CITY COUNCIL
Arroyo Grande Tourism Business
Improvement District
Marketing Report
FY 2024-25
9/23/2025
City of Arroyo Grande
City Council
Assessment Report:
• AGMC and the Streets and
Highways Code
• Boundaries and lodging
establishments
• FY Financial Summaries
• Levy assessment
• Compliance
9/23/2025
Marketing Report:
• Performance of
activities funded by
AGTBID
• Campaigns/initiatives
• Marketing outcomes
• Partnerships/public
relations
• Support tourism
growth
Alignment: FY, Reports & TOT
City of Arroyo Grande
City Council 9/23/2025
• Marketing Partner: Commune Communication
• Initiatives
o Visit Arroyo Grande Website
o Advertising Campaigns
o Social Media
o Email Marketing
• Results
• Increased Website Visitation
• Engagements through Social Media
• Increased reach through Paid Media
Marketing FY 2024-25
City of Arroyo Grande
City Council 9/23/2025
• Receive and file the Tourism Marketing Report FY 2024- 25 presented by Commune Communication • Find that the recommended actions are not subject to
the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”)
because these efforts have no potential to result in either a direct, or reasonably foreseeable indirect, physical
change in the environment. (State CEQA Guidelines, §§
15060 (c)(2) and (3), 15378).
Recommendations
COMMUNE +
Visit Arroyo Grande
FY 24/25
Marketing Report
CITY OF ARROYO GRANDE
MARKETING
OBJECTIVES
Attract new visitors from top feeder
markets an increase Arroyo Grande’s
share of overnight stays within the
broader SLO County region.
COMMUNICATIONS GOAL
We need to ignit e a spa rk that makes
people wa nt t o visit our a rea , while giving
t hem a clea r rea son to choose Arroyo
Grande over a ll t he ot her opt ions a va ila ble
STRATEGY
The FY24/25 strategic plan focuses on
paid media outreach optimized toward
driving visitation, driving advocacy,
and tapping into current travel
inspiration trends.
Beginning in Q2, we shifted our media mix and marketing activities to prioritize paid media investment targeted to new, potentia l visitors a nd de-prioritized ma rketing a ctivities ta rgeting known a udiences a nd the loca l community.
The pa id media mix is now being optimized towa rds cha nnels tha t a re effective a t driving visita tion to Arroyo Gra nde a s tra cked by mobile device IDs.
FY 20 25
Orga nic Mix
52.5%Or ga nic Socia l
8.5% E-Newslet t er
39% Blog
MEDIA MIX COMPARISON
WHERE WILL GROWTH COME FROM?
GROW
High volume markets with lower per - capita visitation, suggesting opportunity for growth
○ Los Angeles
○ San Francisco
○ Sacramento
○ San Diego
NURTURE
Low / Mid volume markets with high per - capita
visitation, suggesting a high conversion opportunity
○ Fresno
○ Monterey / Salinas
○ Bakersfield LOS
ANGELES
SAN DIEGO
SAN
FRANCISCO
SACRAMENTO
FRESNO
MONTEREY
BAKERSFIELD
COMPLETED
INITIATIVES
Spanning from strategic marketing
campaigns and agency partnerships to
community engagement and
operational improvements, the TBID is
committed to enhancing Arroyo
Grande's appeal as a premier Central
Coast destination.
Secured a ds in
regiona l a nd t ra vel
publica t ions
La unched a t a lent
sea rch ca mpa ign t o
source loca l
ambassadors
Bra nd building wit h
orga nic blog cont ent
Established a new blog workflow
The Visit Arroyo Gra nde content
libra ry grew significa ntly with the
la unch of a new blog workflow,
publishing two SEO-optimized posts
per month beginning in Ma y a nd June.
Topics included a historica l itinera ry of
the town, a n overview of Arroyo
Gra nde’s coa sta l cha rm, a guide for
pla nt lovers, a nd tips for enjoying a
farm-fresh summer.
Bra nd building wit h
orga nic socia l cont ent
Increased our social media posting
cadence
We produced 18–20 pieces of orga nic
content monthly for Insta gra m a nd
Fa cebook, enha ncing our presence a nd
driving enga gement a cross both
pla tforms including event promotions,
holida y celebra tions, a nd emergency
response messa ging for the LA fires.
Sloca l edit ion of t he
monopoly boa rd
game
Our swinging bridge and lopez lake are
fea tured in a custom sloca l edition of
the monopoly boa rd ga me, which is for
sa le online a nd reta ilers a cross the
region.
Pa rt icipa t ed in a n
influencer
pa rt nership wit h cct c
ca lifornia gold pa ss
Complet ed a phot o
a nd video shoot t o
support t he “t ime well
spent ” crea t ive
ca mpa ign
Pa rt icipa t ed in visit
slo ca l’s “unpa cking”
socia l media video
series
Kept a cit y informed
during bridge
const ruct ion
Throughout the much-needed Tra ffic Wa y bridge construction project, we kept residents a nd visitors up to da te on loca l business a ccess with a comprehensive outrea ch ca mpa ign. Ta ctics included regula r socia l media upda tes, a dedica ted blog pa ge, a recurring section in the Visit Arroyo Gra nde newsletter, a specia l construction upda te la nding pa ge, a nd printed flyers distributed loca lly.
SUPPORTED
SPONSORS FOR
THE HOLIDAYS
This year, our budget included
sponsorships for residents a nd
experiences ma king spirits brighter
during the holida y sea son, including
$3,50 0 for Sa nta ’s Ma gica l Villa ge a nd
$5,0 0 0 for Christma s Lights in the
Villa ge.
Developed firstever billboa rd
ca mpa ign
To promote mid -week sta ys a nd hotel
specia ls, we developed a suite of
custom colla tera l—flyers, coa sters,
a nd ta ble tents—fea turing clever copy
a nd a n eleva ted visua l style ta ilored to
ea ch pa rticipa ting property.
Tested new
ca mpa ign crea t ive
We launched over half a dozen new
digita l a d crea tives, testing va ria tions
in copy, visua ls, a nd fea tured
a ttra ctions. Through a da ta -driven
a pproa ch, we eva lua ted performa nce
ba sed on metrics like click-through
ra te, cost per click, a nd enga gement.
The top-performing concept—“Tha t’s
Arroyo Gra nde”—is set to la unch ea rly
in the new fisca l yea r.
Developed new
ca mpa ign concept
In an effort to further differentiate
Arroyo Gra nde from other regiona l
destina tions, Commune developed a
fresh, distinctive tourism ca mpa ign
concept. With the help of loca l ta lent
recruited via socia l cha nnels to model
in the a ds themselves, the ca mpa ign
ca ptured the unique, a uthentic cha rm
of Arroyo Gra nde—brea king the
common conventions of tourism
a dvertising to ma ke Arroyo Gra nde
sta nd out in the region. Commune
tested ca mpa ign visua ls a nd crea tive
copy hea dlines to uncover the highestperforming a ssets, lea ding to our winning “Tha t’s Arroyo Gra nde”
ca mpa ign, sla ted for la unch la ter this
yea r.
Arroyo Grande TBID engaged Commune Communica tion
a s their new a gency of record for ma rketing
communica tions
La unched new pa id media stra tegy a nd a ttribution model Pa rticipa ted in the Co-Op ma rketing test with Sojern to mea sure the economic impa ct of ma rketing a ctivity
Colla bora ted with Visit SLO CAL a nd Visit Ca lifornia , covering topics including “Wha t’s New in 20 25”, “New
Yea r’s Eve Celebra tions”, a nd the “CA Ca lenda r.”
Addit iona l
complet ed init ia t ives
Pa rticipa ted in Visit SLO CAL Tra vel & Tourism Customer Service Tra ining
Supported the CCTC Fa m Trip Influencer with Discover
Ca lifornia .
Supported the CCTC Fa m Trip Influencer with Discover
Ca lifornia .
Secured a d pla cement in Edible Ma ga zine (Winter Digita l Issue) with a n illustra ted holida y ma p
Hosted Lisa Gipson from Sa n Diego Fa mily Ma ga zine helping genera te covera ge with the importa nt fa mily tra veler demogra phic.
Pa rtnering with Visit SLO CAL on the Turns Well Ta ken ca mpa ign, contributing to pre-production pla nning for a 30 - second TV commercia l
RESULTS TO
DATE
The AGTBID initiated a new
attribution model for paid media,
tracking the incremental impact of
paid placements on visitation to
Arroyo Grande and our member
hotels. This data, along with
occupancy and TOT reporting
provides a more complete picture of
Arroyo Grande TBID’s performance.
The City of Arroyo Grande experienced an increase in YOY TOT revenue (1.07%).
The region wa s significa ntly impa cted by interna tiona l tensions with Ca na da during Q1, with Visit Ca lifornia reporting a - 16%YOY decline in Ca na dia n a rriva ls to the sta te, which ma y ha ve slowed potentia l growth in TOT revenue. It should be noted tha t orga niza tions like Visit Ca lifornia ha ve recognized this issue a nd ha ve la unched a host of ma rketing ca mpa igns to help bring Ca na dia n tourists ba ck to the region.
BUSINESS RESULTS
Bu ilt a p rop rie t a ry AG d a t a / m e a su re m e nt m od e l d e m onst ra t ing how a d ve rt ising a c t ivit ie s a re im p a c t ing a re a a nd hot e l visit s
+20.79%increase in CTR[click through
rate] for paid media [1.21%CTR]
+36.69%increase in followers on
Instagram [6,315 followers]
+365.2%increase in followers on TikTok
[1,057 followers]
Match with IP Address
Message Target Audience
at Home & Across Devices
Pixels on Website
Retarget Cross- For Web Traffic
Devices
Trackable Visits to
Hotels + the Village
Capture Device IDs /
Addresses
Message Them On
Device
IMPROVEMENTS YoY
Metric Be nc hm ar k Current % +/- Be nc hm ar k
CTR 1.12% 1.21% +8.04%
Soft Conversion
Rate .56% 1.27% +126.79%
Cost per Exposed
Unique Visitor $125.78 $54.17 -58.93%
Cost per Exposed
Visit $67.34 $21.10 -68.67%
Hotels as %
of Total Visits 21% 20.33% -10.43%
ES TABLIS HED BENCHMARKS
Along with increased visitation and exposure,
ca mpa ign return on investment ha s stea dily improved with June cost / visit coming in a t a very efficient $7.77 per visit.
ROI + MEDIA EFFICIENCY
There is a strong correlation between LVR
a dvertising a ctivity a nd TOT revenue,
suggesting tha t consistent a dvertising
pressure in ma rket helps support occupa ncy
a nd TOT goa ls.
LVR IMPRESSIONS VS. TOT REVENUE