Dixon Chamber Main Street seeks city and state funds for $100,000 marketing campaign

DIXON – The Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street is asking the city for $40,000 to go toward a city marketing campaign.

Jeremy Englund, executive director of Chamber Main Street, spoke to the Dixon City Council on Monday about a proposal to pursue a state tourism grant that matches community marketing dollars.

Englund is asking the city for $40,000, and the organization would pitch in $10,000, with the hope of receiving a $50,000 match from the state tourism grant.

The $100,000 would be split with $40,000 toward digital advertising in the summer, fall and winter; $30,000 for social media ads targeting people outside of a 50-mile radius via Facebook, Instagram and other platforms; $20,000 on TV ads in the summer and fall; and $10,000 to improve the Chamber Main Street website.

The group received a tourism grant in 2019 and spent $60,000 on the groundwork for a marketing campaign, including two TV ads and some work on the website, he said.

“This will be a complete proposal for a tourism marketing campaign to build upon what we started in 2020 and continue to maintain and actually grow that structure a little bit larger,” Englund said.

Chamber Main Street spends about $35,000 to $50,000 a year on marketing, and the city contracts with the organization to serve as a hub for marketing, tourism and other services for $250,000, which is funded through video gambling revenue the city receives.

The campaign will focus on the three phases of content creation, maintenance and ad spending.

Content creation includes hiring social media influencers to come to Dixon to do tourism-related things around town and blog about their experiences. Plans also include highlighting trip ideas with activities visitors can do.

The group has been spending the last three years developing the Discover Dixon brand, and the campaign will help increase those efforts, Englund said.

“This will get us to another level,” he said.

The city had around 525,000 visitors in 2017 compared to about 620,000 in 2021, he said.

“Year over year, we have been seeing an increase in visitors,” Englund said.

The council was supportive of the effort but members did not vote on the $40,000 donation or say where the money would come from.

Mayor Li Arellano Jr. said the investment will help build up city sales tax revenue, which has been a focus for many years.

Correction: A previous version of this story included an incorrect amount of funds Chamber Main Street receives from the city of Dixon to serve as a hub for marketing, tourism and other services. The correct amount is $250,000, which is funded through video gambling revenue the city receives.