ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA – The St. Johns County Marketing Company contract expires September 30 and could impact local businesses.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the St. Johns County Council discussed what marketing services could look like in the future.

The county is looking for a temporary marketing management company to prevent a disruption in services. The company would have a contract for up to six months or $250,000 while a tourism management company is sought.

Local business owners had the opportunity to share their thoughts with commissioners.

“We talk about the tourism industry like it’s one big business, and we hear tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry and all that, and Karen brought up a good point or a point that has come together in my head,” said County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst. “It’s a collection of hundreds of small businesses, and I’m not sure everyone can fully appreciate how difficult it is to be in some of those businesses.”

Business owners like St. Augustine Distillery co-founder Philip McDaniel believe advertising is key for businesses operating in the region.

“If we had a commercial break and that meant people had to go to Savannah, to Charleston, to Key West, that wouldn’t help us at this point,” said Philip McDaniel.

McDaniel, like other business owners, finds that companies like the Visitors Convention Bureau have been extremely helpful.

“VCB is basically a marketing agency for St. John’s County,” McDaniel said. “And what they do is they coordinate events to bring in writers as an example, to say, hey, if you’re considering writing a story for Ford or, you know, a gardening weapon or something like that, come to St. Augustine and you’ll find out all these cool things.”

The county commission plans to revisit this discussion in six months.