Destination Marketing Podcast

Adam takes this week's episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast on the road to Dana Point, California. He talks with John Ehlenfeldt, Executive Director of Visit Dana Point, about how John's unique experiences in the travel and tourism industry have prepared him for this role. They discuss some of the challenges that the destination has faced over the past several years, as well as what John a...

 In this week’s episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Kyle Edmiston, the president and CEO of Visit Lake Charles, joins Adam to discuss what makes his DMO unique and how his team has benefitted from implementing Volunteer Time Off (VTO). “Having something that’s slightly different, having something that speaks to humanity, having something that speaks to a passion that one individual emplo...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast Adam is joined by Scott Dahl, Director at the Springfield Illinois Convention & Visitors Bureau. Listen to hear how his destination has come up with creative ideas to help increase the average length of visitor stay, boost stakeholder engagement and repurpose an old space into something that will benefit the community for years to come. "What is uniqu...

In this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Journera's Chief Revenue Officer Scott Garner joins Adam to talk about how his company is changing the way tourism brands view and access data. Through a unique partnership with companies such as Marriott and American Airlines, Journera is able to bypass the need for third-party cookies and offer its customers a reliable source of data that was...

In this week’s episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Charles Harris, the President and CEO of The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority joins Adam to discuss his non-traditional path toward becoming a destination marketer and establishing a customer advisory board. Learn more about how customer advisory boards can be beneficial to you and your destination. “It’s a working meeting....

In this week’s episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Rachel O’Neill-Cusey, Director of Sales & Marketing at Visit Dana Point, joins Adam to talk about how she got her start in destination marketing and what it’s like to be a one-person team. She also discusses her experience starting The Dana Point Wave and working with Relic. “As a one-woman show, I can only do what I can do. At first, I...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, John Lambeth from Civitas and Mike Testa from Visit Sacramento join Adam to talk about some of the funding options available to destination marketing organizations. Listen to learn more about different tax options as well as how developing a tourism improvement district can help stabilize funding for years to come. "One of the things that have helped...

In this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam takes the show on the road to Beaufort, South Carolina. He is joined by Victoria Smalls, Executive Director at Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. Listen to them talk about her background in the cultural tourism industry as well as why history and culture play such an important role in telling a destination's story. Adam also talks...

In this week's episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam goes in-depth on his trip to Dallas, Texas for Destinations International's CDME Training. Listen as Adam discusses the structure of the training, the important lessons he learned, and the people he met along the way. "I know that there’s gaps in my knowledge and that’s why I wanted to make sure that I went and did this training. I...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast Adam is joined by Elizabeth Keller, Director at the Delaware Office of Tourism. Listen to hear what it was like advertising the home state of President Joe Biden during the election and how she was able to ask another DMO for advice. Other topics include the benefits of being a young professional in the tourism industry and how to effectively market a...

Jamie Rand joins us in this week's episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast to talk all about some of the things that his destination has been working on over the past several months. Learn how they were able to use a Winnie the Pooh analogy to drive their creative messaging, utilize Carvertise to spread awareness of their campaign and take advantage of data resources to better inform their st...

Will Seccombe is back on this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast to talk about all of the Connect Travel events coming up in 2022. He and Adam talk through what each event will entail and why each one is important to note as destination marketers are planning their schedule for this year. "Like any of these conferences, learn from others that have done it for a long time. Learn from othe...

In this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, join Adam and Jessica Merrill as they talk about the effects of tourism on communities and why destination marketing is often misunderstood by stakeholders. Learn how Jessica got into the industry, as well as how she has been able to transform her destination with the help of Relic over the past year and a half. "You're providing a better quali...

Join Adam on this week's episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast as he chats with AJ Brau, co-founder and CEO of Wander, about some of the intricacies that come with creating maps for destinations. Listen to learn more about Wander and how destinations are using this new innovative platform to help visitors not only navigate their destination but also experience it in new ways. "People say a...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam talks to Natasha Lye, PR and Content Specialist at Relic and host of the Inner Coastal Podcast, The Hola Laredo Podcast and Find Your Flow in MoCo. Listen to learn the ins and outs of hosting a podcast and hear some of the things Natasha has learned through hosting over the past two years. "I was worried about making the guest uncomfortable beca...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam is joined in the studio by Greg Star and Mark Ligos from Carvertise. Listen to learn more about how Carvertise is making traditional media more accessible to small and medium-size destinations, as well as how destinations can utilize it to help increase the value of the DMO to its stakeholders. "You can't drive a billboard into the parking lot o...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam talks with Relic's Executive Creative Director Justin Flack about the importance of branding in destination marketing. Listen to learn why your destination needs a brand strategy as well as what you can do to get started on building one. "You can create a brand but you can never determine what that brand is in the eyes of your visitors or your c...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam shares some of his 2022 New Years' resolutions for destination marketers. Learn how you can apply these principles in your destination and how to strengthen your marketing plan in the year to come. "Take a step back and think about what your overarching strategy is. Why do we do what we do?" - Adam Stoker Follow the Destination Marketing Podcast...

Mo Parikh from Bandwango is back on this week's episode of The Destination Marketing Podcast. Listen to hear some of Mo's tips on using Bandwango effectively in your destination as well as the importance of transforming your destination into an e-commerce platform in order to increase stakeholder engagement and improve the overall visitor experience in your community. "Our mission is to enable our...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, join Adam as he talks with Andreas Weissenborn, host of the Architects of Destination Advocacy Podcast, about the importance of advocacy in destinations as well as how podcasts can play a key role in not only telling the destination's story but also cultivating a community of trust between your community and your destination marketing organization. T...

Adam is back in the studio in this special episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast. He is joined by Benoit Grouchko and Evan Saunders from Near to talk all about data and how DMOs can utilize Near's technology in their destination. "With the amount of data increasingly scaling and all the focus we put on our end, I really like our ability to keep answering more and more use cases for tourism...

In this final episode from the 2021 Sports ETA Symposium, Adam chats with Al Kidd, president and CEO of Sports ETA. Listen to hear how he has seen sports help the industry rebound after COVID, and how some of his recommendations on how DMOs can further utilize sports tourism in their destinations. "Sports is really the catalyst to the relaunch of tourism. We're not leading anything. Sports has its...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam is joined by Mike Millay from Clancy's Sports Properties. Listen to hear about Mike's experience working with Disney and ESPN and some of the lessons he has learned from his years in the industry.  "We made a lot of mistakes but along the way, you learn how to do things better and improve your processes. That helped me hone my business skills. W...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, join Adam at the Sports ETA Symposium as he talks to Jennifer Stoll, executive director of the Greater Grand Junction Sports Commission. She recently released a Sports ETA white paper about measuring the success of sports, events and tourism in communities across the country. Listen to hear her words of wisdom on the subject and learn how to define a...

Adam continues his time in Birmingham, Alabama at the Sports ETA Symposium in this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast. Join him and Frank Geers, president and CEO of American Cornhole, to talk about how destinations can stand out when they are trying to attract events to their community. "We are looking for long-term partnerships — cities and destinations that want to grow with us. Once...