T-R file photo Marshalltown City Council Members Mike Ladehoff and Bill Martin listen to Mayor Joel Greer during a regular council meeting.

The Marshalltown City Council is expected to approve contracts for marketing the community on multiple mediums.

Vision Marshalltown and digital advertising company OnMedia have agreed to work together to create marketing materials for the city.

The partnership will fill the void left after McTV went off the air. McTV, a cable television channel which broadcast council meetings and advertised Marshalltown, was on the air for 30 years. The council funded the operation of McTV with $40,000 of council-designated local option sales tax. The Iowa Valley Community College District was the base of operations for McTV but did not renew its contract with the station this year.

A committee was formed after the city put out a request, seeking someone to find new marketing. The committee was made up of Council Member Bill Martin, Marshalltown Public Library Director Sarah Rosenblum, City Clerk Alicia Hunter, Fire Chief David Rierson and Human Resources Director Jill Petermeier.

There were nine applicants but three did not submit proposals which were less than the $40,000 budget. Of the six remaining, OnMedia and Vision Marshalltown were the best fits. The two entities were asked to tailor their proposals to split the $40,000 budget equally between both while limiting the scope of work from each.

“This was a long time coming,” City Administrator Jessica Kinser said. “We have a great combining of two proposals for the most benefit for the community.”

Vision Marshalltown’s proposal is:

• $6,000 — Create two postcard mailers with city highlights, including Spanish translation

• $5,000 — Execute a newspaper advertising campaign

• $4,000 — Create and execute social media or public relations content, includes monthly paid advertisements on social media to boost content

• $1,500 — Develop OnMedia content and help manage assets

• $3,500 — Contingency for other marketing ideas or capacity to increase one of the other areas

OnMedia’s proposal includes audio and multiple screen marketing campaigns.

“This is a multiscreen platform so that we can reach people in various capacities,” said Michael Sills, account executive with OnMedia. “Whether it be using computers, doing streaming for televisions, streaming for audio, regular cable TV. So we can reach everybody within the Marshalltown community.”

The council voted 4-1 in favor of returning to the Aug. 9 meeting with two contracts not to exceed $20,000 each for OnMedia and Vision Marshalltown. The contracts will be on the agenda to approve.

“They together are meeting our criteria for what we wanted to reach all segments of the community,” Bill Martin said. “Both bring a good history and quality work to this project. I applaud the effort that has gone into this.”

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Contact Joe Fisher at

news@timesrepublican.com.