(upbeat music)
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
of the Destination Marketing Podcast.
I'm your host, Adam Stoker.
We've got a great show for you today.
I'm really excited to bring our guest in
in just a few minutes.
But before I do, I wanted to,
I'm gonna share a little bit of personal news today
that's not so much like a hot take
on what's happening in the industry or anything like that.
But it's a pretty cool milestone
that I've been able to hit that I wanted to share with you all.
And I had the opportunity over the last few weeks
to find out that I have finally achieved
my certified destination management executive certificate
through destinations international.
And I really, I'm proud of it.
It's something that, you know, when I started the program,
I don't think I realized how rigorous of a program it is.
I don't think I realized like I saw it on paper
and it didn't seem like that many conferences to attend
and adding a few days on the front end of the conferences
to make sure that I was able to catch all the education.
But in going through it, especially since COVID hit,
right as I was beginning the process,
it really has been a long and arduous process.
And it's kind of funny because we've lived so many lifetimes
since I started my CDME.
I'm almost like, man, I'd love to go back
and take the first three classes that I took.
Now, in the world we live in today versus the world we were in
when I took my first class.
But I wanted to start by thinking destinations international
for creating such an excellent educational program
to help destination marketing professionals
progress in their career and be prepared
for senior leadership in the industry.
And I really felt like the instructors that they chose,
and I'm going to name a few of the instructors that I had,
with the instructors that they've chosen are really great
thought leaders in the topics that they provide education on.
They were excellent instructors.
And it was very clear that they weren't just teaching
something that they had read in a syllabus,
but they actually had lived through a lot of the situations
and topics that they were sharing with us in the CDME program.
So I want to shout out a few of those instructors.
I was able to build a close relationship with Tom Loftus.
Cody Chomeak was a great instructor, and especially
his AI was starting to come on.
Really strong.
Cody was incredibly valuable.
And he's been an early adopter of AI.
Gary Sherwin, from a branding perspective,
if you haven't talked to Gary about the work that he's
done for the brand of the organization that he's in and the hard
work that he's done there, he's a branding genius.
And I don't say that lightly.
Kelly Miller, who has since retired since he
started teaching in the program, and since he was my teacher,
he was an excellent instructor as well.
David Holder, he taught-- he was my first teacher
with strategic issues in destination management.
He taught in conjunction with Mara Gas.
And I mean, the two of them, I can't
imagine a couple of better people to learn from in our space.
So I was really fortunate to have the instructors
that I had to learn the things that I learned.
And as a vendor, I think I was one of the early vendors that
went through, or at least that started the program.
I think there was lots of vendors that finished before I did.
But it was really fascinating to go through that program
as a vendor.
And I was really grateful that I did,
because it really allowed me to get kind of behind the scenes
and understand what a lot of my peers in the destination
marketing industry are dealing with, but without the veil
of not being inside the organization
and not being behind the scenes removed.
And so I was really able to learn and get a lot of insight
on why decisions are made a certain way in the space
and maybe why, if I've sent a proposal over,
what are some of the roadblocks that
happen on the other side that, as a vendor,
I just am not aware of.
I learned a lot about funding and advocacy
and stakeholder engagement.
And it really just educated me and made me
much more well-rounded as a destination marketing professional.
So I don't know that I want to go on and on and on and on,
but it was just such a fantastic program
that I was incredibly grateful for.
There were a few changes that I made in my business
as a result of the program.
Number one is worked with an organization
called Destination Core to reimagine
the destination website product,
because I just feel like, based on where the industry is going
and all the things that I learned,
our websites today don't truly capture what they need to.
They're not the experience that they need to be.
They actually need to be an extension
of the literal experience that destinations are going to have,
or excuse me, that visitors are going to have
in our destinations, and we've kind of lost that.
I also changed the way I looked at being a support
to the industry entirely, where I'm no longer just
going to everybody and saying, "Hey, we want to be
"your agency of record."
I'm instead asking questions about a variety
of different problems that destinations need to solve,
and as a result, we've been able to do some
of the coolest projects that we've ever, ever had,
and the strategy projects that we're working on,
are very different than what you would imagine
a traditional agency or marketing firm to do,
and that's been incredibly valuable to both us
and the clients we've been able to serve.
And then, of course, in the process,
we built Tourism IQ because we recognize
there is just a hunger for content and education
and value in the destination marketing space,
and since we built Tourism IQ, we're coming up
on 1,000 users, 1,000 profiles on Tourism IQ,
and I can't believe how many people are using that platform
now, it's been really fantastic.
So all of those are byproducts of the education
that I received through the CDME program,
and I think that's the part that a lot of people miss
is that the ideas and innovations that come
from getting that kind of an education from the CDME program,
it's just going to help us push this industry forward,
it's going to help us progress both personally,
professionally, and as organizations,
as we send people through the program.
So thank you to Destinations International
for such a fantastic education.
I really appreciate it.
If any of you are going to Portland here
in the next few weeks, I'm excited to see you all there
in person, I'll be walking on stage
and receiving my certificate, and I just can't wait to do that.
So thank you so much to Destinations International
for that opportunity, and it's an achievement
I'm really, really proud of.
And with that, I want to invite our guest.
Her name is Katie Conner, and Katie is the Director
of Destination Development for the Virginia Tourism Corporation,
and Katie, I'm so excited to have you join us on the show today.
- Thanks for having me, Adam, and congratulations
on your CDME.
That's a wonderful way to kick the conversation off.
- Thank you.
Have you gone through the program?
- I have not gone through the program.
I know colleagues who have, we have a teammate
that's going through it now.
So just appreciate your takeaway and a lot of notes
that were hit on that were very relevant to the work
that we do in Destination Development.
- Awesome.
Well, I would definitely recommend it to anybody
that is debating whether or not to go through the program.
It was fantastic for me, and I'm sure it would be for you
or anyone else.
So thank you, Katie, I'm really excited
to have you on the show today.
We're going to talk about a variety of different things,
but what prompted me to reach out to you
is you got a new role at the Virginia Tourism Corporation,
and I wanted to reach out and kind of see what led
to that change and what you were planning on in that role.
So why don't you tell us a little bit about your background
and how you ended up in this new role
at Virginia Tourism Corporation?
- Absolutely, well, thank you for the chance.
Hospitality and tourism is certainly in my blood.
I was raised in a small business hospitality household.
So my grandfather and my dad owned burrowing restaurants
and then we had a select service hotel.
So I was working at the front desk about the age of eight.
So really something that has really stuck with me.
And then thinking that was going to be the future
that I would be working in the business.
And then as things do, plans change,
and I did work in that space,
but we pivoted away from that
and I ended up working in local government
and was working for the tourism office
for the community that I live in.
And ironically enough, that was a class project
in college of what is your dream job?
What would you like to be doing?
So when I interviewed for the position,
I said this is not only something I'm interested in,
it's what's meant to be.
So showed up with my, at the time,
made up brochure for the destination
that I had created in college several years previous
and really the rest is history.
So it's hard to say no to somebody who looks you in the eye
and says, "Hey, by the way, this is meant to be.
I'm supposed to work here."
Yeah, if you don't know it, I know it already, right.
So then was able to transition into the state tourism
office at Virginia Tourism and have been there
just about 11 years and have had an opportunity
with a staff retirement and leadership
and then another internal promotion
that allowed for this director of destination development
position to open and went through those channels
and I'm very pleased to now be sitting in that role
to be leading the team.
Great, so 11 years in, you've had the opportunity
to work in a variety of different capacities
within Virginia tourism corporation.
Which of the roles that you worked in prepared you most for this new role?
I believe just the continuation of working with the team that I'm now leading and so seeing kind of those day to day demands of either partner requests or just the ability to be able to pivot kind of at the last minute to meet a need that we all know comes up.
I think during COVID that was another space where we really became that response team and then moved into you know being able to help in the recovery stage and then how do we then restore our destination.
So this position has allowed for that while the role has looked relatively similar the areas have changed a bit so the partners that I worked with in that position as a destination development manager look different over the years.
So having had a variety of experiences from bigger cities to more rural communities is a really great positioning.
Awesome I like that so in the Virginia tourism corporation your role in destination development.
I think is a little bit different than a local DMO's destination development role would be right and you probably have a little bit less control over what can be developed in individual communities and I imagine that that has some benefits to it but also some challenges that come along with it if you're over development but don't have that direct impact or influence.
Over specific development with individual communities in the state that's got to be challenging so I'd love to understand how you balance your role with the state and your collaborations with the individual communities that you serve.
That's a great question and it's true it's being able to lead and to guide and to advise that knowing at the end of the day the community partner is then going before their counselor their board to request that funding to move forward with a program right.
So I loved in your intro just being able to help solve problems and I think that's definitely at the forefront of the work that I'm passionate about the work that our team is passionate about and we really lead with that basis at the organization overall right having that integrity to help solve problems for our community partners and help them to really realize their tourism potential.
So the balance of recognizing we are here to ideate with you we are here to bring partners to the table and so that looks very different you know the days very different for our team across the state so we have 133 localities in Virginia we have some places that are closer to.
Six or seven other state capitals they in our own and so that also is a meaningful component of the team where we are so widely spread out and trying to be able to navigate those conversations with partners and then we come back together to be able to say this is my experience with the community others may benefit from that and so we really utilize that team component as well.
Well if I remember correctly you have a team of six right and that's correct you have six people serving 133 different localities likely with one maybe two points of contact in each individual locality I mean how can a team of six have a big picture vision for the state and manage that vision all while serving the needs of the individual DMOs within the state.
We're fortunate at them because while the destination development team is six strong we have this huge organization of Virginia tourism professionals behind us whether that's through the marketing team research are welcome centers we have 12 welcome centers in the state so it seems a bit daunting to say there's six covering these localities but truly it's a team behind we just happen to be the boots on the ground that are delivering the resources to the community.
And so being able to really tag team in that space are travel counselors at our welcome centers are also engaging with the community partners making sure that we realize and understand the true experiences that are in the destination and they may come back to even our team to say we see a need can you help fill that need and that's really what's valuable about the organization.
I like that I mean I guess I want to get into the specific dynamic now between what you do and what the individual communities do when we talk about your role there's a vision for the state and where the state needs to go the goals of the state has.
And hopefully that goal is kind of the collective some of all the individual visions of the destinations that you serve what specific support are they looking for and how do you decide how to prioritize the support that you give based on the vision you have for the state.
That's great so of course overall the mission of Virginia tourism is really focused and on expanding that domestic and international inbound travel and motion picture production so it's about generating revenue supporting employment in Virginia and then when you drill down into the communities you know being able to really meet with them meet them where they are I think is the biggest takeaway for our team and not trying to say.
This is the only way that you can work with our organization it has to fit this box or it's nothing and I think our team does a really incredible job about understanding a partner to say hey we just need help in this space.
And we can respond and say that's great here are some resources or here are some tools to be able to accomplish that and then we just kind of start picking away at what about this or here's this idea we're great about that continued professional development on the team as well.
It's ideal if we could kind of triage the need across the community but oftentimes the demand doesn't always match up with the need itself and so you have communities that are volunteer tourism councils and then you have some communities that have you know teams of 10 or 15 within the office that are managing a visitor center or managing a marketing plan.
So it really just it runs the gambit and we really just tried to meet them where they are and continue the conversation and just those touch points to be able to know that we are resource and that we are here to help guide their vision.
I think that's another key element to Virginia tourism we have our strategies and our plans as a resource for them but then also doing so an alignment with what the goals are of their individual destination.
Great. Tell me one of those supporting projects that you've worked on that you're most proud of that your team was able to kind of mobilize and support.
So one is really hard that's like asking a favorite kid favorite child in my case who's your favorite ant pet but you know really being able to have that response to organizations.
So many had the spotlight on Western North Carolina during Hurricane Helene of course and that continued you know restoration of those communities is ongoing in a community in Damascus which is in Southwest Virginia our team member there was really intentional about that outreach in the destination.
We have an asset on an attraction there the Virginia creeper trail Damascus itself is known as trail town USA it's where several trails converge including the Appalachian trail.
And so Caitlin was really able to get in and have the conversations with the partners to be able to determine what that immediate need was.
And so the relationship that we already had in that community was really valuable because we were a trusted source coming in knowing that we were bringing forward ideas for that recovery space so kind of moving on from the immediate impact.
And again there's still a net recovery phase in that community but the resilience there was really something that shown through in the days weeks months and now year afterward.
And so going through that process there was a space that was utilized for debris right collection of that and so it's this development of now what do we do at this space.
And so helping lead that team through a feasibility plan of now how do we create something out of destruction how do we create beauty from that.
And again that's a small one example in a statewide you know we have communities like Gloucester that really just weren't you know that's in the eastern portion of the state and you can fill them all in between.
You know really needing the assistance of our team and so our team member there was able to just guide and assist through a variety of ways to bring them forward and Laura's done a great job in that community so again we can talk for a really long time about the work that the team does and I think that's the big piece of it is there's a lot of components and a lot of players at the table.
We just want to make sure that. that we're bringing the right folks to the table.
And we also know that we aren't always the ones
that have the resources, but the more that we know
that we can bring forward the better.
And hopefully then that will make some change
in that destination.
- Well, and if I remember correctly,
you know, different destinations are asking
for different things from you guys.
So I said, if I remember correctly,
but it should be, if I understand correctly,
that in that situation you guys brought some data
and experience, you probably brought a little bit
of funding, some planning along with you.
What are people normally asking for from you guys?
Is it funding?
Do people just want to get as much of the state money
to their individual destination as they can?
Or do they want more of your resources and planning?
Or tell me a little bit about what those kind
of interactions look like?
- Ever since we did CMO Jam at Esto last year,
my inbox has been full of people saying,
okay, when's the next one?
When's the next one?
When are you gonna do the CEO Jam?
When are you gonna do digital market or jam?
So on and so forth.
And it's something that we've put a lot of thought into,
and after seeing the success of the CMO Jam product last year,
we wanted to make it more frequent.
We wanted to make it more scalable,
and we've been working on a solution to that.
Right now, I'm looking for CMOs
who wanna participate in the CMO Jam that's upcoming,
probably in the next couple of months.
And I'm also looking for people
who would like to be a part of additional round tables.
So CMO Jam was where I had 10 CMOs around a table,
and we talked about the issues facing our industry,
and how the destination marketing industry can move forward
from a marketing perspective.
If you're a CEO and would like to be part of a CEO round table,
hit me up at
[email protected],
same if you're a CMO, or if you're part of another group
that you'd like to do a round table sitting around
with your different peers and have me moderate a discussion
that captures really good value for the entire industry,
something that everybody in the industry needs to hear.
I really would love to have all of you participate
in some of these round tables that we're putting together,
and I'm even working on something that's gonna be more fun,
bigger, and more opportunity for you all to connect
with your peers in these types of round table settings.
We're all gonna learn from each other.
It's the only way we survive this thing,
is we all need to work together, help each other move forward,
and build for the future, build an industry
that's sustainable for the future,
and there's too much one-to-many discussion going on.
I want many-to-many discussion going on,
and the way to do that is through these round tables.
If you wanna participate, hit me up at
[email protected],
we'll set up a round table, we'll get you involved
in some of the ones that we already have planned,
and I think it's gonna be a great way
for us to continue to push this industry forward.
(air whooshing)
Partnership is really key when we are building
a relationship with a community partner,
and again, it could be a destination,
marketing organization, it could be a Main Street community.
We have a really thriving Main Street community
through our Department of Housing and Community Development,
so that's a really valuable resource,
and the conversations as we build those relationships
are how do we continue to drive awareness of our communities,
and I think that's the piece where it's not an ore,
it's an end, we need this, and we need attention,
and we need funding.
We're fortunate that at Virginia Tourism,
we have several marketing grant reimbursement programs,
and so that is a tool that we are able to utilize
for communities to say, "Here's a way that you can leverage
existing marketing dollars that you are spending
to either extend that spend and try something new, right?"
Go out, take a little bit of a risk with a decision,
with a strategy, attract a new audience,
go into one of these emerging markets
that our research is telling you are interested
in your community, but maybe you don't have the bandwidth
to be able to capture them with your current marketing budget.
So the marketing dollars is a really valuable tool
that we utilize, and then again,
what are the touch points with the visitor?
So we have a really strong partnership
marketing advertising program at our welcome centers,
and the value of print, it does exist,
the number of people who still have that component,
and that interest is why our travel counselors,
it's so important for them to be in the communities
and getting that information.
So the resources across the board look a little bit different,
we have a great marketing co-op program,
so that's another area is maybe bringing forward ideas
that they did not consider as an opportunity,
and then that helps them to test the waters
with a little bit more of a low stakes claim,
especially as we're contributing
into that co-op program ourselves
to help buy down the costs for them.
- Awesome, yeah, and those cooperative programs are great
because you essentially can put together a menu of offerings,
and then the communities on their own
can kind of decide which one is the best fit for them.
So that makes a ton of sense to me,
but I also know that there's situations
like what you dealt with with some of the damage
from the hurricane and stuff,
that it's not always just picked from a menu and go,
it requires some serious collaboration and stuff
from your team.
When you and I had our prep call,
one of the things that stood out to me is you mentioned
that with 133 different communities that you serve,
it's going to be very difficult if your expectation is,
"Hey, I had this thing happen in my community.
Why hasn't the state reached out?"
And instead, it kind of needs to be clear to destinations.
If you want support from the state,
of course they're doing their best,
and they're gonna try to monitor everything they can
and give you the support that you need.
But the reality is if you need support from the state,
you have to speak up, you have to reach out,
and you have to tell the state what you're struggling with,
because inevitably, the people who have the most pressing
issue and reach out on their own and are proactive
are probably going to get the quickest attention from the state.
And so it's really critical the destinations understand
the need to communicate and not to just expect the state
to anticipate their needs and support.
- We are fortunate in Virginia to have the number
of team members activated throughout the state,
and I know that it looks very different in other states.
And so I know kind of understanding the role
and the responsibility of the state organization
is really critical.
I feel fortunate that our team, specifically the development
managers are engaged in as many groups as we are.
I think it's always how do we continue that conversation
to know that if there's a question from a local farmer
who's interested in building out their agritors
and experience, they know that they can reach out
to the destination development manager
or a marketing team member or a welcome center travel counselor
and say, hey, this is an interest I have.
I don't know what the next steps are,
and so then we can pull the knowledge that our team has
to say, okay, what is your inch,
I mean, we get down into the, does your insurance allow
for visitors to your property?
Do you have a website?
Are you doing social media?
Are you able to have, take payments digitally
versus just showing up with cash?
There's a great story of a local event that came to be
because it was just, well, why don't we try this?
It was a local farm.
She said they were a dairy production
and she shared with her dad,
maybe we should plant some sunflowers.
And it was, well, why would anyone come to a field
and walk through sunflowers, right?
And they are.
- Clearly he hasn't been on Instagram.
- And they are now 10 plus years in
and they average between 18 and 20,000
to their event, which spans over two weekends.
They have special events.
And fortunately, I've been able to see it personally
just that it's in the community I live in.
It's a friend, it's someone who's well respected
in the farming community throughout Virginia,
but it was just, why don't we try?
And I think that's a great lesson
and that's something that she shares
across the state with, well, just try it.
Just see what happens
and you can pivot from there if it doesn't work.
And that was something from, I remember during COVID,
they had to establish dedicated visitation times, right?
Same with restaurants, you know,
you have to have this many people
or you can only have this many people.
And from that, they were able to really build out
their ticketing system that they've continued to maintain
'cause before that, it was show up cash only.
And so from that experience,
they've now really built out and they do dinners in a field.
They host school days, they host senior days,
they host special needs days.
And it's really become a destination event,
not just in the region, but truly in the state
and is really coined as the largest sunflower festival
on the East Coast.
And it's a great piece
and it's been really wonderful to watch.
- What I love about that,
and you said like the starting point to that
was why not try it, right?
That there's essentially dormant assets
all over every single state
that if somebody would just try something
who knows, maybe you could get 20,000 people a year.
year coming to that attraction, right? So that's kind of a destination development person's dream is if
somebody starts asking that why not give it a try question because now you're going to get another
asset that you can promote as a destination. I want to get into one of the things that a lot of
people, we think about it but we don't like really internalize it, I guess, is yes destination
marketing has a really important role for the visitors. But in a lot of these rural communities and
Virginia is no different where tourism is the primary, I would say industry or revenue source for
the community, you end up in a situation where because it's such a desirable place to visit,
it gets more and more expensive and challenging for locals to stay in the area. So then talent retention
becomes a really important component of destination development. So how do you think about tourism's
role not just in bringing visitors but also creating an economy that allows us to keep the talent
from our communities in the community to continue to perpetuate that visitor economy?
Well, it's the quality of life piece, right? People love where they live if they can get the things
that they love doing, right? And so we have this the great brand of Virginia's for lovers that we
talk about, you know, this is why you come to Virginia, but here's also a way that here's a reason
to stay. And so we see that with our community partners, whether it's a tourism sole office or
their partnered with with economic development that they're really leaning in on this sustainability
piece for their destination. And tourism allows to create those thriving and sustainable communities
where residents experience the restaurants, the events, really those assets that are created with
maybe a visitor in mind, but they get to then experience it themselves on a more regular basis.
Being able to see the talent piece a little bit firsthand through another role was really
interesting and being able to hear about why companies come to an area, right? Okay, how quickly
can my team members get on the trails? How quickly can their family members, you know, start to
feel included in a community? And so we're starting to see a lot of these events or it's even beyond
just like young professional groups, right? Every community probably has some type of a young
professional network that they're able to tie into, but then it's even broader, right? There's
a broadening for those programs to say here's a way that we're highlighting the assets that exist
in our community and then utilizing that as an economic development incentive. And so that's the
space where we kind of sometimes feel like we're in this gray area, destination development where
it's visitor focus, but then there's also all of these economic development components and they are,
they're tied together. Tourism is the first date for economic development and we work
closely with the economic developers both at the state regionally and in the local communities,
but it's definitely an asset that we're starting to recognize and is becoming part of more of
the strategy conversation, whether it's through our statewide tourism strategic plan, whether it's
through one of the community tourism action plans that our team works with destinations on,
you know, who are the people that are experiencing these businesses and then also are they loving
the community enough that they want to contribute as a new business owner, as a new resident in that
destination? Yeah, I like that. I'm sitting here thinking about how can communities use destination
development to kind of protect the talent and keep it in town. And I'll give an example here is,
let's say agritourism and we've got a lot of farming communities. I'm sure all across Virginia,
you've got a lot of farming communities and you look at and say, okay, how do we retain the children
of these farmers that may not want to do exactly what their parents did or whatever? And I've seen
agritourism actually become a major destination asset, including in Virginia, I believe. And when you
start to pull on that thread, it's like, okay, well, who are the residents of the community?
Is there a big agriculture base? Okay, can we create analog events or owned activities of
some sort or even content that helps activate these people to want to be part of the tourism
economy and want to stick around? And because somebody who may not want to be a farmer like their
parents, maybe they want to own an event that brings people in to showcase the agriculture,
because that's a completely different skill set than harvesting the crops, right? So
I think if we start thinking about destination development that way of what are the residents
of the community? What do they need? What are their skills? And how can we create tourism
assets that allow them to build a life for the future here? It's a really interesting kind of
different perspective on how we come up with which activities we're going to focus on.
There's the visitor sentiment, but then the resident sentiment is so incredibly important.
And seeing kind of firsthand some of those always ensuring you always see the, I would say,
the child component of events, right? Bring your families. Everything is very focused,
family oriented in a lot of our Virginia communities. And so that's a really important aspect.
Agratorism specifically, right? It's the diversification of what the farming life looks like, right? We're
just coming off of Virginia agriculture week, right? Virginia is for farm lovers. Having that concept
appeal to ages of individuals of all ages is really valuable, but being able to have those
conversations. And just to the back to the point of, well, what if you tried this? What if this was a
different component? Having people experience the farm in a different way than maybe our parents
or our grandparents did, that goes back to the rich culture that exists in Virginia, right? Whether
it's Appalachian culture, whether that's water main culture on the eastern shore of Virginia,
the middle peninsula, northern neck area, we have all of these cultures. And of course, on the
cusp of VA250 with the American revolution and all of the anniversary events that are happening
more eyes are now on our state and what the communities are doing. And being able to experience
that as a family, we know that the genealogical traveler exists in coming back when I worked in
the local community here. You know, we had a lot of genealogy visitors because the the courthouse
held records from seven present day states. So they were coming as far as, you know, Wisconsin,
and it reached to the Mississippi. And so we have that rich history that people are discovering
and getting back and, you know, building off that nostalgia that I think is very prevalent
with a lot of folks these days. I love that. Well, as we kind of wrap up here, Katie, I'd love to know
if you could kind of boil it down for the destination marketers that are listening into kind of your
most important piece of advice of whether it's how they need to look at destination development or
just destination marketing or management in general, what's the best takeaway you would want
somebody to have from this conversation? Really approaching the attempt to create product
through what the demand in that community looks like. Great. We talk about, you know, well,
it would be great if we had this. This is working really well in this community, but really
leaning into the authenticity of the destination. And if your state has a destination development team
or your community has a destination development team, making sure that they're part of that conversation.
So knowing what resources exist to help support that challenge that you see is something that you're
trying to address is going to be really invaluable and really important. So being authentic to your
community and bringing the right people to the table. Awesome. Katie, this has been excellent.
The time flew by, of course, but if people want to learn more about you or some of the work that
you're doing at Virginia tourism corporation, what's the best way for them to do so? I'm active on
LinkedIn. So please reach out there. It's my full government name. So Catherine, our Connor,
but again, or email at
[email protected]. Of course, our website has all contact information.
So vatc.org is our industry page and appreciate the time. Awesome. Katie, this has been a lot of fun.
Really appreciate you taking the time and congrats on the new role. I'm really excited to see you
continue to develop in it in your destination development role. Thanks Adam. I appreciate it.
Awesome. And thanks everybody for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please don't forget to leave
us a rating or a review. It helps us continue to bring you amazing guests like Katie. Thanks
everybody and have a great week. It's no secret that the advertising agency model is changing. I've
talked about it a lot on this show and it's no different for me and my organization. A year and a
half ago, I went to my team and I said, we have got to change the way we think.
and we've got to change the way we're valued for our clients.
We can no longer be valued for what we do,
because tactics are continuing to become commoditized
and even achievable by AI tools.
And so we've been working really, really hard
to make that conversion from tacticians to strategists.
And our team's done an incredible job of that.
And in that process, we've had a lot of conversations
with different destinations about what type of projects
they need help with.
Instead of doing the whole agency of record thing,
where we take all your media spend
and all your different tactics that you're doing,
instead, we want to solve a specific strategic problem
that destinations have.
We've had one destination that had us
build a corporate partnerships program for them.
And we're in the process of that right now.
We had another destination that really
wanted us to build a Reddit strategy for them.
We had one destination that said, we want you to solve LinkedIn
for us.
And we audited and built an entire LinkedIn strategy
that's currently being executed on.
And most recently, we had a destination reach out and say,
we just need help understanding where
and how we should use AI across our organization
and in our marketing activities.
And we're working on that.
And we're getting that finalized right now
with that destination.
So what we're finding is that there's
all these problems destinations have that historically
haven't felt like my marketing agency
is the person to solve this or the organization to solve this.
And that's created a lane where we're working with destinations
of all shapes and sizes to help them solve these narrow strategy
projects that maybe have been sitting on the shelf
needing to be done for a very long time.
If you have a project like that that you need solve,
a problem you need solved that you haven't yet
been able to get to, let me and my team at Brand Revolt
help you solve that problem, build a strategy,
and execute on the solution in such a way
that it changes your organization for the better forever.
We feel like we can do a fantastic job of this.
We've modified our model to be able to do that.
And our team of strategists does an incredible job
putting these things together for our destinations
that we work with and would love the opportunity
to put it together for you.
So if you have something like that,
hit me up at
[email protected]
and we'll get you set up.
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