Rodney Payne - The future of destination marketing

Take moment to read this quote and reflect. “The only path to profitable growth lies in your ability to get your customers to be your marketing
department” If you are the marketing department for a destination. The path to profitable growth (and effectively using your resources), lies in your
ability to get your destination’s visitors and local residents to do your job for you. This quote was from 2003 - before Facebook existed, the same year
as MySpace began and three years before Twitter launched.
(Further reading: A Harvard Business Review article explain that customer loyalty is fundamentally linked to future business growth:
https://hbr.org/2003/12/the-one-number-you-need-to-grow)
“…the only path to
profitable growth may lie in
a company’s ability to get its
loyal customers to become,
in effect,its marketing
department.”
- Harvard Business Review

Redefining DestinationMarketing
The End-to-End Traveler Experience
At Think! we’ve made it our business to redefine how destination marketing can be most effective, and to provide agency support to destinations in
this new environment. While you read this presentation, think about what your organization is going to look like in 5 years. Really visualize what that
looks like. Because it won't look the same. And it's not going to get there on its own. Meaningful change takes time.

We Believe
Travel makes the
world a better
place
Our Team
Engages directly
with millions of
travelers
Our Company
Helped to grow the
economies of
hundreds of
destinations
Now
We work with 30
destination clients
Our Focus
Drive income to
economies by
improving the end-to-
end traveler experience
Our Offices
In 4 markets:
Australia, Canada,
Europe, USA
Our Clients
Are industry
leaders
We’ve worked with hundreds of destinations on all manner of projects across product development, customer engagement and to managing change.
Transformational change is a journey. And at Think! we constantly strive to share our experiences in the hopes that we can save you time on yours.
Hopefully this helps you to encounter different road blocks, and we can all help to drive our industry forward. Full disclosure: some (but not all) of the
examples and case studies in this presentation come from organizations that we’ve worked with. Just like a destination without visitors, we wouldn’t
be anywhere without our clients who’ve trusted us with their business.

We’ll start by acknowledging the change, then we’ll look at how you might start to future proof your DMO, examine some new success metrics that
you might consider, then finish by posing some things to consider as you create a new vision for your destination.
The first step to recovery is admitting that we have a problem. Destinations are operating in an environment of incredible volumes of communication.
Consumers get their information from a huge number of sources. They are inspired by their friends and family and they plan their trips on the internet
and often book online, or direct.
Acknowledge the change

“This promotion/activity
brought out the best in all of us.
We approached total strangers
without fear or judgment.We
looked each other in the eye,
spoke and smiled
I just want to say‘thank-you’for
such an absolutely fun and
memorable experience.”
- Len Stanley
In 2010 we designed a campaign for Dallas leading up to the Super Bowl. Their big opportunity was to highlight the positive changes in their product. We gave away two trips to the
game, to people in the final team’s cities;; Greenbay and Pitsburgh. To win, participants had to find ‘the mystery man’ in each city and ask them a secret phrase: ‘Have you been to
Dallas lately?’. We didn’t have much time to prepare, so we had to rely heavily on social channels and local sports bloggers to get the word out fast. The media picked up the story
quickly and had a field day with it. In the end, we had thousands and thousands of people following our clues around in each city to try and find the mystery man, asking each other that
question. It was insanely successful. But this was very early days in consumer engagement, and we had a key learning: as a marketer or a brand, you can add value to people’s lives.
So much so, that people wrote and thanked the CVB for running the campaign. People actually thanked Dallas CVB for bringing their community together for a short period of time.
(Further reading: A Case Study on Dallas CVB’s Superbowl campaign that brought huge learning on how consumer engagement can actually add value to peoples’ lives and deepen
brand loyalty. http://destinationthink.com/the-story-of-our-super-bowl-campaign-that-got-2-4-million-people-talking/ )

Contrast the type of reaction consumer engagement that we saw in Greenbay and Pitsburgh to the effect that advertising often has. There’s a huge
Disconnect between advertising and what consumers want to hear and the information they need. There is a growing frustration with advertising
because it is inherently designed to interrupts the customer journey.

From Broadcast to Engagement
websites are typically visited by travelers in
9.5 sessions when researching a trip.
Fewer than 19% consult a DMO website.
Source: Google and Destination Analysis
22 of travelers consult TripAdvisor before
selecting a destination or hotel.
Source: TripAdvisor
77%
EvolvingThe DMO
Business Model
of consumers trust peer recommendations
more than advertisements.
Source SKIFT
92%
of consumers today feel advertisements
are ‘very’ or “somewhat exaggerated.”
Source: Lab42
76% of travelers use their smartphones
while abroad.
Source: SKIFT
85%
of travelers use social media while on
vacation. 76% of travelers use social media
to share their experience after they return.
Source: SKIFT
74%
Sourced from Destination Next
There’s endless statistics to back up the type of shift I’m talking about. Here are some from DMAI’s Destination Next report. Fewer than 19% of
travelers go to a DMO site, and even if they do its just a tiny part of what influences them. Travelers consult each other. They are influenced by their
friends. They’re glued to their smart phones and other technology.
(Further reading: The Destination Next Report from Destination Marketing Association International that explains three transformational opportunities
for destination marketing organizations and many helpful Next Practices around consumer engagement:
http://www.destinationmarketing.org/sites/destinationmarketing.org/files/DMAI_Destination_Next_Report_V10_small.pdf )

Authenticity Is Everything
Vs.
Crystal Driedger-Hounsell
Hey Lindsay... LOVE your
profile pic! Your trip looks
like it was totally amazing!
How was Greece? I really
want to go there, is it great
as it looks?
You can see the data from research playing out every day in your own life. In the example on the left, you can see that there’s a paid model, and
stock imagery, taken on the best weather day, that has likely been improved using photo-editing software. People generally don’t trust advertising,
even if they do see the ads. On the right is a photo of my wife Lindsay, that she shared while she was in Greece with a friend. Thanks to social media,
we can now visualize word of mouth, and you can see that its extremely authentic. Authenticity is critical to affecting consumer behavior.

“Consumers
spend, on
average, 25% of
their waking time
on their mobile
device.They have
it on them 24/7
and check it as
often as 150 times
a day.”
“The #1
influence on
travel
destination
decisions are
friends and
family.”
“Every 2 days
we create as
much
information as
we did up to
2003”
“44% of direct
mail is never
opened.”
Only 8% of
Europeans and
10% of
Americans trust
ads on websites
Reconsider the value of advertising
There are endless statistics. But if there’s one thing you take away, its this: the #1 influence on travel destination decisions
are friends and family, through word of mouth

The typical funnel is now well and truly, convincingly, unmistakably, …broken. The biggest influence on travel decisions is word of mouth from
friends and family. Yet DMO budgets are being spent at the top of the funnel. So what’s the alternative? Instead of trying to compete with word of
mouth with paid media, the opportunity is for destinations to chose to refocus, and begin to influence and embrace all of this word of mouth. If you
do this well, you can narrow the funnel and be highly effective with your budget.
(Further reading: A brilliant Tnooz interview with Brian Solis, explaining how broken the travel marketing funnel is broken:
http://www.tnooz.com/article/the-travel-marketing-funnel-is-broke/ )
Other
people’s
stories
Your stories

As the Harvard Business Review quote at the beginning of this presentation said, you shouldn’t need to spend tons of money to reach customers
anymore. Your customers should be coming to you, and your communication should provide value through education or entertainment. Buying
people’s attention is a sign of failure somewhere else in your marketing. Either your product isn’t remarkable enough for people to talk about it or
unique enough to get peoples attention, or you’re not getting your product in front of the right people.
Buying peoples’
attention through paid
advertising is essentially
a sign of failure

- Wikipedia
Customer engagement (CE) is:
1. The engagementof customers with one
another, with a company or a brand.
2. The initiative for engagement can be
either consumer- or company-led and the
medium of engagement can be on or offline.
The alternative to one-way promotion is customer engagement. True customer engagement is not campaign management, it's not customer experience systems, it's not a
call centre system, it's not a CRM systems. True engagement is about listening to a customer as they travel across your destination on a journey and determining what the
most appropriate and valuable conversation for that customer should be. Customer engagement is not just selling to them, its not just about thinking from a service point of
view but instead thinking what is the most appropriate conversation for a customer at this stage of their personal customer journey. Its also about learning from that
experience to build a better and stronger long term relationship. Customer engagement is moving more toward consumers’ desire for less interruption and more relevance –
and less interruption.
(Further reading: Mashable’s explanation of the different between traditional promotion (outbound marketing) and consumer engagement (inbound marketing).
http://mashable.com/2011/10/30/inbound-outbound-marketing/ )

Future-ProofYourDMO
So, If advertising isn’t having the impact that it used to, what role do destinations play? Reduce reliance on advertising to reach customers and
invest in innovation to find ways to affect word of mouth. Create a strategy to future-proof your destination.

The tourism industry needs strong leadership. You need to be very clear that the traveler is your ultimate stakeholder.
Because improving the end to end journey is what is going to lead to word of mouth and bring travel into your economy. This requires leadership
in the true sense of the word;; through trust and not by control (push). Instead of controlling an advertising team who tightly controls the message,
you need to empower your marketing team to trust visitors and residents to define your place and spread the word (pull).
The industry needs
strong leadership
Focus on your customer

Destination Next
Dealing WithThe
New Marketplace
#1. Technology will significantly alter DMO role
#2. Greater emphasis on engaging customers
in two-way conversations
#7. New strategies to refocus millennial market
#9. Market segmentation and personalization
#10. Focus on mobile platforms
#20. My DMO will invest more effort in scanning
the market for business intelligence
Broadcast to Engagement
Building & Protecting
The Destination Brand
#3. Play central role in advocacy for
destination
#5. Connect visitor experience with residents’
quality of life
#11. Greater role as cultural champion of
destination
#14. Participate in building platforms for the
visitor experience
#15. Balance need for growth with responsible
and sustainable development
#16. Play a greater role in policy and product
development
#19. My national tourism organization will
encourage local brands
Destination Managers
EvolvingThe DMO
Business Model
#4. More involved in broader economic-
development initiatives
#6. Adopt uniform operating standards and
consistent measures of performance
#8. Agree on uniform methodology to
measure economic impact
#12. MY DMO will form more strategic
alliances outside the DMO industry
#13. Better understanding of economic
impact of industry
#17. Collaborative technology will
be core strategy
#18. Engage more closely with
nontraditional stakeholders
Collaboration & Partnerships
DMAI’s Destination Next Report identified three transformational opportunities for destination marketing organizations after a study
of over 300 destinations around the world. We see them as all interrelated.
(Further reading: The Destination Next Report from Destination Marketing Association International that explains three
transformational opportunities for destination marketing organizations and many helpful Next Practices around consumer engagement:
http://www.destinationmarketing.org/sites/destinationmarketing.org/files/DMAI_Destination_Next_Report_V10_small.pdf )

A destination’s brand is the sum of all of the stories that someone hears about your destination combined with their experiences they have
during a trip. Since we know that word of mouth is the biggest driver of tourism, destinations need to focus on stories as the driver of a
destination brand.
(Further reading: http://www.wilhelmus.ca/2009/11/the-destination-branding-illusion.html)
The sum of
all the experiences
during a trip
The sum of
all the stories
somebody hears
The Destination Brand

This diagram represents a model we’ve created to help us think about the modern destination marketing environment. Stories are at the centre. They
are the result of people (storytellers) who have experiences. Those stories are told in channels and reach an audience. As a destination, there’s two
primary things you can do to influence those stories;; you can develop better experiences and you can communicate with people about their
experiences, and help them to better connect with each other.
(Further reading: Destination Think!’s model that explains the new operating environment for destinations: http://destinationthink.com/our-
destination-marketing-and-management-model/ )

There are many new opportunities (beyond promotion) that you can invest in as a destination. An important starting point is to deeply understand
the DNA of your destination;; what makes your place what it is, what experiences do you offer that are unique. And you need to map out the
consumer journey to and in your destination.
Understand the
destination DNA and
map the consumer journey.

You can use all of the data available, through websites, visitor surveys, or through custom surveying apps, to map your your visitor experience.
Here’s how a journey might look like for one particular traveler who traveled from Amsterdam to a ski resort in France. You can see that they go
through highs and lows throughout their journey.
Emotion

Its important to note that the highs and lows are often what they tend to remember, and share in their stories.
Emotion

Develop and maintain
consistent, remarkable
experiences.
Once you’ve have a deep understanding of your experiences and the visitor experience, you need to constantly seek to improve it. Fix the low
points, make the dull parts more interesting and make sure that stories about the high points are being amplified.

Vision
Values, philosophy and
goals to provide direction
and guide decision-making
Personas
Representative users based
on research into motivations
and behaviors
Location Plan
Determining what services
are offered where, when,
and by whom
Journey Map
Values, philosophy and
goals to provide direction
and guide decision-making
Design Think!ing
As a destination, one of your biggest challenges is that you don’t own the product. But you CAN influence it. And this is where you need to re-
engage with your industry at a deeper level than ever. You can use collaborative principles to lead stakeholders through an exciting process that
invests them in delivering consistent experiences. This is where strong leadership comes in to play. Done well, you can build a culture of visitor-
first service. We are seeing a lot of success in adapting principles from Design Thinking and adjusting them for our industry. It works;; if you can
inspire the industry to invest in their own success, you will make a big impact.

Provide training and
services to tourism
businesses to improve their
communications and service.
Destinations also need to ensure that their industry is doing an effective job of communicating with travelers. Many tourism businesses have been
left behind by the shift towards digital communication. Arguably, getting this right is more important than your own communication, because the
size of the industry’s network (when its aggregated) has the potential to be enormous. The industry regularly have the opportunity to connect with
travelers and turn them into advocates and repeat visitors.

Destinations are starting to make industry up-skilling a priority. Visit Sorlandet (the tourism board for Southern Norway) is a great example of a destination who’s made industry
collaboration their priority. Their focus is on repeat visitation;; which is simple to understand, and easy to convey. There’sa great hypothesis that if people are coming back regularly,
they’re probably advocates. One of Sorlandet’s main initiatives is a program called Arena Usus;; where they bring together the leading tourism businesses to share data, knowledge and
best practices. Its important not to treat industry collaboration as an afterthought. Recognize the importance of an effective tourism industry and invest in supporting them. Help your
tourism industry to support each other through data sharing, and providing solutions to enable them to become better marketers in a digital world.
(Further reading –A presentation from the CEO of Visit Sorlandet at our conference, explaining their matter-of-fact approach to destination marketing through industry collaboration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb5uYaFNNlI&index=10&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7BOsE8Zye2Nvzjl_SU-mPLV and an interview with her afterwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIyc-w22TRs&index=23&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7ACUST_A42uVEHZ21kUMqeZ - Heidi does a better job of explaining their approach than I ever could.
)
“Our guests are
our best marketers.
Our vision is quite simple:
to be the number one destination
in getting guests to return and
telling others to come too.”
Image courtesy of Visit Norway

Communications:
focusing on one-to-
one conversationwith
consumers and niche
campaigns.
Now we’re shifting more towards the right hand side of the model;; the communications side. The first step is to engage visitors and locals in
conversation, and to produce content that adds value to your intended audience.

Now we’re shifting more towards the right hand side of the model;; the communications side. The first step is to engage visitors and locals in
conversation, and to produce content that adds value to your intended audience.
AdvocacyExperiencePurchaseConsiderationAwareness

Advocacy through
engaging residents.
Past consumers and
influencers/media
relevant to the
destination’s
experiences.
Going further into consumer engagement, advocacy is an enormous opportunity brought about by the social web. Never before has it been so easy
to connect with all of the people who love what you offer and effectively manage them, to keep your destination top-of-mind, to enable them to
become raving fans for your destination.
This is what the quote at the beginning was getting at. You need to provide the platform and manage the community so that they become your
marketing department.

If you can get the right approach to advocacy, its insanely valuable. This is one of my favorite stories from a loyal visitor to and passionate advocate
for the Canadian Rockies. That time of compelling emotion is hard to beat. It is very difficult to package an complex set of experiences and stories
into one tag line. The creativity and diversity of stories that you can draw out of individuals is nearly unlimited.
Sarah Coombes I was there for a family trip (12 of us) back in 2006
and have since been back 3 separate time. Now I ’m ready for my
fourth trip in 2 weeks. So excited to see that stellar view again. Did a
canoe ride in honor of my late Mother and Father. They would have
been pleased. That was their favorite place on Earth!

And advocacy can scale. Here’s a totally different example from Europe. Over 10 years ago the city installed one of these signs. Then social media
happened and now there’s photos of people in front of them all over the internet.
iAmsterdam have calculated that those photos reach over 1.2m people each day.
(Further reading – A presentation from our conference where CharelVan Dam explains Amsterdam’s marketing strategy and how effective the
iAmsterdam signs have been in stimulating online advocacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcQH8KBlhcw )
• 8,000 photographers
• 50% share on social
• 1.2M people reached
EVERY DAY!

The remarkable thing about Richmond in BC is their Chinese food. Tourism Richmond put that at the core of their marketing. They engaged foodie experts
to find the right influencer, someone passionate about chinese food and well connected within the foodie market. That lucky person got to eat at 365
Chinese restaurants, one per day, for a whole year. And this was the core of a fully-integrated content marketing strategy;; engaging residents, industry, and
the foodie community all over the world to create word of mouth that reached new audiences. The campaign leaves a legacy of content, and earned
significant exposure in traditional media.
(Further reading - A case study on Tourism Richmond’s brilliant #Richmond365 campaign;; focused on word of mouth, niche marketing, advocacy and
content marketing: http://www.365daysofdining.com/about/ )

Monitor traveler
conversation for feedback
throughout the end-to-
end visitor journey.
Lastly, we need to connect the loop. Throughout the process, destinations need to monitor what people are saying about their experiences and industry. This
learning will help inform the other stages;; to to ensure sure you understand your destination offerings and consumer, and to make sure you’re communicating most
effectively. TripAdvisor and other social media tools make this task possible and many technology offerings can help to streamline the process. exists to streamline.
KLM does this incredibly well;; monitoring and triaging nearly 40,000 conversations a week. Some destinations have repurpose Visitor’s center resources and
trained staff to monitor and engage in online conversations.
(Further reading – Here is a presentation from Jochem van Drimmelenfrom KLM explaining their approach to social business at our conference in Nashville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Jvhz3IJOgand a short interview afterwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrBLqBGHRNE )

Visit Flanders listen
to social conversation
worldwide,24 hours
a day.
Visit Flanders installed a 24hrs tweet desk last year– leveraging their international offices to manage challenges with time zones. They invested
in Synthesio, a French tool with very precise Boolean queries to listen to social conversations online. By installing the dashboard they could
engage when appropriate.

Understand the
destination DNA and
map the consumer journey.
Advocacy through
engaging residents.
Past consumers and
influencers/media
relevant to the
destination’s
experiences.
Develop and maintain
consistent, remarkable
experiences.
Provide training and
services to tourism
businesses to improve their
communications and service.
Communications:
focusing on one-to-
one conversationwith
consumers and niche
campaigns.
Monitor traveler
conversation for feedback
throughout the end-to-
end visitor journey.
These opportunities outline a more complete picture of where destinations could invest. They are not intended to be linear. None of these things are
one-time investments. These activities should become part of what you do as a business. Every destination should find right combination of
opportunities and priorities based on their unique experiences, visitor profile and other factors. Creating a strategy and business case that you can stand
behind will give you permission to focus. When you're planning for the future, look at the resources that you currently invest in promotional activity and
plan to invest it in innovation.

Change How You
Measure Success
The shift towards new opportunities ultimately means that destination marketers need to find new ways of measuring (and communicating) our success.
Destinations are frequently held back by success-measures that are tied to mass marketing.

Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score % Promoter % Detractors= -
0 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Detractors Passives Promoters
On the experience development side of our model, there is an opportunity to measure peoples’ sentiment about experiences. Here, Net Promoter Score
is a terrific KPI for destinations – providing a metric that is simple to explain and with a correlation to future business growth.
(Further reading - An explanation from our Chief Strategist on why Net Promoter Score is the perfect KPI for destination marketing organizations:
http://www.wilhelmus.ca/2013/01/nps-is-the-perfect-destination-kpi.html )

A new international
framework for measuring
the success of a
destination’s online
engagement
On the communication side of the model, we come back to the question;; ‘what’s the ROI of social media engagement’.
We’ve been working on that problem with leading 6 destinations around the world, to see if we can come up with an answer.

• A DMO’s marketing efforts generates
revenue potential for the future.
• Conversion is dependent on factors
outside of control of the DMO
Potential
on Investment
The framework is called ‘Potential on Investment’ because a DMO exists to create demand for a destination, where the industry otherwise wouldn’t on
its own. Conversion depends on many factors outside of a DMOs control, and that frequently happens in the private sector.

• Use a consumer’s economic impact
value
• Calculate the influence of a DMO
channel
• Find the channel statistic that most
credible measures a real impact on the
consumer
Basis for our model
The logic to gauge the potential on investment follows this thinking: take the economic impact value of an average traveler (most destinations know this
already), calculate the influence of a DMO’s communication channel, and then measure the level of engagement in the most credible ways possible.

Phocuswright regularly report on the impact of various social channels on travel decisions. So we’ve leaned on that research because its very credible.

Maximum qualifier
Facebook Unique users who
liked, commented or
shared
Either action is an indicator the consumer was impacted by
the shared content, especially since the action is public and
can result in Facebook displaying the action to a person’s
friend group
Twitter Retweets and clicks We have excluded ‘favourites’, since this action is too
passive. It is not a strong indicator.
Instagram - DMO channel Comments, likes We have excluded ‘likes’ on Instagram, because the action is
too passive.
Instagram - DMO encouraged
#hashtag shares by others
Comments We have excluded ‘likes’ on Instagram because the action is
too passive. It’s not a strong enough indicator
DMO blog/website Visits minus bounces A consumer who reads a blog post and stays on the page
long enough to have an impact.
Pinterest Click or repin A like is too passive
YouTube Completed View
To make sure that your communication is effective, it has to have a meaningful impact on consumers. We’ve developed what we call the Maximum
Qualifier of engagement. We’ve taken the best indicator of engagement from each channel, and we’ve been very conservative (with the knowledge that
there’s going to be a lot of impact beyond these results).

The combination of these inputs leaves us with a destination’s Potential Economic Impact, which lets destination marketers express the future potential
value of demand created from consumer engagement activities, as a dollar value. This is one way that a destination can start to measure their activities
on the right hand side of the model.
(Further reading – subscribe to our email newsletter If you’re interested in more information on POI www.destinationthink.com)
Cv x Ci x Mq = Potential Economic Impact
The model
• Cv: Consumer Value
– economic value of a visitor
• Ci: Channel Impact
– the impact of a specific (DMO) channel
• Mq: Maximum Qualifier
– the most credible number measuring an impact

Example
Facebook $2,000 (Cv) x 4.51% (Ci) x 10,000 (Mq) $902,000
Twitter $2,000 (Cv) x 2.21% (Ci) x 2,000 (Mq) $88,400
Instagram $2,000 (Cv) x 1,52% (Ci) x 2,200 (Mq) $66,880
Pinterest $2,000 (Cv) x 1.35% (Ci) x 500 (Mq) $13,500
YouTube $2,000 (Cv) x 3.01% (Ci) x 1200 (Mq) $72,240
Total $1,143,020
• Here’s an example of what a POI calculation might look like.
• Assume that a destination’s average visitor is worth $2000 to the local
economy
• Calculate the influence of each channel on travel behavior
• Measure the engagement rates you’re getting on each channel
• Then you can calculate a value for the POI value on each channel
• If you total the values from each channel, you have a total value for potential
demand for your industry to tap into.
(Further reading – subscribe to our email newsletter If
you’re interested in more information on POI
www.destinationthink.com )

“Between 1999
and 2009 customer
centric businesses had
233% growth versus
10% for shareholder
centric businesses.”
– Harvard Business Review
Customer focus is a proven
path to business growth
“By 2020,customer
experience is forecast
to overtake price and
product as key brand
differentiator.”
– Forrester Research
“Industries focused on
customer journeys are
significantly(20-30%) more
strongly correlated with
business outcomes, such as
high revenue, repeat
purchase, low customer churn,
and positive word of mouth”
– McKinsey & Co.
In contrast to the statistics on the disruption occurring in communication, there is overwhelming evidence that a consumer-centric approach has tangible
economic benefits to justify investment. We are operating in an experience economy, and destinations must put the customer experience above all else.

What WillYour Organization
Look Like In 5Years?
Many destinations are forging a new path. We’re seeing a shift start to occur around the world. Earlier, I asked you to consider this question: “What will
your organization look like in 5 years?” When you look back on your career after five years, what would you like to have accomplished? What legacy would
you like to leave for your destination?

DMO
strategy and
organization is
focusing on
consumer-
centric
investments.
Marketers
realized that
strategy should
focus on word-
of-mouth rather
than creative.
Effective social
media marketing
strategies
became more
common.
Advertisers
built an
audience on
social and
broadcast their
message
through social
media posts.
The Journey to Innovation
Social media
offered another
tactic or
channel in
advertising
campaigns.
As a business, Destination Think! has been on a journey. We grew out of a need to support destinations with social media marketing. That has morphed
into a unique blend of destination marketing consultancy and agency support that doesn’t exist anywhere else on the planet. We’ve seen many of our
clients go on a parallel journey. First you reach a point in your marketing where you realize influencing word of mouth offers the best results. Then
opportunities appear to reshape organizational strategy and structure around consumer-centricity. Let me pose some questions that might help you to start
(or continue) your transformational journey.

Does a single brand work for the many
experiencesin your destination?
Does a single brand work to capture all of the unique and complex combinations of experiences that your destination offers?

What can you do to
increase the likelihood that
your industry delivers a
consistent experience?
Influencing the experiences that people have on the ground can be even more challenging, because you are removed from the delivery of the experience.
The industry needs to be invested in deliver, which is not an easy task. What can you do to overcome this?

How are you going to scale personal interactions with consumers at different points in the customer journey to be most relevant?
Are you organized in
a way that enables you to
scale personal interactions
with consumers throughout
their journey?

How do you
build your team so that they
are excited about a new
direction and have the skills
to deliver results?
How do you build up your team up so that they are excited about a new future?

How do you communicate your vision in an exciting way? If your communications strategy is focused on creating advocates you cannot take a top-down
approach to planning and marketing. Those days are definitely over. If you want to succeed at niche marketing, you need everyone on your side and
everyone working towards the same goals: the people delivering experiences, the companies they work for, your stakeholders, your organization, your
team and most importantly, the local residents.
How do you communicate
your vision in an exciting
way that attracts support?

How do you
measure success in a way
that ensures that your
investment continues to
drive economic results?
How do you measure success? Is the way you’re currently organized efficient? Do teams and individuals in your organization have a clear understanding
of what success looks like? Do you have a strategy that you can stand behind, that makes a clear case for your investments and gives you permission to
focus. You have to establish and measure the right KPIs and continuously demonstrate value from your investments, to affect meaningful change.

What are the roadblocks
to sustained innovation
that you might need to
anticipate?
Last but not least, what is going to get in your way? How can you anticipate and plan to overcome roadblocks?

“Montrealbuilds a
blueprint for modern
destination marketing”
-Skift
In our work around the world, we have seen many destinations experimenting and innovating in different ways. This has given us an overview effect that has led to the
creation of our model for destination marketing. There are some Canadian destination marketers at the forefront with the rest of the world. Tourisme Montreal has been
innovating since they decided to invest 100% of their advertising budget in the digital space in 2009. Their 5 year strategy put destination management, niche experiences
and word of mouth at the forefront.
(Further reading - Skift wrote a piece on Tourisme Montreal setting the new blueprint for destination marketing. http://skift.com/2014/02/14/montreal-builds-a-blueprint-for-
modern-destination-marketing/ and Emmanuelle LeGault spoke about their work at our conference near Sydney:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exDTp6nmWe4&index=2&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7CaSEnK_Ih3au2ZOkn0vNbi and here’s an interview with Emmanuelle after her
presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AncBhe_Pec&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7Cl5zgU5CBikr1sXd_LVE-K&index=2 )

Regional Tourism Organization 4 (in Ontario) is said to be a petri dish for innovation in destination marketing. They’ve abandoned the need for a brand,
and have focused heavily on helping their destinations do what they do best.
(Further reading - David Peacock shared RTO4’s work at our conference in New Orleans this year. Here’s his presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZJItCzzlI&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7DI391uSl3lVHg_v1vo3n41 )
Regional Tourism
Organization Four
“A petri dish for
innovation in
destination marketing”

A corporate strategy that
places consumers at the
center of investments.
Image courtesy of Destination British Columbia
Destination British Columbia is heavily focused on word of mouth advocacy, training their industry, and developing remarkable experiences.
They’ve rolled out Net Promoter Score as a measure of the sentiment around the experiences that they offer.
(Further reading - Destination British Columbia have shared their corporate strategy online, you can see it here: http://strategy.destinationbc.ca/ Here’s
an interview with Leah Poulton from Destination British Columbia after her presentation at our conference in Nashville:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fkueD7oDeI&index=23&list=PLwkdyWIW7I7BOsE8Zye2Nvzjl_SU-mPLV )

Rodney Payne
www.destinationthink.com
Connect with us at www.destinationthink.com

Rodney Payne - The future of destination marketing

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