New Destination Marketing Trends, Great DMO marketing strategies, and How to Enhance a Destination's Brand Using Touchpoints - Adam Stoker Interview

This episode has some great action items! Adam stoker joined the HootBoard Visitor Information and Destination Marketing podcast. We covered many topics including his favorite destination marketing campaigns and strategies. We spoke briefly about the HootBoard touch screen kiosk software and how it helps DMOs. We also got into his book, "Touchpoints: A Destination Marketer's Guide To Brand Evaluation And Enhancement," and broke down some of its main points. These touchpoints can include a directional hotel signage experience, or even an interaction. We also talked about some of our experiences with the destinations we have personally visited. It was a very informative discussion, and we walked away with some great action items. 

 

0:00 - Intro and getting to know Adam’s career journey, and his accomplishments thus far. 

 

8:06 - Do you have any favorite or clever destination marketing strategies that you’ve learned about over the years that you find particularly effective? Adam talks about how important it is to be authentic when marketing a destination. 

 

9:50 - Adam shares a great piece of copy from Nebraska’s destination marketing campaign and a great line “Only boring people get bored.”

 

12:40 - We go into the importance of identifying and understanding features vs benefits. A destination should be able to articulate these two things when talking about what they offer. 

 

13:15 - Adam shares another great campaign idea called “Idaho’s 18 summers” that targets families with kids. This emotional campaign talks about how there are 18 summers between the birth of a child and their 18th birthday, and the importance of family time. 

 

15:14 - Discussion on another great campaign from Bryce Canyon Garfield County. It’s about their Covid recovery campaign and the copy that accompanies the campaign is titled “upgrade your dust.” 

 

17:36 - We get into a Covid discussion and how destinations are opening up.

 

21:15 - Strategies for Marketing to Different demographics 

 

25:32 - Adam is the author of Touchpoints: A Destination Marketer's Guide To Brand Evaluation And Enhancement. He gives a nice intro to the book and goes into detail about it. 

 

28:51 - By the time someone experiences your destination, they should be able to tell an effective story. The story of a destination is very important. Adam talks about how a story brings a destination to life. 

 

32.00 - The power of a strong recommendation from a local wait staff employee. Adam gives an example of a unique touch point he had at a restaurant during his experience in Knoxville TN. 

 

32:30 - Satya shouts out Knoxville. #knoxrocks

 

33:36 - Adam shouts out knoxville. #knoxrocks

 

34:35 - Adam Stoker’s book can be found on Amazon. You can order the physical book or get the ebook. It’s got great reviews, and there is great feedback. Adam has a wealth of knowledge, and his book is a great addition to the destination marketer’s reading list. 

 

36:26 - Adam talks about how the book is a DIY tool. Adam talks about the process of how he can help a destination roll out to help destinations as a service. 

 

37:52 - Todd from Schenectady shouted out. 

 

39:00 - We go into the different DMOs and their reactions to Covid. It was a challenging year, but DMOs definitely rose to the occasion to keep things going and adapting to what was happening. 

 

42:00 - Adam shares a trend that we all can agree is a useful way to get the information out there - the power of podcasting. He envisions a day where any DMO will use podcasts to get people to talk about their location. 

 

47:57 - What is an action item destinations can do today to enhance their brand? Adam gives a great answer. 

 

48:35 - What are some resources that destination marketers or travel destinations are not taking full advantage of and should be.