
The Destination Podcast
By Imagine
Imagine is a brand strategy and digital marketing agency for tourism, hospitality, and economic development. Learn more about Imagine at imaginedc.net.

The Destination PodcastFeb 16, 2021

The Customer Journey, Part Three: Advocacy
Is there a way to increase tourism without increasing the amount of work you're doing to get it? There is, and it's explained in this episode. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

The Customer Journey, Part Two: Action and Adoption
Now that you have the attention of your potential visitors and they've followed you on social, signed up for emails, etc., how do you close the deal? Then, how do you get them to return after their first visit? This episode answers those two questions. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

The Customer Journey, Part One: Awareness and Activity
As marketers, we all do some form of audience segmentation but how far into the customer journey are you taking it? In the first of a two- (or possibly three-) part series, Patrick explains how to improve your existing customer journeys to create better results - and more fans of your destination. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

The Power and Curse of Saying "No"
Limiting where we give our focus is important but saying "no" too quickly or for the wrong reasons can hurt us more than it helps. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net. If you'd like to join as a guest, visit https://imaginedc.net/podcast/

Broadway in the Mountains: Wytheville, Virginia
Located in Southwest Virginia, the Town of Wytheville has an abundance of small-town charm and an amazing number of tourist attractions: an exotic petting zoo, a dinner theatre with Broadway musicals, a lavender and herb farm, and that's just getting started. Shane Terry from Wytheville's CVB talks about their excitement to get back to tourism this summer. Find out more at https://www.visitwytheville.com.
To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

Why is everyone moving to Clarksville, Tennessee?
A business-friendly local government and a vibrant culture are going a long way to making Clarksville - a city 40 minutes from Nashville - a target for relocation, business growth, and tourism. Learn more about Imagine at https://imaginedc.net.

College Town Creativity with Kim Daggy, Enjoy Oxford
Here's a great example of what we call the “small-town advantage”. Oxford is a city north of Cincinnati, near the Indiana border and they have a passion you seldom find in cities its size. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net

Resilience in the Craft Beer Community with Sara Pletcher
Craft breweries draw tourists like no other, and they're a boon for the local economy. How have they become more resilient and creative over the past year? This episode with Sara Pletcher of Zephyr Conferences reveals how the industry has made it through, and what's to come. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

Adventure Tourism HACKs with Julie Thorner
It's not a typo - HACK stands for something all marketers should remember. Check out this episode to learn what it means.
Julie Thorner is the Founder of LiquidSpark (https://liquidspark.com/), an agency specializing in adventure tourism. Learn more about Imagine by visiting https://imaginedc.net.

The Future of Events with Amberlee Huggins
It's no shock that events are totally different now but what does the future looking like for large events? Amberlee Huggins of CSI DMC (https://www.csi-dmc.com/) gives her perspective on what we could expect, as well as ideas for more sustainable events and the future of the industry as a whole. To learn more about Imagine, please visit https://imaginedc.net.

Destination Podcasting and Horse Yoga with Gui Cunha
Tourism Director Gui Cunha (https://doorlandonorth.com/) and I talk about how Orlando North/Seminole County is playing to their strengths and providing an authentic experience. To learn more about Imagine’s work with destinations, visit https://imaginedc.net.

Planning Your Destination for Summer Travel
This week, we talk about what TripAdvisor, Destination Analysts, Amadeus, Google, and others are urging destinations to do: start marketing now. This episode covers some of the things to consider when building a destination marketing strategy for a traveler that's changed since the pandemic, as well as some new things to expect from them. To learn more about Imagine and our work for tourism, hospitality, and local government, visit https://imaginedc.net.

Starting Over: How Destination Marketing Has Changed
In under 15 minutes, we cover data and sentiment analysis, social media changes, and delivering an authentic brand. It's a lot and definitely worth a listen if your destination marketing needs to begin an overhaul. The article by Destination Think is https://destinationthink.com/blog/no-content-marketing-as-usual-5-dmo-trends-for-2021/ and it's worth a read.
To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

The Greatest Tourism Opportunity in 2021: Local SEO
An abridged and audio-friendly of our 2021 State of Search presentation, presented on January 12th. Search engines are the top channel for planning travel and this helps small businesses depending on tourism, as well as the DMOs that help them to attract travelers. To learn more about Imagine or to request a copy of the presentation, visit us at https://imaginedc.net.

Economic Development Marketing Challenges - and How to Avoid Them
In this overview episode, we go over some of the most common hangups marketers in economic development face, as well as some ways to deal with them. To learn more about Imagine, visit https://imaginedc.net.

Overcoming COVID Exhaustion
We're all looking toward the beginning of 2020 with a fair amount of uncertainty, determination, and exhaustion. In this episode, I take a moment to go over what has worked for me at my agency, and some concrete steps for you to do the same. You can find the diagram I reference at https://imaginedc.net/overcoming-covid-exhaustion.

How to Anticipate Change and Shift Ahead
In this episode, Allen Adamson and I discuss his new agency, Metaforce (https://www.metaforce.com), and the mindset that helps some companies remain on the cutting edge. Would you like to be a guest on a future episode? Reach us at https://imaginedc.net/podcast.

Elevating the Member Experience
Association membership expert Andrea C. Smith (https://www.linkedin.com/in/acolettesmith/) reveals her approach to giving members the most personalized experience, as well as how the non-profit industry has adapted to technology and current events.

Why Good Marketing Research Matters
Wendy Price of WHP Research (https://whpresearch.com) and Joy Levin of Allium Research (http://www.alliumresearch.com) share their research expertise as well as some tips to entrepreneurial drive.

Advice for Businesses that Rely on Tourism
Dan Cook from the Prince William County Office of Tourism (www.visitpwc.com) talks about how businesses can up their customer service game and adapt to serving customers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.