Ep 1 Aqua Talks: Inclusion and Accessibility in Travel/Tourism Marketing with Rachel Covello

Voice OVer: [: 00:00:00

brand or grow your audience, [: 00:01:00

Um, this podcast is powered by Brentsys tech, a service disabled veteran owned small business. My name is Maddie. I am one of the co hosts of AquaTalks. I have seven years of experience within the public relations industry. I've worked across agencies. Everyone from Google to startups have been my clients and travel and tourism is really my passion.

So that's why I'm excited to be here today. Joined by Larry Aldridge, my cohost.

Larry Aldrich: Thank you, Maddie. My name is Larry Aldridge, president and CEO of Aqua Marketing Communication. I'm an Air Force veteran. I have a background in marketing with an MBA. I have been in multiple industries from the nuclear industry, all the way to tourism and destination.

I also have been in federal procurement where we've done marketing for multiple agencies in the civilian and DOD field. Today, we're exploring how to make travel marketing more inclusive with expert Rachel Covello. Rachel, thank you for being with us today. We'd love to hear more about you.

Rachel Covello: Thank you, Larry.

I appreciate you [: 00:02:00

And so it's great to be in Florida doing the work here and recently expanding our work beyond Florida to cover the entire country. Um, I host events in Florida as well. I've hosted the Florida Outcoast Convention, which was a tourism industry related event to educate travel destinations on LGBTQ inclusive strategies.

Um, I've also hosted events for community members from lesbian pop up parties to outreach events in the arts and culture areas. And we will continue growing this over the next year. And this year I'm really passionate about wellness. And incorporating wellness more into what we're doing. Um, wellness is a big topic right now.

owing trend in the industry. [: 00:03:00

So I'm excited to talk to you guys more about lots of different topics. We have a lot

Mady Dudley: to cover today. Um, but first I want to start with. What does inclusive travel mean to you?

Rachel Covello: So I think kind of going back to what I just said, safety and belonging, I think inclusive travel is all about traveling and marketing travel rooted in safety and belonging.

If I feel safe and I feel like I can find connections and belonging in those destinations, then I want to travel there. And I think you're going to see that more and more, um, in this interesting political landscape we're in of people that are diverse looking for those places where they are going to feel safe.

And they are going to feel like they belong. And it's, it's bigger than just inclusion in my mind.

Larry Aldrich: As a publisher of Outcoast, what's your inspiration and your vision of the future?

Rachel Covello: So I started [: 00:04:00

And that actually was rooted in my work I was doing in Pennsylvania. I was partnering with a local community leader who wanted to launch an LGBTQ. business type platform. Um, we didn't see eye to eye, but I took a lot of those ideas and created my own content platform when I came here. Ironically, the year that I moved to Florida in St.

Pete, I met the IGLTA, the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association organization. They were hosting their conference at the Vinoy right here in St. Pete and I was brand new, but I reached out and I said, Hey, I want to be media. I had no following at the time, but they took a chance and they invited me in.

ocally and more for fun, but [: 00:05:00

We, we created some great work together and I wound up being their conference photographer for a few years in a row. And I say that because very quickly after we launched OutKost as a community platform, we pivoted to travel because of those relationships that I was building, uh, in the community. And since then we, we grew to the statewide platform for Florida.

And then now we're a national platform. I want to always continue growing and evolving as trends evolve and as things happen in tourism. So my future focus really with OutKost is diversifying beyond LGBTQ. As someone who publicly identifies as a lesbian, although I am, I do identify as bisexual. I have a wife.

how I travel as well as how [: 00:06:00

So I think these are all things that we can start incorporating more into our content. Um, and wellness is, like I said, a huge topic right now, wanting to make sure people feel. safe and healthy and um, we have a, there's a big trend in sober travel. So making sure we're including some of that content in our, in our platform.

Mady Dudley: So can you tell us a little bit how you work as a consultant with marketing agencies or DMOs to help promote inclusivity? Like what are the first steps you take to get people to that point?

Rachel Covello: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, you know, over the years I've kind of also pivoted how we approach working with partners.

e across to the traveler and [: 00:07:00

So we've been kind of pulling back from jumping to content creation and instead, and I had a meeting earlier today, the same conversation was. Before we start creating content, let's look at what you're currently doing. Let me come there and experience the destination as an LGBTQ person, maybe even bring my wife so we can experience it together or bring, if there's a demographic, like it might be a black gay couple, like let's bring them in and explore it together and get their lived experience so that we can come back to you as a DMO or the agency working with a DMO and say, this is what really happened when we were here.

Here's the pros, kind of like a SWOT analysis. Here's the pros. Here's. Things that need to be worked on. Here's where some education and training needs to happen before we start really driving this forward. You're also finding right now a lot of L. G. B. T. Q. owned businesses not wanting to be so open and out about being L.

nd talking to these business [: 00:08:00

Caucasian, femme, lesbian, bisexual, queer woman. And I think I have to understand that because my lived experience isn't going to be the same as a black gay man or Latino couple, correct? So I also like to make sure that in our content, it might be a destination that they want to show diversity. I might not be the person that should be in that content.

that we can have a real fun [: 00:09:00

Right. It's about the authenticity. Exactly.

Larry Aldrich: What do you think is the most important change to travel industry can make to, uh, improve the experience of a traveler with hidden disabilities?

Rachel Covello: So as someone that, um, definitely has hidden disabilities, even just sitting here, kind of, I have moments where I'm like, okay, all is well, kind of doing that, calming the brain, you know, in the LGBTQ world, a lot of times the marketing you wind up seeing is pride events and bars and clubs and energy and crowds.

And as someone who is neurodivergent or has a hidden disability, that's a lot, that's a lot to do all the time. And although I do them from a marketing perspective, a lot. It's not personally, necessarily where I want to be when I'm enjoying my own social time, because when I'm not working, I want calm. So for me, understanding that hidden disabilities is a spectrum of people.

whether it's anxiety, ADHD, [: 00:10:00

Um, so I think number one is educating yourself. Number two, I would say, is looking at programs that are already out there doing really cool things like, um, Hidden Disability Program is a big one. The Sunflower Program, if you've ever heard of it. where people wear sunflowers showing that they're a safe space for someone with hidden disabilities.

Because if I'm in the middle of an anxiety attack or maybe low blood sugar because I have diabetes, knowing that there's someone that I can visibly see that's safe for me, um, is great to have. I also think when you're marketing, stay away from the stereotypes. Not all of us want to go to a big gay bar or And some of us deal with alcohol.

So maybe bars and, you know, [: 00:11:00

We're, we're diverse people within our diverse spectrum. So. You have to think about it that way, too,

Mady Dudley: right? It's not just a one size fits all solution. Some of the airports that we work with have initiated the Hidden Sunflower Disability Program, and it's done wonders for them. So I'm glad you mentioned that.

It's a great program. Absolutely. So, of course, you know, we wouldn't be sitting here today if we didn't think that diversity and travel marketing was extremely important. But I would just love to hear in your own words why you think that DMOs and agencies should prioritize diversity in marketing.

yself in that. My mother was [: 00:12:00

My father as well, we were a larger family and we were not the typical picture of what you'd see on these ads. And so although I am white and don't have the experience of a black person, I do have the experience of a plus-sized person. And so I think it's really important to, we all love to travel, like we love to dine out, we love to experience everything at every size, at every race, every culture, et cetera.

We are diverse people, so if you're not like starting conversations in your marketing on. You know, what market are we looking at? We want to make sure we're including all of the markets that make sense for this destination. Um, I think it's really important and it's, it truly is amazing. I've seen DMOs change the experience and the demographic of their community because of the work they're doing in the diversity space.

sit West, you know, the West [: 00:13:00

Mady Dudley: What should LGBTQ plus travelers as well as travelers with hidden disabilities consider before booking an accommodation or going to a specific destination?

Rachel Covello: The good news now is there's so many resources out there. There's a ton of inclusive focused, um, travel bloggers, especially. You know, for LGBTQ, um, accessibility, that's becoming that one, especially is becoming a little bit more of a trend.

Um, I think looking for content that's out there and some guidance that's out there. I also think, you know, it's it's important sometimes too to ask difficult questions, you know, if you're concerned about a place being inclusive toward a certain demographic or yourself it And honestly, it's awful that sometimes we have to ask those questions.

I, I [: 00:14:00

Hopefully we get to the point where we don't have to ask those questions. I think it's also really important on the other side for marketing agencies and DMOs to think about things beyond tourism. So we are so trained in the marketing industry and tourism to highlight the places that travelers will go and spend money, whether it's a hotel, a bar, restaurant, et cetera, attraction.

I will know that a destination is more inclusive if there's also health and wellness facilities for our demographic. If there's doctors in that area for our demographic, if there are resources for that demographic. So it's also smart to incorporate into your inclusive marketing resources available in the community.

Although a traveler might [: 00:15:00

So I think it's also important from the traveler perspective. Look to see if there's resources in that area that serve and cater to that demographic, because it says a lot about who you're going to find when you're visiting.

Larry Aldrich: With all of that said, what do you think could be an important change the travel industry can make to make Travelers with hidden disabilities, uh, feel more comfortable, more accessible.

inclusive, whether it's for [: 00:16:00

So we do a lot of training. Sometimes a DML will do training for their members and it's usually the salespeople or the marketing people that they're training. But at what point are we also going in and training the front desk, the staff, the housekeeping, all of these different people that are going to be in these spaces with people that have You know, inclusive needs in mind, um, to make sure that from the door, the moment they walk in the door, they are going to feel included and welcome and safe.

Did that answer the question? Yeah,

Larry Aldrich: no, that was actually a great answer. We were actually going to talk a little bit about trends now and trends in marketing. One of the, one of the, there's a lot of trends coming up, a lot of new technology. So speaking of trends in marketing, what do you think about AI in marketing and where it's going?

that like. Constant growing [: 00:17:00

Most likely AI is going to give you the stereotypical image that we've always thought of in marketing places. So you're going to get that Caucasian, straight, perfect, happy family, where we might want to show like a single dad with a kid or different cultures and races. And we need to make sure that when we create prompts for AI, that we're giving it details on adding diversity and making sure that Different people are shown and in both the written and the visual concept,

a lot of redundant tasks or [: 00:18:00

What do you thought? What are your thoughts on? Making sure that after a, after you use your AI tool, making sure you add the human factor back into it.

Rachel Covello: Yeah. And I, again, I think the tools are getting better at the human factor. I mean, you could go back into chat GPT and say, Hey, make this sound more like me or make this sound more human and conversation.

And it does a really good job. It's really scary. How could it can be sometimes, but you really, if you're using it for content, whether it's cop, whether it's copy or whether it's. You know, writing articles or whatever it might be. It's really important to go in and edit. AI doesn't know everything. There's a lot of things that get updated.

to be a, a big thing moving [: 00:19:00

If I see that word vibrant, I know you're using chat GPT, so I'm going to stop using

Mady Dudley: vibrant,

Rachel Covello: but you know, it's like, it's just one of those words that if you mentioned drag show, or if you mention, um, anything like a pride parade, the vibrant pride parade, and I know we use that word, but it's so overused.

So there are certain words like that in chat GPT and other AI tools that you see trend more often. So. Might be good to just, you know, reach out to someone you're trying to target and say, Hey, is this a word you would use to describe a drag show? I have never used the word vibrant for a drag show like ever.

So, um, might be a different, different words.

n fill in the rest with your [: 00:20:00

Rachel Covello: So as someone with ADHD, as we've discussed, I love using AI, whether it's chat GPT, it's probably the one I use the most right now. I love using it to formulate an organized thought. So. And I like to now that chat to BT allows you to talk to it because then it feels more conversational. And sometimes I get tired of typing and where my nails get too long and I'm tired of typing.

Um, but sometimes I'll do the voice where I'll talk to it, say, Hey, I'm thinking about this. I like, I did this actually to update my bio recently. I said, Hey, I really need to list all these things, but I need to compress it and make it more like tighter. So it doesn't sound too long. And can you give me a few ideas?

e. And then I get to go back [: 00:21:00

The other one I really like is, uh, beautiful. ai. It's a presentation creator. That's another one. But for someone like me who struggles a little bit with task oriented stuff, I can create all sorts of crazy things. But. The routine things are what my brain struggles with more, um, having that tool to help with that is like, it's a game changer.

I get so much more done now with AI and And I'm not using it to replace people. I'm using it to make our kind of the core of what we do even stronger. And then the people that I work with now have better tools and I'm more organized when they're working with me. Um, so I think, I think there's a lot of cool capabilities that it offers.

Mady Dudley: Yeah, I agree. Especially when it comes to creativity, um, or giving me more time for creativity. So they can automate all of the redundant tasks and then I can let my imagination run wild. Yeah.

recently and I'm blanking on [: 00:22:00

I'm not there yet. The process, the thought of even doing that is overwhelming my, my brain. But, um, there's really a lot of really cool things. I just don't think it should replace. The human touch, the, where I see it cause the most issue is a lot with the, the bots and the AI bots that are being used to do sales pitches.

My background is sales. So whether it's creating marketing campaigns or selling or advertising or, or services. I was always taught to dig for pain and understand what really drives and motivates people bots don't do that. They just pitch their service. And back in the day, we call that feature puking.

We're just like giving information, but we really need to like, dig deeper to better understand, like, what is at the root of why people would make a decision.

f like the pendulum and it's [: 00:23:00

So you're selling your concept to the person you're selling it to. And as you have the conversation going along, you start to pull back and as you're pulling back in a way where. You're kind of talking to them as the product or service that you're selling might not be good for them or might not work for them.

So as you're pulling back, they're pulling towards you. And it only works if you get that conversation going the first few minutes. So when you start pulling your service or product back, they start to follow you to start to tell you how your product and service would work for them. So now you get them selling you or selling themselves.

y should use your product or [: 00:24:00

Uh, can you explain that a little bit more to me? I'm curious to hear that now. So now they're selling themselves by telling you how your product and service would work for them.

Rachel Covello: And going back to AI, AI doesn't. We're not at that level yet where AI is the, has that psychology behind it. So, you know, sales techniques, aren't things, yeah, we learned them in school.

I worked for Marriott for a couple of years, uh, in my sales career and learned all these skills and tools, but the reality was like, it, it was real experience out in the field that really taught me that. And it's experience working with the LGBT community to fully understand, like, what is the pain points in our community?

g to love coming to New York [: 00:25:00

So I think AI is just not there yet to fully understand, understanding different demographics and what drives them and, and being able to have those. Conversation. So when they're used as sales bots, I cringe. You could, you could see it coming a mile away and they tell me that I'm vibrant and I should work with them.

I'm done. Totally done.

Larry Aldrich: Okay. Well, before we let you go or before you decide to get up and run away from us,

Rachel Covello: we're close Larry.

Larry Aldrich: Yeah, I know. Uh, through let's say January, February, March, what kind of conferences or. trade shows can we find you?

Rachel Covello: So I've been doing quite a bit of podcasts. This is actually my year of kind of grounding myself.

ears I've been going, going, [: 00:26:00

Um, but I'm always offering advice, obviously on our, uh, you know, on my channels, um, you can find me everywhere. I am the only Rachel Covello in the world. So Google my name. I'm, I'm all over the place. Very lucky. I have like a name. I'm like, I. But I do, um, so I do a mix of stuff. So I do speaking, consulting, a lot of webinars.

I'm working a lot with DMOs and agencies like yours to do more in depth trainings and kind of more private trainings. Um, I also dabble in comedy, so you can see me on the stage too, but, um, that's a whole different conversation for another day.

Larry Aldrich: That's a different podcast. It is a totally

Rachel Covello: different podcast.

t you really enjoy or you're [: 00:27:00

Rachel Covello: yeah So there's actually two I have in mind one was a campaign that we did with you guys We worked with Visit Lauderdale together and it was the first time that I had done a campaign that not only touched on LGBTQ Topics but also hidden disability topics and which was exciting for me because it was my first branching out beyond My LGBTQ plus identity, uh, and I got a little bit more vulnerable with a camera and was sharing with our, you know, my followers and our, our viewers that I do struggle with anxiety and ADHD, but the anxiety one as a traveler for me is harder to deal with sometimes because you're flying and then people in new places.

ng for the mind and soul and [: 00:28:00

And so it was really exciting to do that. It was a little different than the norm. And it was me as a solo traveler, which was kind of fun. Um, the other campaign. That I'm really proud of. We just started working with the state of Illinois. Um, it's, it's really the first time we've worked at a state level and Illinois, if you think LGBTQ, you think Chicago.

Well, Illinois offers a lot beyond Chicago. So what we did was a whole campaign beyond Chicago. So we're still working on a lot of the videos and content. It'll be coming out over the next few months, but we did a statewide road trip and visited five different destinations beyond Chicago that welcome LGBTQ and diverse travelers and.

d of that consulting side is [: 00:29:00

And so I usually come back at the end of those trips with tips for that destination on maybe other gems they didn't know about or businesses that cater to our community and it just helps them more, better promote what they're doing and their destination. But I really loved working with every DMO within that, that state.

Um, and then of course, also the statewide level, they're doing great work up there. I love to hear

Larry Aldrich: that. Well, Rachel, thank you for being with us. We really enjoyed hearing about you, about your story. Thank you for tuning into our very first AquaTalks podcast with Rachel Covello. Go to aquatalks. com for more information.

We will see you next episode.

talks. com to book your free [: 00:30:00

Stay bold. Stay inspired. Stay imaginative.