5. EDSR 08-19-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Advertising/Marketing: At the July 29,2013 EDA Budget Workshop the EDA requested a breakdown of marketing expenditures. The advertising/marketing breakdown is attached.Advertising increased$950 to $10,950 in 2014. It was felt that direct mailings be reduced by$4000 because of its inability to measure its effectiveness of this form of marketing. The list of promo items was decreased by$3,400. Promotional items are used at marketing expos and tradeshows to promote the city. The EDA requested that they no longer sponsor Art Soup because it was felt that it was not an EDA function. Therefore,Art Soup was removed from the sponsorship list and reallocated to sponsor the Ehlers and EDAM Conferences. The EDA saw value in continuing to sponsor the Independence Day celebration;however,it was requested that the Independence Day celebration be removed from sponsorships and place under Miscellaneous in the amount of$6,000. These changes reduced sponsorships from the 2013 budgeted amount of$15,000 to $9,000 in 2014. It was also thought that the Sponsorship line item be removed entirely and placed with Advertising/Marketing. However, after staff broke down the sponsorships listing,it was found that there were numerous sponsorships and for simplicity,it was more efficient to keep the Sponsorship line item as a valid form of or marketing. Sponsorships are considered on a case-by-case basis and approved when they show to provide value to the EDA mission. Below is the 2014 Sponsorship breakdown. Sponsorships 2012 2013 2014 MNCAR Annual Sponsorship $ 3,500.00 $ 3,500.00 $ 3,500.00 MNCAR Expo $ 1,500.00 $ 1,500.00 $ 1,500.00 MREJ Data Center Summit $ 500.00 $ 500.00 $ 500.00 4th of July $ 6,000.00 $ 6,000.00 Moved to Misc Art Soup —$--17940700 --2,90009 $ Ehlers Conference $ - $ - $ 500.00 EDAM Conferences $ - $ - $ 3,000.00 Total $ 12,500.00 $ 13,500.00 $ 9,000.00 Requests for cash contributions that do not result in advertising/marketing opportunities will continue to be brought to the EDA for consideration. EDA staff also felt that billboards are ineffective in attracting outside industry/businesses to Elk River. The EDA informally agreed, and it was decided to remove the billboard line item for 2014.This is a reduction of$7,000. Some of the monies reduced in other areas of marketing thought to be ineffective, were placed into the Trade Shows &Lead Generation line item. The thought behind this is to strategically target specific types of industries like Medical Manufacturing, data centers, and industrial manufacturing companies by attending industry specific trade shows,providing tours of the city,joining industry specific trade organizations, and taking owners out to dinner to network and effectively recruit target industries to Elk River. Dues/Subscriptions: The Chamber of Commerce is expected to increase its dues slightly in 2014. Therefore the 2014 budget shows an increase of$20 to $450.The Two Rivers Referral has also indicated a dues increase in 2014 as well as Constant Contact.The dues increases for these organizations are unknown at this time. Central Minnesota Manufacturing Association (CMMA) is an organization of