Tech, Travel, and Twang!
Come for the thoughts, stay for the tea. The co-founders of Destination Innovate, Jennifer Barbee and Kristen Cruz brew up the latest industry tea every Tuesday - diving into simmering issues, hot trends, and special guests. Grab a cup and let’s spill the tea!
Tech, Travel, and Twang!
Tuesday Tea # 10 | You Asked For It! Part 3
Is your Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) ready to navigate the maze of digital marketing in 2023 and beyond? Today, Kristen Cruz and Jenn Barbee, uncover the key strategies that DMOs need to stay ahead of the curve. We break down how major players like Google, Facebook, and TikTok are reshaping the travel planning process and what that means for your marketing efforts. From leveraging user behavior insights to debating the ongoing relevance of traditional media, we explore how flexibility and innovation can position DMOs for success in a rapidly evolving market.
But that's not all— we get into the critical practice of holistic data analysis. We challenge you to view answers and opinions as mere data points, encouraging a multi-faceted approach to decision-making. With an emphasis on trusting your intuition when it's warranted, we provide actionable advice on how to gather comprehensive insights and consider diverse perspectives. Don’t miss out on these valuable insights that promise to elevate your understanding of digital marketing and data analysis. Join us for this enlightening episode and get ready to revolutionize your approach to destination marketing.
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The Tech, Travel, and Twang Podcast is hosted by Co-Founders, Kristen Cruz and Jenn Barbee with Destination Innovate. Learn More! https://destinationinnovate.com/about/
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Well, hey, welcome back to Tech Travel and Twang. Tuesday Tea Edition with part three of you Asked For it. I'm Jen Barbie here with Kristen Cruz. Hey, kristen, hey, jen Barbie, are you ready to wrap up the you? You asked for it.
Speaker 2:I'm excited. This has been a really good. I feel like we should do these and hopefully those listening agree that we should solicit questions on a regular basis from the industry, like our just our friends in the industry who were so willing to just throw us some topics that were burning for them. I feel like we should do this often. It's been really enlightening to just hear and be able to respond to some of these topics.
Speaker 1:It really has. It's been a great time talking to different people in the industry we don't normally talk to on a regular basis and it's interesting to see where the commonalities have been in these questions for us and then the ones that have been different. So we're wrapping up part three. If you haven't seen part one and two, go listen to some of the other questions and our answers to from our opinions, from those pieces, but it's been a lot of fun. We're going to wrap up with our big hairy question, kristen, which is where is digital marketing going for a DMO?
Speaker 2:We were so overwhelmed by this question because it's so broad, it's such a it's a weighted question Like this question feels like it's a thousand pounds. Where is it going? I think is really. I think our overarching answer to this is it's going wherever Google, Facebook, Meta. It's going wherever the big kahunas in our industry are taking us, number one, Because we are sort of slaves in a certain way, to what areas we have to actually do our work, what platforms are available to us to actually do our work.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a good point, because then you've got the disruptors like TikTok, right, and so then we go. What do you do with that? Like is it here? Is it going away? Like is it here.
Speaker 2:Is it going away? Well, as a DMO marketer, I think our biggest job is to stay up to date on what users, how their user, how users are behaving when they start, when they travel, when they research travel, when they planned a book, when they're thinking about traveling, like what are, what are the behaviors look like? Because that ends up being where we need to behave as well as a marketer. Where do we need to be in order to build the awareness for where our users are going? And because the DMO industry we are not technology providers, we are not social media platforms, we are not video platforms. We are truly an industry that is almost following the leader, and the leaders are the platforms that we're kind of a slave to, and also how those platforms are changing user behavior.
Speaker 1:For sure, absolutely. I mean, I think that's a good point about changing the user behavior, but also I like your point about where, because that's that's. I think the first thing you have to make sure of is where in the journey are you responsible? And that's typically been awareness. But, as we've seen with some of the questions, I feel like DMOs are getting tasked with more and more responsibility. Now they're getting asked about different parts of the journey. More and more responsibility Now they're getting asked about different parts of the journey. We talked about booking in part two. You know that's a hornet's nest to step into. So I would say, if you look at that journey and your journey's still awareness and, to your point, we're a slave to these platforms and these platform disruptors. And does that mean we do that, you know, and does that mean so you know? I would say one thing is probably not changing and that is the need to create a story and a content line.
Speaker 2:And to stay very. I think the question started with a more digital mindset in mind, and I will. I'm going to kind of veer us a little bit on this question, because another question that I feel like we get a lot is how much of should I be doing these traditional media marketing things Like should I still have an ad in Southern Living? Should I still have this billboard on I-20? Should I still you know what I mean my answer is it depends.
Speaker 1:It depends right.
Speaker 2:I think we are. The other issue, which isn't always an issue, but can always be an issue for us in the marketing realm, is that we are always tasked with a KPI that is actionable, like, okay, we spent $10,000 here, what happened with it? What did they do from it? How many people saw it? What did they? What action did they take? There's always some action requirement from our board, from Cal, from whoever right that's looking at this from an ROI perspective, and traditional is being less and less appropriate for that quick action, unless you're doing QR codes, which we know. You know there's pros and cons to that as well, but there's a lot of things that have to move into digital. For a DMO that's used to having more of a balance of traditional and digital efforts, that's used to having more of a balance of traditional and digital efforts, and so that's a whole different question, like where is digital going for each of these destinations? Right? Like every destination has a different path forward based on so many things.
Speaker 1:I like what you say about traditional. I think I have a slightly different opinion on it because I do think there's a renaissance and a revival of, you know, tactile pieces of marketing. So a little bit from that, but I think we can get more creative with it. But also, you know, I guess my answer is always it depends, Like, if you've had that in Southern living, maybe you don't have, maybe your people are not really social media savvy, Maybe those travelers are anti those pieces. So that might be that might be more appropriate. But overall, holistically, absolutely, We've moved at accelerating pace in this digital world just in the last I mean gosh, just in the last decade where we've come. You know Facebook isn't as old as you think it is and it is a main staple. So you've got to look at where things are going. I think we're getting so tripped up because we're slower to adopt in this industry than some other industries were to a digital environment.
Speaker 1:So, because we were slower, now when the new things come, we feel very stressed and very compressed. And what's next? Which is why everybody's talking about AI in DMOs right now and it's way too early Like you should be thinking about it, but it's not ready to be an implementable thing, except on some very specific basis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think one of our earlier saga we'll call it the saga series was talking about replacing like, or or you know what, what various you know roles get replaced by some of the new technologies and content was one of them, and I think it definitely to your point. It's definitely very early for all of that, but that is where things are headed, and so if you're a DMO that has the luxury of truly like planning that far ahead and really like understanding you know where your DMO could be in five to 10 years, then absolutely be looking for some of the much newer technologies in a different way. But a lot of DMOs just can't plan like that.
Speaker 1:And I would say there's a lot more catching up for DMOs than they think there is in the digital space. Already. There's not a lot who are really activating a real-time personalized AI ad technology, like AI really should be in your ad tech, like that's already available. So there's some catching up before even worrying about what the future is. I think yeah.
Speaker 2:Agreed, I absolutely yeah. The industry in general has to do a lot of catching up because, like as you said, there was a lot of red tape and so it's not just DMO leaders going, hey, I'm going to make the decision to go and adopt this and let's go and let's run. There's a lot of buy-in and conversation and budget and there's a lot of things that have to kind of fall into place in order for a DMO to truly be on the forefront of adopting, you know, new digital techniques. It's not as easy for a DMO.
Speaker 1:No, and I think in the short term, it's more important to think about where your digital communication channels are and what you're communicating in this current social environment. Are you communicating your sustainability? Are you communicating your DEIA? Those are the things that travelers are caring about and are thinking about. So I think it's more important. I love this question and it's always like what's the future of so-and-so? We could go full on minority report advertising if we want to talk about that, but it's not real to our day-to-day. So I feel like our day-to-day, like we just have a little more to do and traditionally, like I do believe I know the visitor guide has been a huge question for so long Like should we?
Speaker 2:even oh it has.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I, I I kind of always boil the visitor question down to some of the other like social, like how active or how many platforms.
Speaker 2:I always boil that down to consistency. I think that you're going to have a consistent audience that does like the consistency of being able to utilize visitor guides to plan their travel or have that touchy feely something right. And I'm talking like the physical, not just the digital, but the physical aspect of it too. That consistency is really important. And just as continuing, if you're going to adopt a platform and market on that platform, being consistent in that platform, not following what necessarily makes sense for what the trends are saying or what's happening in the media, but really kind of looking at your stats. If that platform is working for you and your DMO, stay consistent in it. If your visitor guide is flying off the shelves and you have a lot of downloads from it, stay consistent with it. Don't just follow the trend because holistically as an industry, we're saying we could be on the outs or you know that's not as popular anymore. I think it, like you say, it depends. I think the the mantra of this entire series is it depends.
Speaker 1:It really. It just it really does, it does. You can't plan off of and you shouldn't. You should take pieces home that are germane to. You Can't come off of a conference or off of a podcast or off of anybody else's advice and saying, okay, this is what Christian and Jen says, so we're going to process this. That's just not the way you should do. Anything. It's always a depending situation.
Speaker 1:And honestly, overall, the future of digital marketing is just going to get more and more handheld. I think that's my answer. Would be like look at what people are holding in their hands and now what they've got. You know, glasses have the Bluetooth in them now Like did you see that Samsung has a ring?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was at Best Buy this weekend buying my new fancy mic, which I have to, for those on video. Look at how fancy this is. I feel super professional video. Look at how fancy this is, I feel super professional. But anyway, I was at. Well, anyway, I saw this. I saw the whole Samsung display and they had these rings on, like Samsung, and that they look like gold, platinum, like they look like wedding bands and I'm like what in the world is this? And it's like it's technology for your finger. It's essentially like what in the world is this? And it's like it's technology for your finger.
Speaker 2:It's essentially like what in the world yeah, like everything when we say wearables and holdables and what, how, whatever like this is. This technology is advancing so quickly that we can't even keep up like with what those items are at this point absolutely, and all those, all those items end up being an ad platform in one way or another.
Speaker 1:So you know that's going to. That's going to come around too. But I love this. We love more questions. Send them in, dm them to us and through our LinkedIn page. Email, kristen or I. We'd love to answer more questions. Yes we want to do this consistently. Yes, awesome. Final thoughts, kristen, on our questions so far.
Speaker 2:I just have one final thought, and that is I think, treat every question that you put out, whether it's to us, to your peers, to your board, whatever. Treat it like a study, treat it like an opinion-based. You know like get a second. Whatever. Treat it like a study, treat it like an opinion based. You know like, get a second, third, fourth opinion on things that are really burning or really troubling you.
Speaker 1:Agreed.
Speaker 2:But really think about how different we all are as destinations and as marketers and as teams. There's really no one size fits all. So take your answers with a grain of salt. Look at it like a study. Look at it like you're collecting data to analyze right Holistically, and that's kind of that's. That's, that's my two cents. I don't want any of our answers to be end all be all, like Jen and Kristen said.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no. I love that. So my final word would be take all that in. Like Krista said, get all your opinions and then go with your gut. If you're in a position, you've got good intuition, always, always, always, go with your gut.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Awesome. We will see you next time with some new special guests. Actually bye guys.
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