Visit Farmington reviews 2024 marketing gains and readies Denver flight campaign

Visit Farmington representatives delivered a detailed review of 2024 marketing work and outlined plans for 2025, including targeted advertising tied to a new Denver flight and expanded community-facing outreach.

Tanya, a Visit Farmington representative, told the council the office’s work “is really here to promote Farmington and the surrounding area for leisure travel, but also meetings,” and that staff monitor campaign performance weekly and monthly to adjust markets and creative.

The presentation covered three primary audience segments — outdoor/culture, family, and regional/bride/retail — and highlighted the Pinion Hills golf campaign carried in Golf Digest and programmatic channels. Staff said a Coronado/Albuquerque photo run (April–September) coincided with a 12% lift in visitation from Albuquerque. Digital tactics discussed included programmatic display, social-mirroring ads, paid search, pre-roll and connected-TV buys (Peacock, Hulu), and an ongoing emphasis on search-engine and AI-content optimization.

Chantelle, identified in the presentation as part of the Visit Farmington team, described professional partnerships and out‑of‑market trade shows (Phoenix, Denver, Dallas) and said programmatic advertising and social mirroring “have been very good shows for us” and help the office reach both domestic and international prospective visitors.

Staff reported a 2% increase in website sessions in 2024 and said travel‑blog users spend roughly three times as long on the site and view 37% more pages per session than other visitors. The Pinion Hills campaign, the presenters said, produced a local partner’s report of a 15% increase in golf rounds. Visit Farmington also distributed 95,000 printed vacation guides and digital versions to more than 80 visitor centers.

On data, the team shared visitor-insight findings: accommodations accounted for the bulk of measurable card spend; attractions often register low credit‑card spend because many are free; 30% of devices captured in-market were from visitors; and the largest demographic segment was ages 25–54. Staff noted some limits of device‑based measurement and that cash transactions and short pass‑through visits are not fully captured.

In response to Councilor Giacchino’s question about the length of ad runs, staff said six months is typical to measure performance but that timing can change for seasonal or budgetary reasons. Councilor Rogers asked whether small businesses are getting the information they need; staff said they continue outreach and member visits to help local firms align products and hours with visitor demand.

Staff said they are preparing a Denver‑market push tied to the new flight, focusing on greater Colorado area media buys and airport signage; creative will be updated biannually in airport displays. Tanya told the council Visit Farmington is coordinating with city staff on airport messaging and will use programmatic and audio buys to raise flight awareness.

The presentation also previewed two near‑term items: (1) a co‑funded $150,000 contribution from Visit Farmington toward phase 1 of the Story Farmington exhibit at the Farmington Museum, and (2) an upcoming community customer-service training to be announced at Visit Farmington’s annual meeting on April 29.

Councilors praised the work and asked staff to continue coordinating with hotels and recreation project managers so marketing can align with new amenities. The presentations closed with staff encouraging council attendance at the Visit Farmington annual meeting and the market‑pavilion photo/marketing activities planned for the year.