Tooele County board members on Aug. 21 reviewed a tourism marketing budget and a state cooperative grant award and discussed next steps to market local recreation and small businesses.

Ryan England reported the county received a cooperative tourism grant of $126,000 and that the county had originally requested a larger amount. “Tooele County received a coop grant for for marketing tourism of 126,000,” he said. England said the state reduced many requests across the board and that the county’s award was larger than usual for the jurisdiction.

England outlined a proposed marketing budget that preserves spending on digital marketing and content creation. He summarized earlier line-item plans as roughly $22,000 for content creation, about $100,000 for digital marketing, $5,000 for influencer campaigns, $20,000 for print, $13,000 for local business PR and event sponsorships, $16,000 for market research and visitor-experience work, $12,000 for sales exhibits and conferences, $17,500 for traditional advertising and $5,000 for miscellaneous items. He said the board is proposing to consolidate more of the award into digital marketing and content creation and estimated the county would push about $350,000 into tourism marketing next year after adjustments and match funds.

Board members discussed using the county’s contracted Chamber marketing person to manage the work; meeting participants said the Chamber will serve as the county’s destination marketing organization (DMO). “The Chamber's gonna be that. They call them a DMO,” a board speaker said while describing the state’s preference for destinations that have a recognized DMO.

Members emphasized promoting local restaurants, shops and recreation together — not only large retail — and discussed rotating a limited number of small-business spotlights on a landing page so visitors see curated, attractive options rather than a long unfiltered list. Several board members encouraged businesses to submit names for consideration and asked staff to coordinate a nomination process.

The group also discussed staffing changes: meeting remarks noted the previous tourism director, Jill, is no longer in the role and that the Chamber currently has a contracted marketing person on the account. Board members asked staff to coordinate with Jared (county staff) on business-spotlight selections.

What’s next: staff will finalize vendor arrangements through the Chamber’s contract, consolidate budget lines toward digital marketing and prepare a multi-year phased plan for rollout. Board members were asked to help solicit small-business nominations and to review the marketing strategy in the coming weeks.