Ep 5 Talking Destination Marketing with Industry Veteran Dave Di Maggio
The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the evolution of destination marketing, particularly in light of contemporary trends such as artificial intelligence and changing traveler behaviors post-pandemic. Our esteemed guest, Dave DiMaggio, who serves as the Client Development Director at Aqua, shares his extensive insights on the intricate dynamics shaping the tourism sector. He elucidates how the advent of AI is transforming the strategies employed by marketing professionals, enabling them to craft hyper-targeted campaigns tailored to the unique needs of diverse clientele. Furthermore, Dave emphasizes the importance of understanding traveler sentiment and adapting marketing approaches to align with the fluctuating economic landscape. Our discussion offers a wealth of actionable strategies that can empower destination marketers to navigate the complexities of today’s competitive environment effectively.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- 00:07 - Introduction to Aqua Talks
- 06:24 - Emerging Trends in Destination Marketing
- 13:27 - The Shift in Travel Dynamics Post-Pandemic
- 23:40 - Measuring and Driving ROI in Marketing Campaigns
- 26:52 - Measuring Marketing Impact on Destinations
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- In the contemporary marketing landscape, utilizing AI has become indispensable for enhancing creative strategies and audience engagement.
- The significance of understanding traveler sentiment cannot be overstated, especially in the context of fluctuating political and economic climates.
- Destination marketers must prioritize developing unique culinary narratives to differentiate their offerings and attract discerning travelers.
- Aqua's tailored approach to marketing ensures that each client's strategies are uniquely designed to meet their specific objectives and market conditions.
- The emergence of 'investigative eating' as a trend highlights travelers' growing interest in the sourcing of their food and local culinary stories.
- Effective measurement of ROI is critical for marketing campaigns, necessitating the use of sophisticated data analysis to track economic impacts.
RESOURCES:
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Internationally awarded and recognized for his work in Tourism and Economic Development, Dave has spent his career helping communities reach the highest levels of visitation and relocation in their histories. He’s aided cities, counties, states and even countries develop dynamic tourism and economic development programs and has marketed a variety of destinations through every phase of market cycle and brand life. His work has included developing a number of destination brands in the state of Florida that have uniquely defined and positioned communities far beyond their competition.
In 2010, Dave founded Aqua Marketing & Communications. As its President and CEO, he’s led award-winning campaigns for clients through a broad range of industries, utilizing fully integrated marketing communications strategies. Aqua’s result-driven solutions range from fundamental research, to brand development, marketing strategy, communications development (including public relations and social media) paid media strategy, creative development and design, online and interactive development and more. The firm carefully verifies its efforts for clients through defined analytics and measurements. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, Aqua also has offices in Fort Lauderdale.
ABOUT THE HOSTS:
Meet Larry Aldrich, host of Aqua Talks. With a background in the U.S. Air Force and as the founder of BrennSys Technology LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Larry has decades of experience in the public and private sectors. In 2024, he acquired Aqua Marketing & Communications, merging the firms into a leader in destination marketing and public sector solutions. Join Larry for insightful, lively conversations and actionable marketing takeaways in each episode of Aqua Talks.
Meet Mady Dudley, a public relations expert skilled in crafting strategic campaigns that elevate brand awareness and generate buzz. With roles at Codeword, Red Rooster PR, and Paradise Advertising, she’s worked with top clients like JW Marriott Marco Island, The Dalí Museum, and Visit Indian River. Mady's achievements include amplifying earned media for Google and driving a 25% boost in referral traffic for a client within 90 days. Tune in to Aqua Talks, where the future of destination marketing takes flight.
Transcript
Welcome to Aqua Talks where marketing meets bold game changing ideas.
Speaker A:Join your hosts Larry Aldrich and Maddie Dudley as they explore the art and science of cutting through the noise, capturing attention and fostering meaningful connections with your audience.
Speaker A:Whether you're a destination marketer, government contractor or simply passionate about the transformative power of marketing, aqu, Aqua Talks offers engaging discussions, fresh insights and actionable strategies designed to inspire and inform.
Speaker B:Hello and welcome back to Aqua Talks, the marketing podcast.
Speaker B:Whether you're just starting out or you're a marketing pro, I'm Maddie Dudley.
Speaker B:I'm the PR director for Aqua.
Speaker B:This is a podcast sponsored by Brunsys Technology, a service veteran owned business.
Speaker B:I'm here with my host today, Larry Aldrich.
Speaker C:Today we're going to talk about the ins and outs of destination Marketing with Dave DiMaggio.
Speaker C:Dave is the client development director at Aqua.
Speaker C:Dave is one of the most award winning marketing professionals in the industry.
Speaker C:Dave brings a abundant amount of years in industry and tourism and destination marketing and it's an excellent client director working with our clients and we're happy to have Dave and thank you for being here with us.
Speaker D:Yeah, thank you for having me today.
Speaker D:I hope you didn't set the expectations too high, you know.
Speaker C:No, never do.
Speaker D:Haven't learned to walk on water yet, but I'm working on it.
Speaker C:Well, you do a great job.
Speaker C:You're well known in the industry, well known in Florida, in the U.S.
Speaker C:and around the U.S.
Speaker C:so there's a lot that we want to hear about you today.
Speaker D:Great.
Speaker D:Eager to do it and eager to.
Speaker C:Get in conversation as we move into that.
Speaker C:We want to talk about trends.
Speaker C:You've been in this industry for quite some time.
Speaker C:Can you talk about some trends in the tourism destination marketing industry?
Speaker D:Yeah, I knew that as marketers we're all just watching AI and we've talked about that.
Speaker D:I think that's one of the things we're really looking at right now.
Speaker D:And it's our agency has been utilizing it for a number of years, actually about three years in all sorts of ways, just aiding us creatively, aiding us on social media, using it on the creative side.
Speaker D:But also we're looking at what's happening with the clients and how they're beginning to use AI and how it's making chatbots, which used to be a thing of gone more reasonable and something that can be used.
Speaker D:But so we're really watching AI and studying AI now and looking at the application across the field for us.
Speaker D:I think right now at the time of this podcast, I think we're looking at really just the huge geopolitical, political and economic flux that we're in.
Speaker D:I think we're going to have to see this year settle down a little bit.
Speaker D:It's exciting to watch it.
Speaker D:We're always monitoring this for clients and advising on what we can do should be doing.
Speaker D:Like for instance, we just finished over the last week a couple of quick studies on traveler sentiment, international traveler sentiment, because that could be a concern with the changes in the United States, with the administration, that sort of thing.
Speaker D:Luckily it showed that, no, we're going to be fine, but it's something we always have to constantly monitor.
Speaker D:But it's going to be interesting to see how we come through this year and the changes economically, politically that will take place and how that might affect tourism, travel.
Speaker D:So, but beyond AI, just, you know, the things that are going on in our society that affect consumers also affect travel.
Speaker D:So, you know, the increased connectivity, you know, you know, we've got.
Speaker D:Not only does everyone have their own devices, you know, with them at all times, all these devices are getting connected or the ability to target, hyper target is, is going off the charts, you know.
Speaker D:And again, getting back to AI's role in that, the ability to, to custom tailor messages to the extreme and to reach people and micro targeting people on an individual basis at any time is just getting to be extreme and fun to watch and fun to participate in.
Speaker D:But so those are kind of the things that we're looking at right now that we're continuing to modern participate in and see what we can do to apply those to make our clients even more prosperous.
Speaker C:There was another trend we were talking about earlier, but before we jump into that and don't want you to give out too much of the secret sauce right now, but if some of our clients reached out to us and asked if we had some ideas or some strategies where we can help them, like you just said with AI and to integrate AI into their campaigns, how would you respond to them?
Speaker D:Yeah, well, I think every client's different.
Speaker D:You know, I think one of the things that we do especially well at Aqua is all our clients really receive custom custom programs.
Speaker D:So we'd have to really look at what the client's needs are, where they are, what they're trying to achieve, what are those objectives, what kind of strategies and tactics are they using now so that we can apply, you know, technology like AI effectively.
Speaker D:And I think that's one of the things that really separates Aqua from a lot of different companies.
Speaker D:Even though we have our destination marketing firms Even though we have a lot of destination marketing clients, they're all on custom programs, you know, and we know a lot of people in the destination marketing field really kind of maybe have a template, and they.
Speaker D:They use that in a way that they kind of makes it very efficient for them to just kind of, you know, give.
Speaker D:Kind of paint everyone with the same brush, you know, but we kind of work our way backward, really, from where the client is and where their targets are, what their competition is doing, and design custom programs.
Speaker D:So we really start there before we really get into the application of any strategy or tactic, before we dive deeper.
Speaker C:Into your experience and knowledge.
Speaker C:Matti wants to discuss one of my favorite travel trends.
Speaker C:Matti, please.
Speaker C:Let's talk about it.
Speaker D:I'm ready.
Speaker B:So investigative eating is one of TripAdvisor's top travel trends for this year.
Speaker B:So that means that when someone goes into a destination, they're not only interested in eating the cuisine, but they're also learning about where it's sourced from.
Speaker B:And, Dave, I know you have a sort of anecdote to share of a client that we've been working on.
Speaker D:Yeah, well, right now, it's a great topic because we're always looking to uniquely position our destination clients.
Speaker D:A lot of clients, you know, particularly on the East.
Speaker D:Well, actually, you know, a lot of our clients are coastal clients in a lot of ways.
Speaker D:And so, you know, we're looking for what's beyond the beaches, you know, because, you know, although beaches all can be different, once you get beyond the beach is really where the destinations are going to shine and be very different from each other.
Speaker D:So that culinary story can be really important for some destinations if they have that infrastructure in place.
Speaker D:And so one of the ones I think you're referring to, we have a client, and I don't know, should I be naming clients?
Speaker D:I think it's okay.
Speaker D:It's Punta Gorda, Inglewood beach, and they really have an incredible food story.
Speaker D:And I know a lot of destinations are like, well, we have great restaurants.
Speaker D:Let's have a culinary week.
Speaker D:This is a bigger, bigger story for them.
Speaker D:So we are looking at everything from food sourcing, and how can people know where food's sourced from locally?
Speaker D:In this particular destination is a big regional food supplier.
Speaker D:The farming community, the aquaculture, even the fishing, big source for blue crabs in the state and that sort of thing.
Speaker D:So allowing the visitor to know about that and even experience it.
Speaker D:Visit the farms, visit the sources.
Speaker D:We want to see those kind of programs developed.
Speaker D:And then once people see that, we want to make sure they understand that there are ways to enjoy it and ways to enjoy it even beyond the restaurant.
Speaker D:Now, this particular destination has a number of award winning chefs that have come there in the last 10 years or so, five to 10 years.
Speaker D:So the ways that they prepare their food is incredible too.
Speaker D:But then beyond that, we're looking at things like events and different things that people can do to participate in the food culture and be a part of what we are really calling the food story for that destination.
Speaker D:So we're putting that together now.
Speaker D:It's going to be a great program.
Speaker D:It's probably going to be a couple years in the making, but because they have a big story to tell, so.
Speaker D:But that is a big trend and it can set a number of destinations apart.
Speaker B:So, Dave, in the past couple of years, especially in the post pandemic world, how have you seen traveler behavior change and how can DMOS then change their strategies to adapt to all these updates?
Speaker D:Yeah, so the biggest thing that we've seen, of course, is that right after the pandemic there was this huge desire to travel.
Speaker D:You know, there was, you know, the people were just eager to get out and there had been deprivation and people were traveling like crazy.
Speaker D:We have seen over the last year basically a return, I don't want to say return to normality because there's been a number of things that have changed for destinations and DMOs.
Speaker D:But the biggest thing that we have seen change over the last year or so is the economy.
Speaker D:The economy is incredibly bright.
Speaker D:Isn't that a big word?
Speaker D:I love that.
Speaker D:Bifurcated.
Speaker D:Hope I'm using it right.
Speaker D:Makes me sound good.
Speaker D:But we've seen basically, I'd say, the lower third of the traveling public having some pretty severe financial constraints.
Speaker D:They have loaded up their credit cards, about 30% are just maxed out and that affects the ability to travel.
Speaker D:About 10% of that group is now defaulting on their credit cards, so they're late on payments.
Speaker D:That's creating a situation where we've had to advise clients over the last year that we're going to have to look at that.
Speaker D:And we've done things like raise the demographic if it made sense for that client.
Speaker D:So we actually reach people who do have the wherewithal to do travel.
Speaker D:It's also made a situation where those that do have the wherewithal to travel are traveling.
Speaker D:And they're traveling in a myriad of much different ways than before the pandemic.
Speaker D:So they're going to be getting into things like wellness travel, wellness retreats, and things like that, culinary travel, we're also seeing that they have the ability to leave the country.
Speaker D:And so here in the domestic US as we try to work with our clients domestically, they're, they're going to Europe and they're taking cruises.
Speaker D:The crew, the cruise lines, as a reaction to the pandemic have really increased their health and safety measures.
Speaker D:And so it is a good time to travel by cruise if you're concerned about that.
Speaker D:But everybody's doing it.
Speaker D:The cruise lines are jammed, just jammed in.
Speaker D:You cannot, you know, you can't even book a cruise these days.
Speaker D:So that's a big, big change.
Speaker D:And so that's actually all those reasons.
Speaker D:We can reach people now, but the people we can reach to bring to our client destinations have a lot of more choices.
Speaker D:So we have to really figure out ways to as always reach the right people, but entice them in new and different ways.
Speaker D:So some clients, you know, they just, they're going to have to go over that reach that traveler that is more economically constrained.
Speaker D:They have to because of who they are, their infrastructure.
Speaker D:They have to devise ways to attract them and maybe make it affordable to be there.
Speaker D:Now you have to be worried about that low end traveler affecting your local economy.
Speaker D:Why we're trying to bring them is to better our community's economy and things like that.
Speaker D:So you have to devise things like figure out a way to get another night out of them.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Things like that.
Speaker D:You know, see if there can be value packaging.
Speaker D:So, you know, there's, there's, there's ways that we can approach the, even the low end of the target that may help some communities.
Speaker D:Again, it's going to be different for every community.
Speaker D:And then there's other communities that they're really in good positions to fight that fight for the upper end of the market who do have the money.
Speaker D:So we have to devise special programs to make sure we can attract them and be as attracted to them as possible.
Speaker D:So that's what's new and different since the pandemic.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's pretty exciting.
Speaker C:You have a long and impressive career.
Speaker C:You have a wide range of clients from economic development to destination.
Speaker C:What got you into marketing?
Speaker C:What made you get into destination marketing?
Speaker D:Well, it's interesting.
Speaker D:I have to go way back to like when I was in college, I was a psychology major and trying to decide what am I going to do with this major, how am I going to apply it, how am I going to earn a living, right.
Speaker D:And I noticed that in my textbooks all the Guys that were writing the textbooks, guys and gals, they were PhDs in psychology, but they were working in this place called an advertising agency in New York City.
Speaker D:I'm like, what's that all about?
Speaker D:And I started to pay attention to it.
Speaker D:And at the time I had a girlfriend who was in an Advertising 101 course.
Speaker D:And she came to me and said, you know, Dave, we got to do this campaign as part of the course.
Speaker D:And, you know, you write really well and you draw really well and you take photography, you do photography really well.
Speaker D:Could you help us?
Speaker D:And I did.
Speaker D:And all of a sudden the light went off and I was like, oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing, you know.
Speaker D:So eventually switched majors, switched schools even, to get into a more urban environment.
Speaker D:Made my first.
Speaker D:One of my first contacts was a professor, a copywriting professor.
Speaker D:I was actually studying to be an art director.
Speaker D:One of my art director teachers sat me down, said, hey, well, you're not going to get to do radio unless you're a copywriter and you may not get to do tv.
Speaker D:And so I went, okay, I'll be a copywriter.
Speaker D:So I started honing my writing skills and my copywriting teacher sat me down one day and said, you're very talented.
Speaker D:I'm going to help you find your first job.
Speaker D:And that's what happened.
Speaker D:And so I got my first job, really in house and a big regional retailer.
Speaker D:And from there went to an agency and the rest is history.
Speaker D:But it was kind of funny, I always joke that I started being a student of people with crazy ideas.
Speaker D:Crazy people.
Speaker D:And then I get into an industry where I'm paid to come up with crazy ideas.
Speaker D:So, you know, so the threat of craziness is there.
Speaker C:You've been doing a very good job at it, actually.
Speaker C:I remember a time where a quick story, we visited one of our clients, Panama City, and I remember sitting in front of the staff and you said something, we can fill your hotel rooms, we can put people on the beaches, we can get people to your activities.
Speaker C:What goes through your mind or some of your creativity to work with the team to come up with those award winning campaigns.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So, yeah, I think the comment we were making too is that, yeah, we can really change the visitation trajectory for a destination in short order.
Speaker D:We really can.
Speaker D:But it's getting the right people there at the right time.
Speaker D:The right people being the people that they should have, who's going to bring economic vitality to the community, not just filling their rooms with people that aren't Going to really bring a lot of vitality to the community.
Speaker D:But we use data and we use it in a way and research to really inform our decisions.
Speaker D:Really, it's something that data tells us who to go after, when to go after.
Speaker D:And really when it gets into hands of some pretty creative people, whether it's our advertising creatives or PR people or social media people, they can take that and they can understand motivations, what our targets are looking for, client targets are looking for what turns them on, what messages are working for them.
Speaker D:And so that balance between data and creativity, they feed off each other in a lot of ways.
Speaker D:And we're getting data back all the time.
Speaker D:We can put a message out there.
Speaker D:We are very good at measuring that, assuring roi.
Speaker D:And so that is a feedback loop for us as well.
Speaker D:We can adjust our messages to make that happen.
Speaker D:Now, what makes some of our people in our industry super creative?
Speaker D:I have no idea.
Speaker D:It's this God given thing where bam, you can put information in front of some people and they don't have any ideas.
Speaker D:And other people, it's like.
Speaker D:But the great thing about our industry too is that we've got creative people and if you can give them the right data, they are going to use it for very productive purposes.
Speaker D:I used to, my very first creative director when I was entering the business said to me, you know, unless we have a purpose for all this creativity, unless we have a strategy, it's just art.
Speaker D:So we use art and we employ artists, but we use it all very strategically with that balance between research, data and creativity.
Speaker B:Yeah, you've talked a little bit about what works.
Speaker B:I kind of want to stir this pot and see what doesn't work.
Speaker B:So what are some common missteps that you see when DMOs are choosing an agency to work with them?
Speaker D:This could be a whole other podcast, Maddie.
Speaker D:Really?
Speaker D:Well, I think this is important and I think hopefully we have some DMOS listening.
Speaker D:This could be of service to them.
Speaker D:It's an important decision.
Speaker D:You know, as a destination marketing firm, typically we're going through a process that's called an RFP process.
Speaker D:People have a request for proposals, you know, so we submit to that with our proposal and then typically that we're chosen from that to pitch or be interviewed and we get the account.
Speaker D:But that process has to be administered the right way and there could be downfalls for destinations that don't get it right.
Speaker D:You might end up picking the wrong people or there could be legal implications.
Speaker D:So it's really important for them to get the process right.
Speaker D:And what I see is really process issues.
Speaker D:Some of the things I would say is one of the first things that really stands out that you see frequently is just there's going to be a selection committee, and it's the wrong people on that selection committee, you know, really were marketers.
Speaker D:And it's really marketers who should be selecting marketers.
Speaker D:They know what marketing is.
Speaker D:But many times we're in the destination game.
Speaker D:We're working with governmental bureaus, and they're not marketers.
Speaker D:Government.
Speaker D:Government doesn't market.
Speaker D:You know, they.
Speaker D:They're really good with taking taxes and supplying services, but they don't live and breathe by getting that right, you know, so, you know, government's not filled with marketers, but they are filled with people who are going to select an agency.
Speaker D:So we joke.
Speaker D:We have one client we've had for about 12 years, and it used to be.
Speaker D:We've re upped like four times now with them.
Speaker D:But their selection committee had the director of waste management, transit director.
Speaker D:People had no idea.
Speaker D:Fortunately, we kept getting picked, but they've honed their processes since.
Speaker D:But I think having that selection committee and making sure they're marketers, they know what marketers.
Speaker D:And, you know, if you don't have the resources to find those people, if they're not in your organization, reach out to your community because you're going to find hoteliers and restaurateurs and people that are in the destination marketing sphere that really would be able to help you make that right decision, make that right selection.
Speaker D:So that's the first thing.
Speaker D:The other thing that we're seeing a lot over the last four years is the implementation of.
Speaker D:Once we have that proposal, we're asked to provide it online through a submission portal.
Speaker D:Larry knows what I'm talking about.
Speaker D:He's very familiar with the submission portals and a real expert in getting through those.
Speaker D:But I think what we are seeing is that a lot of them have been put into effect because it makes like a government employee's day easier.
Speaker D:But the actual portal itself is probably not helping them find the right people.
Speaker D:It could be wrong.
Speaker D:So it's really suppressing, getting the right people.
Speaker D:You could just discourage people, or you just get the wrong people.
Speaker D:I'll give you a horror story real quick.
Speaker D:About two years ago, I'll make it super fast.
Speaker D:Got a call from a county we had submitted and they said, we think something's wrong with your submission.
Speaker D:Can you take a look at it?
Speaker D:Pages were missing, they were upside down, the colors were all washed out and they had their third party submission group was just messed up.
Speaker D:We went through the process of resubmitting to that portal six times before we finally said look, whatever you got, you got.
Speaker D:And we didn't get the contract.
Speaker D:I have no idea what the selection committee saw but it's a weird thing.
Speaker D:And then I'd say probably the last thing is too is that I don't think DMOs should be making the decision of AC Choice just on that submittal, that written submittal.
Speaker D:You've got to go whether you want to have a pitch, that's okay because pitches, when the agencies come in and they pitch themselves why they should be selected, at least have an interview.
Speaker D:And the reason being too is that in a pitch situation you could either one of those situations gives you the ability to gauge individuals, gauge personalities, know whether you want to work with them or not.
Speaker D:Gives you deeper insight.
Speaker D:The other thing along those lines too, I would say if you're going to do a pitch, do not give them an assignment, do not give the agencies an assignment.
Speaker D:You're going to get some temporary rah rah, good stuff.
Speaker D:That may not last the course of a three to five year contract and it may not really be the best way to evaluate the different agencies involved.
Speaker D:That's a whole nother podcast.
Speaker B:But don't, that's the free work.
Speaker D:Don't give them inside.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, good question.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker C:If you were to give a DMO advice, what would you advise as a strategy to measure and drive ROI on a marketing campaign?
Speaker D:Yeah, well this is a really hot topic in all of marketing.
Speaker D:We know that and you know, fortunately as a firm this is a big deal to us, you know and a lot of our clients again are governmental.
Speaker D:They have, we have to prove what we do is we just can't put it out there and hope for the best.
Speaker D:Fortunately here at acwa, you know, we have a chief intelligence officer really heads up the ability to evaluate our marketing, evaluate the clients destinations and you know that it's, it's something ingrained in everything that we do.
Speaker D:We've got very elaborate dashboards to allow the clients to understand how they're doing, how we're doing.
Speaker D:When you look at the destination landscape, there's two big areas of evaluation of what we're doing.
Speaker D:One is the typical marketing evaluators for our program.
Speaker D:So we're looking at the number of impressions or reach or cost per contact, that sort of thing, how many clicks, how many costs of clicks, those typical things that a lot of marketers are familiar with on the destination side.
Speaker D:The destination itself is looking at destination metrics, the metrics of who's coming.
Speaker D:Are they the right people, how long are they staying, how much money are they spending?
Speaker D:Ultimately the most important destination metric is going to be the measurement of economic impact to that destination which is best measured by a third party economic measurement firm, econometrics firm.
Speaker D:But I'd say the thing to do is that there are use whatever data you can.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:There's no one size fits all.
Speaker D:I'm quoting our chief intelligence officer on that one.
Speaker D:For every destination I wonder that guy there's going to be.
Speaker D:There's no one size fits all.
Speaker D:But everybody is available to some data.
Speaker D:Be careful about what you're seeing as far as just Google Analytics and just going by that because that's not necessarily totally responsive to your marketing data, your marketing efforts and sometimes that can even get misinterpreted.
Speaker D:You know, you have to know how to read your data there.
Speaker D:There are platforms that really give us a fairly direct line from our marketing efforts to the destinations impact.
Speaker D:There are groups like Arrivalists and Zyrteco that are very good of tracking people.
Speaker D:Once we expose an ad to them we'll know if that worked, if they got that and how they responded to that, did they end up in the destination, where they went in the destination, that sort of thing.
Speaker D:But I'd say not everyone can afford those.
Speaker D:Sometimes there just has to be some marketing inferences.
Speaker D:I mean with us it's very.
Speaker D:And not to brag too much on the agency but once we put our programs in place most clients see it immediate.
Speaker D:Within months they can see that their destination metrics take a huge positive dramatic jump.
Speaker D:So that's pretty easy to track.
Speaker D:Once they see.
Speaker D:Well it's when we hire the agency and this is when they put the programs in place and bam, look at our numbers.
Speaker D:Pretty easy to track that.
Speaker D:But not everybody's got the ability to put a lot of money into that.
Speaker D:So use what data you can have.
Speaker D:If you can't afford some of the high priced systems, use what data you can look at.
Speaker D:Get someone to help you analyze the data though.
Speaker D:A company like ours can help anybody.
Speaker D:Take a look at what data can you use and how can you interpret that correctly because that is something too that we see too with a lot of clients, the swimming in data.
Speaker D:We just got a new client last year.
Speaker D:I couldn't believe how much data they were sitting on.
Speaker D:They didn't really understand it.
Speaker D:They didn't understand it and Some of the conclusions they had drawn were not really correct.
Speaker D:I think at the end of the game too, I really am still a fan of good old fashioned in market intercepts, which is an old research tactic where we just put researchers in the destination.
Speaker D:When they've got their iPads, they've got their questions and they can ask people, where are you from?
Speaker D:What did you do while you're here?
Speaker D:What did you expect to do before you came here?
Speaker D:How much money do you think you spent?
Speaker D:How many people are in your party?
Speaker D:And also, it's probably one of the best ways for us to actually look at economic impact for a destination is through that method.
Speaker D:It's kind of an old school method.
Speaker D:Not everyone again can afford that.
Speaker D:And I would say for the clients who can afford that and can't afford some of these other platforms like Arrivalist and Zartico that even do some similar things, I would do both because you can look at the data, compare the data and not to see which one's right or wrong, but it's going to give you a fuller picture.
Speaker D:So end of the day, again, no, no one size fits all recommendation for our clients.
Speaker D:But what do you have as far as resources, financial ability, budgets, what are we trying to achieve?
Speaker D:And we can really design the best program to give you that ROI that you're going to have to have.
Speaker D:Like we said, a lot of our clients are governmental.
Speaker D:We've got to get in front of those governmental boards, those county commissions, that city, city council, and we have to explain what we've been doing and is it working or not?
Speaker D:We gotta know.
Speaker D:Gotta know.
Speaker D:Yeah, good question.
Speaker D:Like that.
Speaker B:All right, thank you so much for watching and or listening today.
Speaker B:Thank you so much to our guest Dave for joining us.
Speaker B:It was a really insightful.
Speaker D:Thanks for having me.
Speaker D:This is fun.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker D:Appreciate it.
Speaker D:Good seeing you guys.
Speaker B:If you enjoyed, please follow us on social media.
Speaker B:We are publishing podcast every month.
Speaker B:We also have a website, aquatacs.com where you can find more details about Dave as well.
Speaker B:Details about Aqua.
Speaker A:You've been listening to Aquatox where marketing innovation takes center stage with bold ideas and actionable insights.
Speaker A:Ready to take your strategies to the next level.
Speaker A:Visit aquatacs.com com to book your free consultation and explore resources that empower you to thrive in today's fast paced marketing world.
Speaker A:Until next time, stay bold, stay inspired, stay imaginative.
