New marketing plans for Sidney will encourage visitors to "come get your share" of all that the community has to offer.
Sidney's Business Improvement Area (BIA) gave town councillors a brief overview of their branding and marketing plans last night, which carry the tagline of "Distinctly Sidney" and the catchphrase, "Come Get Your Share" which they say can be paired with some of the community's selling points, such as relaxation, shopping, memories and culture. Angus Matthews, the BIA's marketing committee chair, says the organization put in hundreds of hours in developing the brand and the marketing plan they plan to target to audiences mostly outside of Sidney.
"We looked at other options like Sidney-By-The Sea, but we went back to the people, setting and offerings outline to come up with this base concept," he explained.
This brand, he continued, will be used in advertising in magazines, Google ads and tourism publications targeted to potential visitors in Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle. Those are the three core gateway markets the BIA is focusing on with approximately 31 per cent of its budget. Sixty-nine per cent will be spent in local (Capital Regional District) marketing.
In a further breakdown of their advertising spending, BIA executive director Oleene Herman presented graphics that showed an emphasis (59 per cent) on online advertising for out-of-area markets and a 50-50 split between online and offline ads in the local region.
The BIA plans to begin marketing of Sidney, some of its more prominent businesses and events, July 22 with information on happenings in town between July 28 and September 8. They plan on using a combination of media ads and articles, displays at the lineups for B.C. Ferries, the Coho Ferry and Washington State Ferries, video displays at the Victoria airport, Facebook, a new website, a smart phone app (in development) a billboard and even a transit bus wrap to be unveiled July 24.
Matthews added the promotional material is starting with some of the more prominent Sidney businesses in its initial launch and will be as inclusive as possible as it rotates new material into its marketing plans.
Mayor Larry Cross says the branding material is sophisticated and added he is impressed with the work done by the BIA.
"The branding material is reflective of where Sidney wants to be," Cross said.