Communicate like it’s Groundhog’s Day
Those that have seen my presentations on Political Advocacy know that I typically invoke the classic Bill Murray film, “Groundhog Day.” For the handful who may have never had the experience, the movie revolves around Murray’s character being forced to relive Groundhog Day over and over in a never-ending loop.
I use the concept behind the picture to drive home the point that Advocacy is never a one-and-done thing. One needs to believe they are in Punxsutawney and realize that what they said yesterday is lost to the wind. The message needs to be repeated over and over…like Groundhog Day.
And, I’m going to take my own advice and double down on my message to you in last month’s Z-News Commentary. This is the moment in time in which no one can deny the critical importance of what this sector means to the local economy. But, this notion won’t just dawn on our community leaders; it needs to be explained in a language they can understand.
Shuttering restaurants is far more than an inconvenience for people who like eating out. It results in friends and neighbors losing jobs, hours and, in some cases, businesses. It impacts area farmers who lose client restaurants that were critical to their often razor-thin margins. A friend has owned an independent distribution company that specializes in high end cheeses, desserts and coffee brands. He says business is down 80% and, without his accounts at grocery stores, he and the over half of his 20 employees that weren’t already furloughed would be toast (no culinary pun intended).
It impacts local bakeries, dry cleaners, musicians, cleaning companies, kitchen repair professionals…the list goes on. All this pain from closing restaurants. Now add hotels, retailers and attractions to the mix and that is sensationally serious pain.
My friend Julie Hart (CFObyDesign) opined on a recent edition of DMOU that she fears the federal and state stimulus packages won’t be enough to save many entrepreneurs and their businesses. And, that’s where Destination Marketing Organizations come in.
DMOs were first-in as the crisis hit, reaching out to their industry partners to help them keep their doors open by shifting their marketing messages. Hotels have always known the power of DMOs. The restaurants, retailers and attractions that have been assisted through these dark days should now never doubt the importance of DMOs.
But, who else knows? Regardless, of the local media attention some DMOs have been able to garner, is anybody outside our industry paying attention? Are local elected leaders? Are the most influential members of your business community even aware of what your DMO has done over the past 2 months?
This is the moment in time where a DMO Board can be worth its weight in gold (or hand sanitizer). While DMO staff is helping their partners survive another week and DMO Management focuses on keeping their (virtual) doors open, Board Members should be telling everyone with whom they interact about what the DMO is doing in these dark days. This is the moment that our residents may be able to realize how fragile and interconnected our economies are. We are all recognizing health care workers and first responders as the heroes they are. This must also be the time that residents understand that DMOs are working tirelessly to keep a different patient alive…our local economy.
And, then…after we have set in motion our triage protocols and engaged our Board as prolific storytellers, it’s time for Stage 3. This is the moment that we can reimagine Destination Marketing. As painful as dismantling staff and programming has been, it is really a gift in disguise. For all those that have wondered what it would be like to build a DMO from scratch…this is your time.
Not unlike those "would you rather" games in which one is forced to pick between two impossible choices, that’s what you’ll need to do. One of the last assignments we had before travel stopped was in a market in which the hoteliers told us that their business was a 50-50 split between meetings and conventions and leisure travel. An impossible choice, n'est-ce pas?
Tough. You have to make the call. Let's assume your budget can no longer support both markets. And for you, it may be neither of these two. You must pick the one thing in which your DMO can have the most profound impact.
And then, step back and assess how much cash you have left. Can you bite off another component of Destination Marketing? Lock it down and repeat. Keep going until you run out of cash. That will be your new DMO...for now.
Some will abandon sales. Some will abandon leisure. Some will abandon paid media. Some will abandon trade shows. We’ll all need to let something go. We’ll all be leaner and smarter. And, as revenues rebound, and we are able to add staff and programming, those decisions will be smarter and tailored to each of our unique situations and destinations. No longer will we be designing our Org Charts based on "industry norms."
A DMO without a Convention Sales staff? Oakland once was. A DMO without a Leisure Marketing component? Madison once was. It can be done.
The post COVID-19 DMO should not look the same as the pre. Ours will be the custom-made DMO, better and stronger.