How does a 501c3 [and 501c6] “Not For Profit” convert $24 million in tax monies into $13 million in general fund dollars that can be spent any way that “not for profit” wants to spend it?
THE MBACC PAY PER CLICK MONEY MACHINE
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (MBACC) gets over $24 million annually in TDF [tourist tax] dollars. Those dollars must be spent on “out of market” advertising with firms like Google pay per clicks. When MBACC spends $4 million on Google.com, traffic searches then send tourists to the VisitMyrtleBeach.com website.
VisitMyrtleBeach.com then charges hotels, like Oceans One, from 75 cents to $1.50 for every tourist that clicks on that hotel’s link on the VisitMyrtleBeach.com site. The pay per click price varies depending upon the bulk amount of clicks the hotel is willing to buy in advance from MBACC.
Should a lead, (coming from Google to VisitMyrtleBeach.com), cost MBACC one dollar for the visit, and the tourist then clicks on 4 hotel links, that one dollar in TDF expenditure grosses MBACC as much as $6 and nets MBACC as much as $5.00.
ALL OF THESE ONCE TDF DOLLARS ARE NOW IN THE MBACC GENERAL FUND.
General fund dollars can be spent any way MBACC chooses. The great news is these monies are not open to any public scrutiny of any kind. These are now private dollars. One dollar of tax monies can become as much as net $5.00 of MBACC private funds.
As one dollar can conservatively become from two to six dollars gross, a $4 million tax TDF “Google PPC buy” can conservatively put as much as $8 million to $10 million in the MBACC general (private) fund.
The tax payer and private hotels pay all of MBACC’s freight.
WANT AN EVEN BETTER DEAL?
When the MBACC purchases a TDF ad purchase from a national corporate media organization, like Sinclair Broadcasting’s network of 193 stations, MBACC gets a 15% to 20% standard agency commission. What can the MBACC do with those unspent funds? If you said move the funds to the MBACC general fund, you guessed right.
$10 million in corporate media “tax payer funded” TDF ad buys grosses the MBACC a $1.5 million general fund return. These are now private monies that face no public scrutiny.
But the news gets even better, as these TV and print news ad dollars also drive traffic to VisitMyrtleBeach.com. Hotels are then also charged from 75 cents to $1.50 by MBACC each time that hotel’s link is clicked.
It’s all legal folks!
However, in the social media age of all things brand, the key question is, does it work?
If you have been following local TV and radio advertising, the ads all say, Oh Yeah, It’s Working!
In our feature tomorrow, however, we will speak with one local brand expert.
Our readers can discern for themselves why this model has performed better for MBACC’s internal private funding than it has for the city of Myrtle Beach or any of MBACC’s hotel members.