An EDO Nerd at a Tourism Conference: Takeaways from eTourism Summit 2019

For the past three days, I've been lucky enough to attend and present at the annual eTourism Summit in San Francisco. For the last three years, I've focused on how the LinkedIn platform can benefit regions through the lens of economic development.

It's an interesting perspective and background to bring to a meeting of tourism marketers. They have similar programs often executed over the same channels. The end goals can be incredibly hard to attribute and properly measure. In both cases, "success" in marketing programs does not necessarily correlate immediately with success in the end goals of the organization. In both cases, organizational success requires an unnatural amount of far-sighted patience, patience occasionally in short supply from funding bodies and politicians.

Despite the similarities, I found myself learning new things very quickly. New terms: (DMO, DMA, OTA) and new audiences (my favorite persona built by a CVB was "Creative Carlos"). But it felt good to be out of my element, asking dumb questions and getting thoughtful answers in return. Here's what I observed and took away from a phenomenal three days of learning.

#1: Differentiation and Authenticity are Hard

The desire for authenticity permeated every aspect of the conference: authenticity in messaging, providing real experiences to visitors, research that supports that audiences want REAL people in creative, not stock images, etc, etc.

I've long been calling for clients to do be honest in their economic development efforts. You can't be all things to all people, and destinations can't be appealing to every single type of traveler. And yet, just as with talent attraction efforts we help EDO clients deploy, the same temptations exist in tourism. The sleeve tattooed "traveler" archetype, Instagramming their journey across bespoke cocktail shops and attending local drum circles, is the golden goose of CVB marketers. And in the frenzy to attract "Creative Carlos," it's easy for regions to lose sight of their strengths.

It's why I was so happy to see the presentation of Montgomery County, PA. They did two things I absolutely loved: 1. Fearless self-discovery and 2. Speaking to those discovered strengths.

Their journey of self-discovery helped them figure out that they had a hidden strength under their noses: over 30 dog-friendly hotels in the county limits! Armed with this insight, their creative strategy leaned right into that strength and was crafted with dog lovers and families in mind.

Maybe your destination is "Artsy Annie's" dream. But if it's not, don't fool yourself. Engage in some absolutely fearless self-examination and speak to those strengths.

#2: How to Win Friends and Influence Visitors

Possibly my favorite presentation of the entire conference came from Brian Matson at TwoSix Digital.

He shared a common-sense strategy that is an absolute game changer for CVBs, especially ones with notable attractions. In the case of Bloomington, MN, they're the home to several notable attractions like the Minnesota Zoo, Buck Hill (a regional ski and adventure sports destination) and the Mall of America.

These attractions carry a regional and national notoriety that surpasses the recognition of Bloomington, and as a result, the related search terms and web traffic going to THEIR websites (not Bloomington's) presents a unique opportunity via Facebook's ad platform. Via the Facebook Business Manager, you can share the data from your pixel with other accounts. In practice, this means that Bloomington, via some quick collaboration with attractions like the Mall of America, can suddenly start targeting people who have gone to the Mall's website with more info on the other great attractions in Bloomington.

It's a brilliant strategy, and it got me thinking about how CVBs and EDOs need to be collaborating further. Think about the implications of a talent attraction strategy armed with pixel data full of tourists and confirmed visitors. Research by DCI found that "First-Hand Experiences" were the most powerful way to form impressions of a region, and Longwoods International recently produced research that found that visitors to the MSP area were overwhelmingly more likely to agree that the MSP region is a great place to live.

Even if it's not on Facebook, even if it's not in a digital format, I loved the spirit of Brian's presentation. Go make friends and win together by leveraging your strengths to lift the collective tide.

#3 "Travel is the Sandbox of the World"

A great moment came on day three of the conference when Jake Steinman, founder of the eTourism Summit, was honored for his contributions to the vertical and the travel industry. He spoke about a long career of helping regions grow and reach new generations of travelers through the different marketing challenges presented by each era. "Travel is the sandbox of the world," he said. "What we do is, at the end of the day, helping expose people to new cultures, new ways of thinking, new perspectives. We could all use a little more of that."

Like everyone else who took part in the eTourism Summit in San Francisco this week, I believe in the formative power of travel. But I also believe in an idea coined by my new friend Melody Warnick: "Places are what people say about them." As important as the act of travel is in exposing us to new cultures and mindsets, I believe it's also important to help guide the narratives about the regions we love. It matters what the perceptions are of a region; jobs and economic impact as well as the general mindset of residents flow downhill from this mindset.

This was just the beginning of what I hope is a growing intersection of LikedIn's involvement and engagement in the travel and tourism space. A huge thanks to the eTourism and Connect teams for their hospitality.