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Visit Sarasota County highlights FY26 marketing strategy, trademarks and new data investments
Summary
Visit Sarasota County told the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners it will continue targeted marketing to attract visitors, remote workers and arts audiences, citing a FY26 paid‑media plan, trademarked relocation/arts taglines and a county‑funded visitor‑data platform.
Erin Duggan, a senior leader with Visit Sarasota County, told the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 22 that the tourism marketing group will press forward with targeted campaigns in fiscal year 2026 to drive visitor stays, attract remote workers and support arts tourism. "Visibility isn't a coincidence. It's a budget," Duggan said, describing a strategy that prioritizes measurable returns such as room nights and sales‑tax receipts.
Duggan summarized VSC's position as a 501(c)(6) public‑private partnership that must match roughly 10% of county funds with private sector contributions. She said Visit Sarasota County spends about $1,500,000 on paid media and uses a combination of paid ads, public relations and a growing content program (including a weekly podcast) to reach seven identified audiences: leisure, meetings and groups, sports, new air service development, nature and outdoors, arts and culture, and relocation/workforce.
To support relocation and workforce recruitment, VSC and the Economic Development Corporation jointly developed a "workwhereyouwanttolive" campaign and a vanity URL; Duggan said that the organizations also own related trademarks and the associated URLs. For arts promotion, Visit Sarasota County launched the Florida's Cultural Coast brand in 2024 and used a one‑time $350,000 high‑funnel cultural campaign that its slide deck credited with millions of impressions and national placements in publications such as Playbill.
Duggan also described a county‑funded data platform (referred to in the presentation as costing about $120,000 per year) that uses anonymized cell‑phone data to create heat maps and quarterly visitor metrics for partners. She said the resulting reports — distinguishing day trippers from overnight visitors and tracking where visitors spend money — are shared with municipalities, chambers and partners.
Duggan closed by pointing commissioners to VisitSarasota.com and VisitSarasotaCountyTransparency.com for bylaw, procurement and FY26 line‑item budget documents and invited commissioners to quarterly public reports.
Commissioners offered praise and suggestions during questions: Commissioner Smith thanked the team for cross‑agency collaboration; Commissioner Mast urged beefed‑up emergency‑preparedness messaging for events and suggested experimenting with jingles, resident‑sentiment work and additional public Wi‑Fi to reduce congestion.
