Gadsden County TDC: $150,000 marketing push produced 3.2 million impressions, contractor reports

Medium 4, the county's contracted tourism marketing firm, told the Gadsden County Tourism Development Council on Sept. 24 that a $150,000 marketing budget produced more than 3,200,000 impressions and drove nearly 69,000 visits to visitgadsdencounty.com, marking a large increase from the prior year.

"With a $150,000 budget fully invested, we delivered more than 3,200,000 impressions and drove nearly 69,000 website visits," said Michael Hall, presenter for Medium 4. Hall said the firm launched 12 targeted campaigns, supported eight major events and earned a statewide Bronze Award at the Governor's conference for the county's marketing work.

The presentation focused on measurable digital performance and recommended several changes for the coming year. Hall recommended discontinuing general-awareness radio buys absent specific, trackable offers, arguing radio is difficult to measure without time-limited incentives. He said Google Ads delivered about 1,300,000 impressions with more than 31,000 clicks, a reported click-through rate of 18.3 percent and an average cost per click of $0.12.

Hall highlighted short-form video and social reels as a top-performing format: six reels produced roughly 260,000 impressions and the "Heartbeats of Gadsden" series produced about 1,200,000 impressions across Google Ads and YouTube, he said. Top pages on the county site included lodging pages, marquee events such as the Big Bend Rodeo and the Main Street Golf Tournament, and the events calendar. Hall said visitors averaged more than three minutes per session, indicating deeper engagement.

Presenters also detailed print and radio activity: about 75,000 brochures were produced and radio buys ran 300 spots across five markets for roughly $15,000, yielding an estimated 315,000 impressions but, according to Medium 4, limited tracking value. The presenters proposed prioritizing digital placement, short-format content and event-driven promotions tied to measurable incentives.

Discussion at the workshop touched on operational issues that must be resolved before staff can deploy additional funds. Medium 4 and board members discussed offering hotel incentives—discounted room blocks or off‑season promotions—to help convert day trips into overnight stays. A speaker noted that other destinations the firm visited routinely offer hotel incentives, and suggested Gadsden County has none that can be tracked.

Board members and staff also reviewed deadlines and administrative requirements. Medium 4 said event organizers must submit events at least 60 days in advance and tag the TDC as a collaborator on social posts to allow tracking. The presenters said they would turn the final report over to TJ Lewis for distribution to board members and provide additional data on request.

The meeting opened as a workshop because the council lacked a quorum and, per discussion during the session, no votes were taken. A board member reported that, because of how the meeting had been advertised, the attorney advised the meeting might need to end immediately after the presentation. Board members agreed to reconvene; staff scheduled a follow-up meeting for Oct. 1 at 4:30 p.m. to address outstanding approvals and funding decisions.

Medium 4 and the TDC staff identified next steps: distribute the final report to TJ Lewis, update funding and event guidelines (including a PDF of application criteria), meet with local hotel owners about incentive options, and prepare specific, trackable offers for events the board chooses to fund. The presenters said they will be available by Zoom and will provide additional documentation and campaign-level data before the next meeting.