Could video help lure businesses, tourists to Wauconda?
With a marketing push well underway, Wauconda officials are considering creating a video that could help further promote the town to prospective business owners and tourists.
A video could "give a flavor and a feel for what Wauconda is all about," Village Administrator Doug Maxeiner said.
The proposal is in its infancy. The village board's marketing committee will discuss the concept publicly for the first time Monday, starting at 5 p.m. at village hall, 101 N. Main St.
Maxeiner envisions a short video, perhaps two or three minutes long. It likely would be available for viewing on the village's website, wauconda-il.gov.
Village hall already has purchased advertisements in regional magazines to promote Wauconda. New entryway signs and other visual elements have been considered, too.
Maxeiner believes a video might be a good marketing tool because people don't spend as much time reading as they once did.
"They want that video component and that audio component," he said.
Wauconda officials have been sounding alarms about the town's financial picture for a while, saying budget deficits are possible in the near future if they don't better control spending. Gov. Bruce Rauner's threatened cuts to municipal shares of tax revenue could worsen the problem, Maxeiner and others have said.
As such, officials are going to have to decide if spending money on a promotional video is a worthwhile investment, Maxeiner said.
The marketing committee will discuss a few other promotional tools when it meets Monday. One is the long-planned redesign of the village's website.
The site's new look could be revealed late next week, Maxeiner said. It will have the same URL as the current site.
The village board voted in March to hire a firm called Civic Plus to overhaul the website.
The new site will feature calendars, online forms, charts and promotional photographs, among other elements, officials have said.