Sedona tourism panel backs $250,000 winter marketing push, directs staff to target higher-income visitors

The Sedona Tourism Advisory Board on Aug. 27 recommended that the City Council approve a $250,000 winter marketing campaign that narrows targeting to higher-income households and increases out-of-market ad weight.

Board members voted to approve the Aug. 6 meeting minutes by voice vote early in the session. Later, after extended discussion of summer campaign results, attribution limitations and where additional funds would be most effective, TAB members coalesced around a proposal to increase the planned winter campaign budget and to focus incremental spending on higher-income targets (household income north of $150,000) and select out-of-market channels.

The vote to approve the Aug. 6 minutes was taken by voice; the board later signaled unanimous agreement to forward the winter campaign recommendation to City Council. The recommendation will be transmitted as a TAB advisory item; the council is scheduled to consider the request in October.

The board’s action followed a detailed presentation from city tourism staff about summer advertising performance and measurement problems. Staff reported that non-attribution metrics—website traffic and engagement—were strong: 119,000 sessions (a 92% year-over-year increase) and 25,000 visits to the city’s sustainability page. But staff cautioned that attribution-based KPIs (return on ad spend, device-level conversions) were delayed and degraded because vendors are now capturing far fewer devices, a change staff and vendors attribute to tightening data-privacy controls.

Because attribution signals were weaker than in prior years, TAB members debated whether to increase total spend or to reallocate and tighten targeting. Several members said bluntly that a blanket spend increase risks lower efficiency; others argued that a shrinking market and competitors’ likely increases justify adding budget now to protect local businesses.

Staff outlined the proposed winter flight campaign that had been submitted to council for Oct. 14 consideration: a core spend of $159,100 running Oct. 15–Feb. 15 with line items including paid search, in-market and out-of-market Meta ads, attribution web placements and attribution connected-TV (CTV) buys. After discussion, TAB asked staff to return to council with a single recommended winter package of roughly $250,000 in total media (the existing $159,100 plus roughly $100,000 incremental testing/targeting funds) and to prioritize those additional dollars toward higher-income audience segments and high-ROI out-of-market placements.

Board members also asked staff to require and return analysis from the tourism agency (DVA) showing at what spending level diminishing returns begin and to propose specific market substitutions where feasible (for example, substituting Austin for Dallas in Texas testing). Several members emphasized targeting ‘‘cultural explorers’’ and ‘‘wellness seekers’’ in cities with concentrated populations of those visitor types (San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Denver and selected flight markets). The board asked staff to use any incremental funds to run targeted tests and to report back with data-driven recommendations for subsequent allocations.

The TAB’s recommendation is advisory; City Council retains final budget authority. Staff noted that final attribution reports for the summer campaign will arrive in roughly three weeks and that the city has begun shopping the attribution product set to other vendors to confirm value and device-capture baselines.

Other items raised during the meeting included continuing concerns from local retailers about soft consumer spending, a request for staff to model diminishing returns at different budget levels (staff said DVA produced two models that indicated diminishing returns could appear between $600,000 and $700,000 in conservative scenarios), and an ask that any additional spend be accompanied by clear targeting and reporting plans so the council can evaluate likely return on investment.

The board also identified a list of topics it wants staff to present to new TAB members and to the full board in coming months, including sustainability and tourism intersection, transit and microtransit usage, planned development projects that affect visitor experience, and coordination with the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Mesa on marketing approaches. Staff said they will bring more detailed market-by-market profiling and the final summer attribution results to future TAB meetings.

The TAB’s recommendation will be included in staff’s October packet to City Council for formal action.