Q: If the Spirit of Ohio Travel Event is all online, how is this all going to work?
A: Don’t worry! Here’s how this is going to work: You will be sent the pre-recorded learning modules below two weeks before the Spirit of Ohio Travel Event. That way, you have plenty of time to watch the learning modules ahead of time to prepare for the live chats the week of Spirit of Ohio Travel. But you have to register first, of course! Click the button below to register and peruse the learning module descriptions below at your leisure!
Leah Mallory is a Senior Multi Media Executive with LocaliQ Columbus. Leah has been with the company (formerly Dispatch Media Group) for more than 5 years and has worked on both the digital advertising team as well as the multi-media team, giving her experience and expertise in all forms of media.
Ellyn work alongside a group of fantastic group of marketing professionals to drive local and regional business growth. She researches a particular group of people in order to understand their drives and aspirations, then determine a creative strategy to show them why something they are unfamiliar with may be worth their time to invest in.
Named one of the top 50 Influential Women in Content Marketing, Jacquie Chakirelis is an award-winning marketing and media professional with over 20 years experience successfully marketing some of the largest brands in the country. As a media entrepreneur, one of her proudest achievements is the founding of a nationally-syndicated talk radio program and podcast, Family Matters Radio.
Jennifer Pascua is a Content Experience Manager for Serendipity Media, publisher of Groups Today and SYTA's Teach & Travel. After 25 years in the broadcast news industry and becoming a Grand Valley State University grad school grad, Jennifer brings a wealth of knowledge in marketing, video and virtual story-telling.
Brian has been a part of the travel and tourism industry since 2003 and was the long-time Marketing Director at the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau where he pioneered several digital and social media promotional programs that included various form of content development and distribution. He’s a great asset to the development of any tourism organization’s marketing initiatives due to his vast experience working directly with destinations, hotels, attractions, and resorts, along with his vast knowledge of digital marketing.
Dan Janes is the CEO of Madden Media, a destination marketing agency focused on increasing visitation, travel, and tourism for communities across the country. Madden uses innovative, technology-driven marketing strategies to provide solutions for partners. Dan is a successful entrepreneur and early-stage investor. Dan co-founded, 42six Solutions, a Big Data and Analytics company that was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation. Following the acquisition, Dan became active as an investor and member of Desert Angels and Arch Partners. Dan’s breadth of experience includes being a West Point graduate, former Army Officer, working inside of a large government agency, building a big data technology company, and growing technology offerings in a publicly traded company.
President & C.E.O. of Longwoods International, Amir is a 32 year Industry Veteran. He is the former Senior Executive at Brand USA, former State of Ohio Tourism Director, former head of Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association, a 2010 Paul Sherlock Award Recipient, and a 2014 Top 25 Minds in Tourism, Hospitality, Sales & Marketing Honoree By HSMAI.
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Using Promotions and Incentives to Provide an Experience That Consumers Can't Pass Up | Leah Mallory & Ellyn Thorson, LocaliQ
We recognize and understand that travel looks very different today than it did just a year ago. Our goal is to equip attendees with the information and data needed to get in the minds of their travelers, and to walk away with tangible ideas and practices that can be applied to their businesses right away. We will explore the use of promotions and incentives to provide consumers with an opportunity they can’t pass up. We will deep dive into market research, and share data and psychographics around what kind of incentives travelers feel are worth buying into, who responds to promotions (what those individuals “look like”) and what kind a promotion these individuals want. Additionally, we will explore current travel trends (at the time of the presentation, keeping information fresh and relevant) and explore experience development, helping attendees to understand what they should say and communicate to potential travelers to provide a positive user experience.
Marketing That Builds Trust in the Era of Distrust | Jacquie Chakirelis, Quest Digital Marketing
In 2019, UM's long-running Wave global survey found disturbingly low confidence in the perceived "truthfulness" of virtually every information source in our lives. The truth it seems belongs to no one and brands are not immune. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, we have been in a "trust crisis" since 2017. These trends raise serious questions about what content we deliver in the marketplace. Throw in a global pandemic and now our visitors have serious concerns about their health and safety. How do we earn credibility in an environment of disbelief? In this session, we'll dive into how we can leverage our marketing efforts to earn and keep trust with our audience and empower them to become our messenger. 1. How to break the stock photo habit and other "fake" content patterns to create lasting relationships with your audience. 2 Learn simple ways brands are collaborating with their partners, visitors, and locals to become the messengers through user-generated content.
How to Tell Your Comeback Story | Jennifer Pascua, Serendipity Media
As a travel and tourism industry professional, the journey begins to craft a new storyline for your business and/or your organization. It’s crucial that you take a step back and figure out what you want your message to be and how you want to tell it AND sell it. During this 45-minute long presentation, attendees will learn the basics of visual storytelling; from cultivating the first chapter to gathering compelling, meaningful content and determining where you want your story to be seen. Attendees will have the beginning tools they’ll need to begin sharing their comeback story successfully.
Data-Driven Campaigns on a Budget | Brian Matson, TwoSix Digital
Are you running online campaigns based on assumptions or facts? In this session we’ll uncover valuable data sources hiding in plain view and walk through how to use it to enhance your future digital marketing campaigns. With tips for every level of expertise, from beginners to advanced data nerds, you will leave this session with a deeper understanding of the potential of running super-smart campaigns that could help drive visitation to your destination.
The Dos and Don’ts of Successful Content Marketing | Brian Matson, TwoSix Digital
In this session, Brian will walk attendees through a series of dos and don’ts to successfully leverage social media channels and online audiences to take their content marketing efforts to the next level. Hear his take on the Top 5 things you need to be doing with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and social advertising. This session will provide tactics and processes to enable attendees to start telling a more authentic and entertaining destination story online.
Paid Social & Cooperative Data: Two Impactful Strategies For Digital Marketing Success | Brian Matson, TwoSix Digital
Learn about a “paid first” social strategy that could make you reassess your approach to day-to-day social media marketing. Then learn how you can take your marketing efforts to the next level with some data sharing strategies. This session will feature case studies where you'll hear about those who were able to leverage both approaches to achieve digital marketing success.
The Importance of Agile Marketing During Trying Times | Dan Madden, Madden Media
As we saw this year, our world can change in a moment and it is imperative that we are all set up to adapt quickly. Agile marketing allows companies flexibility in all facets of their business. From changes in creative and media placements to updating your website messaging or imagery, agile marketing enables these quick changes to be possible. Learn about to ensure you are set up for success so you can maximize your return on marketing efforts through flexible budgeting and dynamic changes. Objectives: 1. Provide a clear definition, understanding, and benefits of an Agile Marketing model and how this relates to creative, media, websites, and your budget. 2. Highlight case studies of businesses and organizations that nailed the flexible marketing approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and the benefits they experienced in campaign results. 3. Inspire attendees to consider shifting their approaches to an Agile Marketing model.
Marketing Lessons Learned from Pop Culture | Dan Madden, Madden Media
This is going to be a fun session, folks! Come learn the importance of incorporating (tasteful) humor and modern trends into account as you formulate marketing strategy. Now, more than ever, you want to stand out in the crowd of travel messaging. We will highlight creative ways to jump in on the excitement of trending topics and pop culture and showcase examples of how to attach your destination’s brand to current messaging. Make sure you don’t stop at simply identifying the trend, but ensure you are using flexible, agile best practices to capitalize on these trending opportunities before it is too late. Objectives: 1. Discuss the importance of timely and relevant content for your target audiences and how it relates to their intent to travel to your destination. 2. Learn the dos and don’ts around selecting which trends to capitalize on. 3. Highlight the importance of utilizing agile practices in your marketing efforts.
Insightful Action: Using Data to Drive Decisions | Dan Madden, Madden Media
We know DMOs have a fiduciary responsibility to use funding effectively and efficiently, but each and every marketing professional working in attractions, museums, restaurants, hotels, etc. reports to someone or a governing body. Many are facing greater scrutiny and proof-points to justify spending and their jobs. Gain an understanding of how you can prepare your marketing data to show insights that will excite your stakeholders. In this session, attendees will learn how to establish data pipelines, gain insights from data, improve performance, and become more competitive. Objectives: 1. Understand the steps to creating a data pipeline 2. Taking action from your data 3. Developing KPIs that matter to stakeholders.
The Travel Industry's New KPI's: What are They & How to Use Them to Market & Tell Your Story With Them | Amir Eylon, Longwoods International
The Global Pandemic has re-shuffled consumer priorities in many areas and has changed the way we traditionally look at and measure marketing efforts. Some of our traditional performance measures, like room nights and visitor volume may not be as relevant in the near to mid-term through pandemic re-opening and recovery. Learn how resident sentiment, traveler sentiment, geolocation patterns, etc... are now necessary tools for both destinations and travel brands in both guiding marketing decisions and reporting outcomes. Attendees will be presented with a brief overview of these new and emerging KPI's as well as examples of how they are being used in practice. In addition, session attendees will be presented with actionable ideas as to how to evolve, develop, and tell their stories using these new KPI's.
Back to the Future: How to Reach and Influence Travelers Before They Book | Ian Ross, Travel Spike
Ian will discuss the five stages of travel (Dreaming, Planning, Booking, Experiencing and Sharing) and how to effectively reach consumers between the time they start to dream of traveling until the moment they book a trip. There will be an overview of how various digital media tactics map to the consumer journey/decision funnel, and steps marketers should take in reaching out during these stages. The presentation includes a discussion on how email ties into these stages as well as email marketing practices.