City Council Hears Website Proposal

Ulysses City Administrator Luke Grimes continues to make improvements to the city’s Web and Social Media presence, getting the word out about what the city has to offer. Part of that is making the city’s Website more user-friendly.

Enter Damien Denmark and Southwind Marketing Group.

Southwind Marketing Group was founded this year by Denmark, but the idea began in 2023 during Denmark’s time working in Liberal. While supporting small businesses and community projects, Denmark saw a consistent need: businesses across Kansas were struggling to find affordable, effective marketing support to help them grow, reach new customers, and compete in an increasingly digital marketplace.

Denmark presented to the Ulysses city council July 23, hoping the council would use his services to rebuild the city’s Website.

In addition to the managing partner of the marketing group that covers Kansas, and the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, Denmark has experience with economic development consulting and is the Deputy Director for Quality of Life for the City of Olathe. He was looking to increase his footprint in Western Kansas, and a client in Liberal put him in touch with Grimes.

“He was looking for another opportunity for a better Website design  of a company who was responsive, a company that can provide some of the solutions that the City of Ulysses needs when engaging a community,” Denmark said. “We pitched an opportunity (to Grimes) of how Southwind could really take that pressure and then help and hone in on some of the things that Luke has as a vision for integrating permit software onto the site, payroll, eventually, for employees.

“We discussed a little bit of what we’re working on now, which is migrating from a pld.com over to a pld.gov account.”

Denmark said he saw the need for the city’s Website. He said photography for site is updated completely free – photography of city staff and of the community.

“We see the need for the city of Ulysses to really catch up and provide those opportunities that bigger cities have,” Denmark said. “Also, in the proposal you’ll see what’s called a data dashboard, to help forecast what your budget looks like, staffing counts, and so on.”

Southwind primarily focuses on rural communities.

“I believe that rural communities have the exact same opportunity as urban communities,” Denmark added. “I just think there’s always a funding gap. We come in and we bridge that funding gap in order to make those communities make more efficient, better decisions for the citizens.”

Southwind would host the site on its server, and all staff would have access and would be trained on the site.

“The vision I have is just a welcoming site, updated photography with staff and the community, being a part of the events that are happening,” Denmark said.

The base Website cost is $12,900 for one year, including subscriptions and fees.

The council took no action, and decided to table the item until the next meeting.