Destination Marketing Podcast

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam continues his trip in Arkansas and meets up with Gretchen Hall, Chief Operations Officer at Destinations International. They chat about her recent move from Visit Little Rock to Destinations International and some of the things that she has learned in her new role. “You might be a small destination or a large destination but we all have similar...

Adam takes the show on the road to Arkansas in this week's episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast. He meets up with Gina Gemberling, president and CEO of Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, to talk about some of the things that make Little Rock's CVB unique. Hear how the destination manages hundreds of employees and several venues while still maintaining a smooth workflow. "I think i...

Today on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam goes on the road and leaves producer Julie Sheffield behind to host this week's episode. She interviews four hosts from various shows on the Destination Marketing Podcast Network to find out their favorite things and unexpected results they have seen come from their shows. Stay tuned to hear the advice they have on destinations wanting to start thei...

Join Adam in this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast to hear from Karley Cunningham, president and CEO of Big Bold Brand. Coming from outside the destination marketing world, she brings a new perspective to the table on how destinations can strengthen their brand messaging and further develop their unique brand identity. "Measuring brand is about a long-tail equation. If you think about...

In this week's episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam talks with Brad Dean, president, and CEO of Discover Puerto Rico. They discuss all things storytelling including building a lifestyle brand, owning a color on the color wheel, and how to stand out from the crowd. "To position Puerto Rico, it's not just a great destination but a lifestyle. There's an emotional connection beyond just...

In this bonus episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam brings on special guest Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, to talk about his organization's latest traveler sentiment survey. Originally created as a tool to study the effect of COVID-19 on travel and tourism, it has proven once again to be an invaluable resource as the United States heads into potential econom...

Adam Stoker talks with Stuart Butler, CMO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Today, they discuss using owned media to market your destination, building your own audience, and connecting with consumers through entertainment. "As an industry we have to change and say: 'how do we own an audience? How do we reach people higher in the funnel through branded entertainment so that over time, w...

For our 200th episode, Adam recounts the road that led to where he is today — CEO of Relic Agency and host of the Destination Marketing Podcast.  “It's amazing to see that this little idea that we had has pioneered an initiative in the industry. Now, I see podcasts popping up all over the place, and the amazing thing is I'm seeing the industry finally catch onto this concept that we really feel li...

Today on the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam is in Springfield, Illinois with Andy Waterman from IllinoiSOUTH and Terri Reifsteck, vice president of Marketing & Community Engagement at Visit Champaign County. In this episode, Andy discusses how he uses TikTok as a means of connecting with potential tourists, and Terri shares how she builds relationships with residents to bring in more visitors...

On this week's episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast, Adam takes the show on the road to Springfield, Illinois. He chats with Sarah Waggoner, tourism manager at Visit Springfield, and Brad Hoey from Experience DeKalb County about their roles at their destinations and how they were able to create immersive visitor experiences. "We're trying to make sure that we give the best visitor experien...

David Holder, CEO at Clarity of Place, joins this episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast to talk about how his organization helps destinations with their strategic plans. Learn about how to make your destination's plan more flexible as well as some tips and tricks on how to make your organization a community shared value. "My view on planning is that there has to be a greater purpose to doin...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast Adam is joined by Robb Wells, President & CEO of Visit Beaufort. Here, Robb shares how his organization has used podcasting to further their public relations efforts and build stronger connections with their visitors.  "You really want to make your pitch pop, and a podcast is a unique way of doing that. We’ve had some feedback in which they find that...

This week on the Destination Marketing Podcast Adam is joined by Lance Woodworth, President & CEO of Destination Toledo. Listen to learn how Lance and his organization support their stakeholders through events and partnerships. Destination Toledo has worked with partners such as Jeep and American Birding to bring invaluable resources to their stakeholders. "It's never too late to learn. We are in...

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...