taqueria, Shearwater Cove, Artist Studio BnB, Kara Troglin Yoga
Wasn't it great having the Navy here? From what I heard; we can expect the Navy to
be more of a presence here in the great state of Alaska. Our chamber reception for
Rear Admiral Scott Gray was small but perfect all the same. I came away with a Naval
coin from the Admiral that I've been showing off shamelessly.
Aisha Bouziane, our Membership Director will be our guest speaker at this week's
Chamber Lunch. "Launching the new Simple View Member Portal". Thursday at the
Breeze Inn, noon to 1:00 pm.
Events and planning have started for AK Start-Up Week Nov 18-24
"From Ideas to Reality" on 11/24 at the Community Library is on the calendar.
Successful SBA visit & presentation at the library — "Elevating Rural" last Thursday.
We can look forward to more visits from SBA — who knows — Maybe they'll solve the
Airport conundrum! It's all about grants :)
That wraps up the membership portion of my report, next we'll transition to the Visit
Seward Program portion—
Media relations: We hosted the first-ever cohort of Brazilian media traveling to Alaska
through Brand USA, our national destination marketing organization. The group
included a mix of qualified journalists and influencers. During their day trip to Seward,
they went on a wildlife and glacier cruise, and had dinner with Jen Leahy to discuss
opportunities to increase visitation from the Brazilian market. Jen is providing follow-up
support as the team works to develop stories from their trip.
Paid media: This is the time of year when we evaluate many of our options for paid
community promotion in 2020. Jen and the Visit Seward program committee are busy
identifying the best opportunities to reach our target audience, including high-value
visitors and marine trades customers.
Destination guide: Planning is underway for the 2020 destination guide. The overall
look and feel will be similar to the 2019 guide, but we plan to introduce new photos and
content every year to keep the publication fresh and relevant. The 2020 guide will be
available in January. If your business has extra copies of the 2019 guide, please bring
them to the Chamber so we can re-distribute them. Our Anchorage-based distributor is
out of our guides because they've been flying off the shelves this year. Visit Anchorage
also reports that our guide is the most popular piece of outside collateral at their visitor
centers.
Website: We recently completed a soft-launch of the new Seward.com. Expect more
original content and stronger functionality from the all-new website, slated to launch
next year. In the meantime, we're hearing positive feedback about the cleaner, more
intuitive design of the interim website. Feel free to contact us with feedback anytime
at visitseward@aseward.com
Jen & Aisha are getting ready to attend the Alaska Travel Industry Assoc fall conference
in Juneau Oct 7-11. ATIA is known for bringing great speakers, informative breakout
sessions and addressing the latest travel trends. And for networking — you can't beat
this conference.
We are working on a brand-new marketing proposal that will be submitted to PACAB for
review, then to City Admin and Council soon. The proposal will be a narrative that will
accompany the proposed budget. We are proud to have talented & experienced staff on
board for this project.
And finally — thank you to all the candidates, volunteers and interested community
members for making Meet the Candidates Night a memorable one.
Use your voice — Vote!