Conquering the Content King and Distribution Queen:

Information Strategy and Management in Today’s

Digital World

#estoKQ

Paul BencivengoMarketing and Communications

Director

Visit Bucks County

Katie CookDirector of Digital Marketing

Austin Convention and

Visitors Bureau

Emily ForshaContent and Digital Community Manager

Travel Oregon

Bill Karz Vice President Digital Marketing

Los Angeles Tourism and

Convention Board

Kevin KriehnGroup Creative Director

BVK (Maine Office of Tourism)

Joe VargoInteractive Marketing Strategist

Experience Columbus

#estoKQ

What is Content Marketing?

“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for

creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract,

acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target

audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer

action.”

--Content Marketing Institute

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--Troy Thompson, Travel2dot0.com

“Content marketing success is not having the

most content, but rather content that clearly

answers a consumer’s need.

Content that entices travel.”

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AustinTexas.org

Austin Insider Blog

Enewsletters

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Travel Oregon’s Content

StrategyEmily Forsha

@emilyforsha

emily@traveloregon.com

Too Much Content

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Not Enough Content (Personalization)

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(Source: PhoCusWright. “Loco Over Local: Four Trends That Are Reshaping Tourism”)

editorial objective:

Destination Curators

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Platforms + Content

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Social Stories

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Partnerships

Editorial Calendars & Tracking

See a sample Editorial Tracking Calendar from Travel Oregon

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Creative Engagement

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Kevin Kriehn

Group Creative Director, BVK

(Maine Office of Tourism)

Bad news.Good news.

Creative Engagement

Deliver a meaningful experience.

Add value to their lives.

Resonate on an emotional level.

1

2

3

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Bill Karz

Vice President, Digital Marketing

Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board

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Conquering the Content King and Distribution Queen

1. WHO is Your Audience?

2. WHERE is Your Audience?

3. HOW to Get Started?

4. WHY is Content Valuable?

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WHO is Your Audience?

Source: Google

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WHO is Your Audience?

Source: Digitaria

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WHO is Your Audience?

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Source: Digitaria

WHO is Your Audience?

50%OF ALL TRAVEL SPEND

BY 2020 WILL BE

DRIVEN BY MILLENNIALS

180BESTIMATED 2014

TRAVEL REVENUE

BY MILLENNIALS

6of10MILLENNIALS SAY THEY

WOULD RATHER SPEND ON

EXPERIENCES

“More than 80% of millennials expect brands to develop content for them.”

Source: Edelman & Boston Consulting Group#estoKQ

WHERE is Your Audience?

• Size of Travel Market & Visitor Behavior

Volume of Visitation

Average Visitor Spending

Forecasted Growth

• Ease of Doing Business & Access

Marketing Costs (relative expense, ability to

breakthrough, brand equity)

Visa Waiver Status

Air Access and Future Expansion Opportunities

• Economic Stability & Outbound Travel Volatility

Resilience and Return on Investment

• Alignment with Brand USA and Visit CA

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WHERE is Your Audience?

• Markets that are large and have long term

growth potential require comprehensive support

Canada, China, Australia

• Markets that are large, but have matured will

continue to receive sustaining support

Mexico, United Kingdom, Japan – Tier 1

France, South Korea, Germany – Tier 2

• Markets that continue to show high potential will

become investment markets

Brazil

Middle East/Gulf

India

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HOW to Get Started?

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HOW to Get Started?

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HOW to Get Started?

Stakeholder

Consumer

SEO

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HOW to Get Started?

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HOW to Get Started?

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WHY is Content Valuable?

1MVISITS

230ARTICLES

4,347VISITS / ARTICLE

$250COST PER ARTICLE

$58KCOST PER YEAR

$.06COST PER CLICK

$300,000DIRECT VALUE OF CONTENT

BASED ON AVG $.30 CPC

4:1 ROI

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WHY is Content Valuable?

$100MVISITOR SPENDING

IMPACT FOR

LOS ANGELES

48,000INCREMENTAL

TRIPS TO LOS

ANGELES

75%IMPROVED THEIR

PERCEPTION

OF LOS ANGELES

85%VISITED LOS ANGELES

AFTER USING

THE WEBSITE

67%FOUND THE SITE

THROUGH

SEARCH & SOCIAL

27,000ADDITIONAL DAYS

IN

LOS ANGELES

5,000,000WEB, SOCIAL & EMAIL

UNIQUE SUBSCRIBERS

POTENTIAL VISITORS

Source: Destination Analysts Website & Facebook Study

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Joe Vargo

Interactive Marketing Strategist

Experience Columbus

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus Background

Experience Columbus: Emerging Destination

Goals for Social Media: Engage and activate visitors, Make up for site

traffic lost to Google

Hub: Blog (experiencecolumbus.com/blog)

Other Channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus – Analysis Tools

Content Audit

Goal: Create more engaging content

Time Investment:1 day

Frequency: 2x/year

Competitive Analysis

Goal: Interpret success

Time Investment: 6 hours

Frequency: 2x/year

Monthly Reporting

Goal: Assess progress, change courses quickly if needed

Time Investment: 1 hour/month

Frequency: Monthly

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus – Content Audit

Content Audit:

What content is working?

What content is falling flat?

How can we manage relationships

while shifting to better content?

We Measured:

Page Views

Time on Site

Bounce Rate

Social Performance

Passion Index

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus Content Audit

What we learned:

Our blog has seen a 200% increase in traffic year-over-year. When we looked

deeper we found:

• Posts about a single attraction or restaurant underperformed

• Posts written by guest bloggers were among the least-read

• Posts focused on lists and tips were the most-read

• 25% of our content brought 60% of our site traffic

• The worst-performing 30% of posts brought just 7% of site traffic

• Your mileage may vary

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus Content Audit

How we changed gears:

We are extremely selective and hands-on with guest bloggers

When partners ask for a feature, we incorporate their message into a post with a

broader theme – less content, but many more readers

We write more evergreen content so we can promote it longer

We plan editorial calendars quarterly to capitalize on trends and focus efforts

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis:All our measures are up - but are we doing as well as we think?What can we learn from other DMOs?

Analysis Components:Platforms and social channels you’re active on, and others that are commonly used in your industry.Community size is helpful to track, but interactions are more meaningful to reportStaff deployment and budgets

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Content Strategy: Experience Columbus Monthly Reporting

Monthly Reporting:

Keep internal stakeholders up-to-speed;

make it engaging and easy

Give context for numbers

Show progress on goals

Use the results to refocus efforts

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Paul BencivengoMarketing and Communications

Director

Visit Bucks County

Katie CookDirector of Digital Marketing

Austin Convention and

Visitors Bureau

Emily ForshaContent and Digital Community Manager

Travel Oregon

Bill Karz Vice President Digital Marketing

Los Angeles Tourism and

Convention Board

Kevin KriehnGroup Creative Director

BVK (Maine Office of Tourism)

Joe VargoInteractive Marketing Strategist

Experience Columbus

#estoKQ