Marketing Committee Meeting Invitation

When the Development Corporation applied for Rally Rush funds, a Marketing Committee was established to work through the details and look for other areas for promotion.  Now that everyone has had some time to recover from Fur Trader Days, we need to properly organize the Marketing Committee.

The thought was to have representation from each of the groups that are already promoting Geddes in different ways and bring all of the ideas together under one platform to streamline communication, resources, and execution.  Participation on the Marketing Committee should not be a large time commitment.  Some representations may only be as a point of contact.  Meetings should consist of each group sharing pertinent information regarding goals, wants and needs.  That can be done in person or in writing.  At the conclusion of the meeting, information will be summarized to be added to geddessd.com for everyone to access.  

It was determined that the Development Corporation technically owns the website (correct me if I am stating this wrong), so this is a good opportunity for groups to request changes to their respective areas on the website, or to add information that contributes to the quality of life in Geddes that entices travelers and potential residents.  

This was initially sent as an email, but I didn't have email addresses for a lot of people that should have been included. Please share this with those who should be aware and that may want to participate.  Brainstorming, I think we need representation from the Historical Society, Fur Trader Days committee, Civic Group, Senior Citizens, Meals on Wheels, Red Hat Ladies, Fire Department, Gun Club, City Council, each of the Churches, and any other formal or informal group that is bringing people together for the purpose of creating connection among the community, including the Development Corporation.  

As a 501(c)3, the Development Corporation has the opportunity to apply for funds that other groups may not have access to, and coordination can increase opportunities for those groups.  

Topics that need to be addressed soon:

1. Rooster Rush funds usage - similar to Rally Rush through Tourism South Dakota (already applied and granted $500) sdvisit.com/marketing-programs/rooster-rush-promotional-funds

A new landing page should be created for a link to boost on Facebook

2. Destination Development Program projects - in its pilot year through Tourism South Dakota.  The application deadline is August 29, 2025 sdvisit.com/destination-development

A Destination Core Team (DCT) needs to be established, identify a Destination Coordinator,

gather letters of support and matching contributions, brainstorm initial tourism product ideas.

Stakeholder buy-in and support is crucial for a successful application!

3. Geddes 2026 Fur Trader Days is one of 25 events statewide that will be featured on the new TravelSouthDakota.com landing page for America's 250th Anniversary. Once there, travelers will need a link to learn more about the event.

A new landing page should be created for a link to boost on Facebook

4. Create a contact list for each group

5. Other ideas

The initial meeting has been set for Wednesday, August 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM at Authentic Arts. Please contact Amanda at 605.428.5007 to let me know if you are interested and/or able to attend. 

Optimum committee size would be at least 12 (from the groups above), but that does not necessarily require attendance at all of the meetings or for all groups to participate.  For groups who are reporting information and not necessarily participating in decision making, the representative could be substituted month-to-month, and can overlap groups.  We would just want to be careful of carryover discussion items that might not work well for knowledge transfer if there are a lot of details involved.  In short, we want to make it easy.  The people with knowledge and resources in certain areas can be assigned to follow through on committee decisions.  Once the information is reported back to the Marketing Committee, the representatives of other groups, or anyone who reads it on the website, can take the information back to their respective groups.  Accessibility to the information on the website may entice people to join other committees.   

We won't have a lot of time to work on planning for submitting an application for the Destination Development Program.  For anyone interested in participating in the submission, it would be very helpful to get feedback from you right away.  There is a lot of great information at sdvisit.com/destination-development for how to proceed.  We will need to work quickly to meet the August 29th deadline.

Please feel free to call me any time with questions, names, suggestions, etc.

Thank you for your attention and for all that you do for Geddes!

Amanda Vasek