Relaunch Sebastopol
Committee Report Out
Progress Report
5-11-22
Events
• Continue to refine plan for June 18 Town Party event at Ives Park • Working with Hal Kwalwasser on Volunteer Sebastopol Week • Secured participation of SebArts, Peacetown, Chamber of Commerce and Historical Society
• Launched “Picturing Sebastopol” photo contest with SebARTS to generate photos of the city to use in marketing. Best entries will be showcased at the Town Party Marketing: Plan
• Conducted research on Sonoma County tourism research, SWOT analysis and competitive city overview.
• Finalized the brand identity with brand pillars, target audience, city description, and tagline.
• Conducted website keyword research from Moz and Google. • Wrote message framework, developed content story calendar, content topic clusters and created downloadable guide ideas.
• Conducted social media analytics with target demographic research from Audiense, developed themed weekly posts, list of suggested hashtags and recommendations for first-person language in posts.
• Created press list for public relations and created a calendar/event submission list.
Marketing: Collateral, Logos and Media Resources
• Created Relaunch brochure to give to local businesses • Created Relaunch logo and Visit Sebastopol logo
• Worked with photographer to take beauty shots of town to use in marketing and on the website
2 Marketing: Social Media
• Set up social media accounts and started filling Visit Sebastopol Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The real push is awaiting the launch of the visitor website.
Marketing: Visit Sebastopol Website
Creating Visit Sebastopol website on Squarespace - due to launch on May 15. • Created map of Sebastopol Shopping/Dining districts
• Created list of articles mentioning Sebastopol and added to Press Room link on website (In addition to being useful to visitors, it will improve our SEO and domain authority.) • Copied over and updated several text sections from the old Experience Sebastopol website. Incorporated some of this language and descriptions from brand identity work in the new website.
• Uploaded all tourist-facing businesses with photo and description – have a few random additions left to make.
• Currently link-checking and proofing website for May 15 launch Downtown Businesses Collaboration
Downtown Business Meeting: Had a meeting for downtown businesses at Bliss on April 5:
• Meeting was initially about flower pots and baskets
• Turned into a general brainstorming of ideas for downtown improvement, which lasted
2.5 hours.
• Sent extensive meeting notes to everyone in the Sebastopol Downtown Association. • Will report on current progress at Downtown Roundtable meeting set up by Jann Eyrich on May 16
Placemaking/Main Street Beautification
Baskets
• Met with the Boblitts regarding funding for baskets for downtown. They are willing to do this but need a maintenance plan in place before they do. • Conversation with Dante regarding baskets for downtown: upshot – this would require adding new poles. He also wants a maintenance plan. • Talked with chamber rep in New Ulm, MN, about how they fund and maintain their downtown flower basket program.
• Conversations with designers from Merge Studio and Zenful Gardens about basket plan, seeking design and botanical advice. No help from these quarters; now have call into Garden of Ease.
Façade improvement: Really talked up the façade improvement program with local businesses – in person, in a newletter, and at the meeting - and learned from Kari that they had more applications than ever before and actually maxed out the amount for this quarter.
Murals: The group that owns the Silk Moon building is not interested in having another mural on their building, so we will have to find another site for the identity mural. In communication 2 with Jen Vertz (former head of Public Arts committee) about applying for grant for mural on Art & Soul building from the public arts committee and creating a mural plan for the city.
Flower pots for Downtown: Separately canvased downtown businesses to determine who would like to participate in initial flowerpot project. Discussed with interior designer Lisa Pierce about how this might work. Store owners agreed to maintain.
NOTE: Beautification efforts are temporarily on hold until the visitor website is launched.