At the Root of Destination Branding is Immersion

Your most memorable point-of-difference may be from your smaller but more interesting experiences.

See Steve’s Currituck County Outer Banks, NC hang-gliding video!

I recently came across my go pro video from my hang-gliding experience when visiting our client, Visit Currituck, in Currituck Outer Banks, NC. I love trying new things and I am usually up for the ‘out of the ordinary’ although the video may show a glimpse of my trepidation. The hang-gliding experience certainly pushed me to my limits but it was a moment in time I will never forget and one that I look back on with pride and amazement.

Other notable destination immersion experiences include…

• Taking an underground boat tour of a cave in Bowling Green, KY.
• Dog sledding in Fairbanks (this made their story if the Iditarod really come to life).
• Zip lining across the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, GA.
• Rosehill Cemetery tour that included stories of the Allman Brothers who often hung out there and even wrote a love song based on their hangout spots.
• Eating at the Ruston Cattle Company in Ennis, TX. Yes, their sirloin steak was the best I’ve ever had.

As destination branding specialists, it’s important to immerse ourselves in the local experiences our client communities have to offer. This includes the unique things to do, but also the locally famous places to eat. We always begin new projects with a personalized tour of their community assets. In planning these tours, we often ask clients to place emphasis on things we cannot see anywhere else. Believe it or not, rubbing a lucky rabbit’s foot on a statue can be a forever memorable experience. It’s true, I’ve only done that in Lake City, SC.

Destination immersion is important for a number of reasons.

• One of the core goals of branding is to stand out versus your competitors. Experiencing what makes the destination’s culture a little different than others is the key to developing something that reflects their one-of-a-kind identity.
• To discover what is most “brag-worthy” among residents and local stakeholders.
• To build trust and foster relationships with key tourism stakeholders and community leaders. If you fail to experience the destination, you cannot connect with them on how to promote it.
• To learn real-life, local stories. Focus groups, interviews and surveys are great; but nothing sticks better than hearing real-life stories. My most memorable story I learned in Macon, GA was from a street performer during his break. He truly understood the soul of the community from his years of being a part of the local culture, and he gave me a lot of support to back it up.

It’s easy to get surrounded by your biggest assets. For many communities this may be healthcare, industry or a large shopping area. But biggest isn’t always the key to standing out. Your smaller but more unique experiences say something about the culture of a place where these things thrive. There’s something about them that stay etched into local lore. Do not underestimate these experiences. Give them more attention relative to their size, and more importantly uncover what they say about your destination.

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