On Tuesday, the Branson Board of Aldermen heard the Branson Chamber of Commerce's 2024 Draft Marketing Plan and proposed budget presentation.
The new plan covers 2024 through 2026. It was revealed that the Chamber was eligible for marketing grants last year. The focus of these grants is, according to Chief Marketing Officer Rachel Wood, "platform development."
They come from Missouri's tourism division. "We're a large enough destination that we had never been eligible for those grants before," Wood said. She continued on to state that they ended up giving Branson and "other DMOs" access to the grants after seeing that the recipients were wanting to upgrade their marketing.
"There were nine grants, and we applied for all nine grants and we received all nine grants," she said. Those grants provided "$100,000 each." One of them paid for a "strategic marketing plan."
An initial budget amount of $4 million was estimated for this new plan. Wood said she rounded up based on last year's budget and admitted that the numbers will "shift and pivot" as they're discussed.
An update regarding Christmas in Branson was offered earlier in the presentation. The season's festivities are already getting a power up via the Chamber's efforts. According to the presentation, this includes actions like "targeting consumers searching for Christmas" with digital advertising.
Fly-in units are also deployed on the Explore Branson website. Web users who visit the website will be greeted by a "pop up" promoting Christmas vacations in Branson.
This updated digital program will start on Labor Day. Additional details were given about the promotion of Christmas in Branson. More was discussed during the presentation.
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