December 2009

The Archives

• Internet, social media

  Must see presentations #3: Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

  12.17.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  In less than five minutes you will understand why social media works best when rallying a community behind a common cause, how trying to control the message is of the past, and accepting the wisdom of the crowd can help you achieve your goals, even if this wisdom might seem ridiculous.

• Marketing, tourism bc

  Great Mountain Giveaway

  12.10.09 | Permalink | Comment?

  Have you ever been on a great Ski mountain with 1,000 other people and wondered what it would be like to have the whole mountain to yourself? Well, your dream could come true. We’re giving away a mountain at one of our Ski resorts for a whole day.

  And it gets better. You get to bring 19 of your friends.

  

  A mountain in one of our great 13 Ski resorts to yourself with 19 of your friends for a day. For real. Enter our Great Mountain Giveaway.

• Management, Marketing, Travel & Tourism

  Should the ‘M’ in DMO stand for Management instead of Marketing

  12.08.09 | Permalink | 7 Comments

  Traditionally, DMO stands for Destination Marketing Organization. But would consumers and industry be better served if the ‘M’ stood for Management instead?

  Consider my destination brand definition from a few posts back.

  1. The sum of experiences of a traveler during a trip (but not all experiences are equal)
  2. The sum of all stories somebody has hears about a destination (but not all sources are equally credible)

  It’s clear that the visitor experience is the best form of destination branding. It will generate great memories people will relive, lead to repeat visitation and word of mouth referrals.

  And when you read Ana Pollock’s Reputation, Reputation, Reputation post you will understand how actions by others can dramatically effect a destination brand.

  Some will argue that all of the above is part of marketing. But semantics aside, changing the ‘M’ in DMO to Management would broaden the traditional focus and increase the scope into things that also matter.

  I’m not talking about a visitor centre or a training program. I’m talking about generating a vision for the destination, looking at all aspects of the destination experience and working with extended groups of stakeholders to truly manage and deliver an end-to-end world class experience.

  And when you satisfy your visitors, wouldn’t a destination be a better place to live for its residents as well?

• Internet, Marketing, social media

  Must see presentations: #2 Clay Shirky: How social media can make history

  12.05.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  Clay Shirky’s powerful presentation at TED earlier this year will combat any Social Media sceptic you might have to deal with in your organization. Do you have key business decission makers who don’t even have a Facebook account, or marketing teams who think Social Media is just another way to broadcast advertising or something viral? In that case, this presentation will explain in 17 minutes that the future of marketing isn’t broadcast but collaboration with your networks of consumers and stakeholders.

William Bakker's Destination Marketing blog