Supervisors on board with tourism ads
Several members of the audience joined in as members of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors made decisions about upcoming advertisement content and placement.
Big Fish Creation owners Michael and Patty Clawson were before supervisors Tuesday, Feb. 4, reminding them it’s time to renew an ad in the local Plumas County Visitors Guide.
This year, besides a print ad, Patty Clawson was pitching the idea of promoting the wonders of Plumas County also on Facebook.
Taking the allotted budget supervisors approved last year, Patty Clawson suggested they could have a quarter page ad in the Visitors Guide and use the rest of the money toward a “like” digital Facebook ad.
The Visitors Guide is above average in its performance rate, Patty Clawson told supervisors. She predicted a “20 percent increase in website traffic during the duration” of the campaign which is late May and on.
Patty Clawson then showed supervisors two comps they could consider. One comp showed a scenic with the slogan “A new experience with every season.”
A second comp showed another scenic with the slogan, “It’s the great in the great outdoors.”
While looking at the two advertising choices, Plumas County Planning Department Director Tracey Ferguson told the board what she thought of the one with trees. Considering the ad, Ferguson, a newcomer to the area, said it gave her negative thoughts. She thought it was dark.
Plumas County Tax Collector/Treasurer Julie White also weighed in on the discussion as well as an unidentified woman — “It’s trees,” the latter person said.
A lot of California’s counties have trees that look just like the ones in the photo. White emphasized that on Facebook they could possibly put different ads on that people could maneuver to.
Turning back to splitting the campaign revenue, Supervisor Lori Simpson said about the Facebook proposal, “We haven’t done this before.”
Supervisor Kevin Goss said he too wanted to do Facebook along with the print ad. Supervisor Jeff Engel took the opportunity to remind everyone that the county doesn’t have any money.
By using the “like” campaign on Facebook, the Clawsons said that it is easy to track the ad’s response from the public. “It’s data we can use to better target our audience,” Mike Clawson explained.
The Plumas County Visitors Guide is distributed throughout the county and is placed in all rented rooms, restaurants and other locations. It is distributed throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada and distributed to sportsman conventions in Sacramento and Reno. It is also available on Feather Publishing’s website.
Facebook is available to anyone with a cell phone who joins it. The Clawsons stated that Facebook has a worldwide membership of 1.49 billion.
A “like” campaign is paid advertising aimed at increasing the number of likes from the viewers.
