The city of Cottonwood is taking over the town’s Destination Marketing Organization partnership with the Arizona Office of Tourism.
The city has had a DMO with the Arizona Office of Tourism for years through the Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce. Last year, the city decided to take over and manage it through its Tourism and Economic Development Office.The Cottonwood City Council made the transition official through an affidavit at its July 20 meeting.
The AOT has certain requirements that must be met in order for a community to be designated as a DMO. Only one entity, either a municipal, county or tribal community, can be recognized as a DMO per city, town or region. The organization must be recognized by the city, town or region it is a part of through an official action such as an affidavit, resolution or ordinance. The DMO affidavit must be renewed annually and must be effective until July 2022. Finally, the DMO must have a dedicated tourism marketing budget and a website and/or social media presence.
The DMO designation allows Cottonwood to be eligible for the AOT’s Rural Marketing Co-op Program. In the program, the DMO and AOT work together to create a strategic advertising campaign, Tourism and Economic Development Director Tricia Lewis said.
The program also matches any amount of money the city budgets toward tourism marketing up to$75,000. For 2022, Cottonwood has designated $50,000 in its budget.
“The DMO has been very active over the past year with engaging advertising and campaigns driven to attract visitors to Cottonwoodas a destination,” Lewis said. “The DMO and AOT work together on an aggressive and strategic advertising campaign that provides great value for the community as we can afford to advertise in places that, without the one-to-one match by AOT, wouldn’t be feasible.”
All in all, the city of Cottonwood spent $100,000 in advertising efforts last year. This year, the city has plans to increase that to $200,000. The increase in funds will help promote Cottonwood through travel writers, media engagements, editorial and advertorial opportunities around Arizona and neighboring states in addition to other strategic plans.The city also hired a public relations consultant through Front Burner Media to help oversee and manage advertising efforts, travel writer coordination and anything else the city needs assistance with.
Additionally, the city recently redid the visitcottonwoodaz.org website that promotes reasons to visit Cottonwood, including Old Town, wineries and tasting rooms, outdoor recreation opportunities, hotels and amenities, and fishing and camping at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.
And these efforts are paying off, Lewis said. While it’s almost impossible to track the exact number of tourists visiting the area, the city has seen a dramatic increase in tourism over the past year since the city took over the DMO.
“We are an affordable, accessible and welcoming community. Tourists benefit from an active community who is proud to promote itself by consistently and professionally promoting what and where to go in Cottonwood to have an amazing experience,” Lewis said. “Our tagline for the DMO this year is, ‘You are welcome here.’ And hopefully, people that visit this amazing community will feel it and come back again and again.”
