By Ryan Laffler, Account Manger and Digital Director Let’s talk about beer! And no, I’m not referring to the run-of-the-mill lagers that many macrobreweries pass off as “beer” (let alone drinkable). I’m referring to the world of craft beer; the wonderful world of strange ingredients, amusing label designs, and punny names. While beer tourism has…
Read moreIndustry Insights
Week of May 8, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] YouTube pauses search ads to implement brand safety measures. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/youtube-pause-search-ads-brand-safety-implementation-213976" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Snapchat debuts a self-serve tool to buy ads on the mobile app, called Snapchat Ad Manager. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/snapchat-rolls-self-serve-platform-vertical-video-ads-213501"…
Read moreCultural Travel By Pixel
Week of March 13, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Snapchat is Gaining Popularity Among Adults. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/adored-teens-snapchat-popular-parents/308110/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1488910927&utm_visit=1984901" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google Improves its Location Tracking and Geo-Targeting Abilities. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/googles-location-tracking-better-now-ever-208347" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]…
Read more4 Tips to Consider When Implementing an Influencer Marketing Campaign for your Destination
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers say they trust earned media — or recommendations from individuals (friends, family, acquaintances, etc.) — over all other forms of advertising. Adweek also reports findings from a survey asking marketers their thoughts on influencer marketing. Based on that survey, 94% of those who have…
Read moreCultural Look at Cabell County, West Virginia
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager Last month, a few members of the team journeyed to Huntington, West Virginia, to take a look at several of the cultural assets Huntington and Cabell County have to offer. The trip was a great reminder to the team about why the agency does what it…
Read moreCultural Travel By Pixel
Week of February 13, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Competitors Leave Twitter in the Dust [button text="See Full Article" link="https://www.statista.com/chart/5358/twitters-user-growth-in-perspective/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Opens Itself to Ad Measurement Audit, Giving Brands More Control Over Video Ad Buys [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-opens-measurement-audit-gives-brands-control-video-ad-buys-206387" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline"…
Read moreThe Do’s and Don’ts of Destination Branding in 2017
By Chloe Ayres, Senior Graphic Designer Your brand conveys your destination’s personality. Just as our personality is a mixture of inherent traits and characteristics that develop over time, your brand is a mix of existing factors and developed characteristics. Branding is how you shape and communicate the personality of your destination to your customers. While…
Read moreA Top Destination for 2017: Why Americans Are Flocking To Cuba
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Last March, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge’s visit to Havana in 1928, when he attended the Pan American Conference. Obama’s visit was primarily to restore relations between the U.S. and Cuba — a relationship severed during the Cold War…
Read moreRetailers testing Google Maps mobile Promoted Places ads include MAC Cosmetics, Starbucks, Walgreens
The promoted pins in Google Maps are being tested on Android devices. Ginny Marvin on December 15, 2016 at 3:00 pm Google is continuing to test its new promoted pin ads — now formally dubbed Promoted Places — in Google Maps with a small group of retailers. The pilot is running in the Google Maps…
Read moreFacebook’s latest measurement error undercounted Instant Articles traffic
For those keeping count, this is the fourth time Facebook has disclosed measurement errors in as many months. Tim Peterson on December 16, 2016 at 11:00 am It’s happened again. For the fourth time since September and the second time this month, Facebook has disclosed a measurement error. Facebook had been undercounting iPhone traffic for…
Read moreReserve with Google: Deeper booking integration through search and Maps
Online booking is becoming mainstream, with the principal points of entry being Google, Facebook and Yelp. Greg Sterling on December 15, 2016 at 11:32 am Local search is becoming much more transactional. Google previously worked with a range of third-party providers to bring online reservations to the Knowledge Graph. Now the company has gone much…
Read moreCultural Travel by Pixel
Week of December 19, 2016
Read more5 Marketing Predictions for 2017
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator Ready or not, 2017 will be here before we know it! Here is a compiled list of predicted trends that will help you adjust, prep and optimize your advertising and marketing plan for the new year: [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] An increased focus on analytics — including the use of…
Read moreMarketing a Small Town
Maximizing Budgets and Promoting Inherent Resources By Chloe Ayres, Senior Graphic Designer One of the principles of successful marketing (especially when marketing a destination) is to capitalize on honesty. Small towns and/or smaller destinations often imitate larger destinations in order to attract visitors, but that completely misses the point. Visitors go to smaller destinations for…
Read moreThe 10 Branding Principles We Live By
[embed]https://www.flickr.com/photos/129767087@N03/16703717985[/embed] By Bob Davies, Brad Strategist 1. A Brand is a creative expression of a value proposition. We start with the fundamentals. A value proposition is the foundation for the Brand. It is the key to business or organizational viability. We create value propositions by generating a large number of possibilities and then evaluating them…
Read moreCultural Creative: Disney’s Vero Beach and Hilton Head Island
By Jeff Goss, President [row] [span4][/span4] [span4][/span4] [/row] Vero Beach was chosen due to the stretch of available land on the Southeast coast and its proximity to The Magic Kingdom. With a construction trailer and grading still taking place on the property, we began the marketing for the first Disney Resorts outside of the Walt…
Read moreWhat Destinations Should Know About Local SEO
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Coordinator Of course destinations want to draw visitors from across the state, country, and even the other side of the world. But what about the local visitor? Destinations should optimize their local search ranking and provide content to encourage leisure and travel within their local geographic region as well.…
Read moreCultural Tourism: A Huge Opportunity and A Growing Trend
Cultural tourism. It sounds like a niche. In reality it is something different. Cultural tourism is a huge opportunity and a growing trend. According to the Travel Industry Association of America, roughly eighty percent of the 150,000,000+ adults who travel more than fifty miles from their homes can be considered “cultural tourists.” Thirty percent of…
Read moreThe Goss Agency Presents On Digital Marketing At AB Tech
Ryan Laffler and Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Digital Director and Social Media Manager respectively, at The Goss Agency presented at AB Tech’s Hospitality Marketing Class early this month. Ryan and Gabrielle discussed digital marketing strategy and channel structure/opportunity. Ryan began with a roundup of weekly digital news. The Goss Agency reviews and profiles digital media by channel…
Read moreHow The Cultural Traveler Uses Social Media
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager The internet has given a wealth of information to today’s consumer. And people do take the time to research. They want to make the best decision with the time and money they have. Cultural travelers are no exception. Cultural travelers are looking for destinations that will provide them…
Read moreCultural Creative: The Island of St. Lucia
By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Travel and tourism work is fascinating for the same reasons that one visits a destination personally or with family. Only we get to share our emotional experience to other potential visitors to get them to follow our example. What a fulfilling responsibility! After seeing the waterfall that changes color with…
Read moreCultural Creative: Festival of Native Peoples
By Jeff Goss, President The Apache, the Bad River Chippewa, the Sioux, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, the Crow, the Cherokee, the Ottawa, Hopi, Miccosukee, Pawnee, Seneca, the Osage, Tulalip, Samish, Squaxin, the Zuni, Totonac, Git Hoan, Hälau Palaihiwa O Kaipuwai. We know name-dropping is in bad form, but we had to share a…
Read moreBranding Process Kicks Off For Elizabeth City, NC
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Two weeks ago, The Goss Agency had the pleasure of visiting one of its clients, Elizabeth City, to present the results from our branding process. Located on the Pasquotank River in Eastern North Carolina, Elizabeth City truly is a gem of Southern charm and culture. The branding process uncovered Elizabeth…
Read moreClassic Creative – Haywood County
Haywood County, after our branding workshop filtering and prioritizing all the features and visitor experiences, determined that the authentic Appalachian culture and clean natural environment were the assets that rose to the top. Thus, “Haywood County, Authentic Appalachian, pure and simple” was born. A new logo was created by illustrating the landscape in a turn-of-the-century…
Read moreARE YOU FOR REAL?
By Rachel Hornay, Copywriter Intern Technology is always developing but the recent craze of virtual reality invites brands to explore a whole new platform. Virtual reality (VR) is defined as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real way by a person using special electronic…
Read more4 Ways To Attract Millennials To Your Destination
By: Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Millennials are armed to be the driving force behind the travel industry. They use travel to go on adventures, learn other languages and study. Why are they so eager to travel? This generation was jaded by the recession and now places less importance on saving for retirement and instead values…
Read moreQ+A: How Do I Optimize Pinterest For My Destination?
By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator and Social Media Manager 1. Why is Pinterest important for travel destinations? You may ask: Isn’t Pinterest just a website where stay-at-home moms find cool recipes and quirky DIY crafts? While there may be some truth in that, there is so much more to Pinterest that your destination can benefit…
Read moreWhat Do Millenial Travelers Want From Your Destination?
Millennials want to travel more than older generations. They’re spontaneous and live for adventure because it creates memories. Millennials love travel so much that 78% say they’d splurge on experiences over material things. They’re also a growing force that generates $180 billion in annual tourism revenue. So what should you know about this traveling generation?…
Read moreWhy You Need to be Focusing on Native Advertising
By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Display ads, the advertisements that you see on the top and sidebars of almost every webpage nowadays, are in decline. One part of the problem is that they are rarely relevant to the user. While this has changed somewhat with Google Adsense’s targeting algorithm, it started to…
Read morePin It! – The 3 Most Important Tips to Optimize Your Pinterest
By Travis LeJune, Account Intern Do you have a Pinterest yet? If you are a shopper, you should definitely get one. If you are a seller, you MUST have one! Sure, it is still a fairly young social media platform, but it has been churning up some extremely surprising statistics we think you should know…
Read moreADmirable: Chipotle’s New Campaign
Fast food giant Chipotle recently came out with an animated short about two kids who grow up locked in competition with each other. The heartwarming video works because it captures Chipotle’s brand distinction in an entertaining way that resonates with others. Memorable brands don’t just offer great products or services, they connect with their audience…
Read moreDigital Advertising Statistics You Need to Know (Infographic)
Ever since the turn of the century, Digital Advertising has been changing the ways brands communicate with their audience. The number of tools and techniques that have surfaced over this time can be a little overwhelming, but with the right strategy and agency behind you, digital advertising can produce tremendous returns for you and your…
Read moreSustain Your Brand using Instagram and Food
By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Brands are constantly looking for ways to engage with consumers on social media. However, one challenge is noticing the trends occurring on various platforms and capitalizing on them successfully before the competition. One such trend that is growing in popularity centers around food. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t…
Read more7 Digital Marketing Takeaways from the Digital Summit 2016
By: Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Earlier this month, I was privileged to represent The Goss Agency while attending The 2016 Digital Summit Conference in Charlotte. I was able to gain knowledge from industry leaders during those two days. I almost felt a tad nostalgic of college lectures as I quickly scribbled down note after…
Read more6 Tips To Succeed In Real-Time Marketing
By Dari Mullins, Senior Account Manager As the capacity of digital devices continues to increase and the craving for new, current, engaging content from consumers rises – Brands have to act quickly to stay ahead of the emerging trends. Real-time adverting has been around for several years, but it’s popularity continues to grow on Social…
Read moreYouTube Introduces a New Ad Package
By Brady Rothschild, Intern YouTube is introducing a new ad package for companies looking to advertise through them. Last Tuesday (on April, 26, 2016) they announced the start of bumper ads. Bumper ads are 6-second ads that you can’t skip, rather than the traditional 30-second YouTube ad that you can skip after five…
Read moreEmail Marketing Works!
Today's marketing landscape is more fractured than ever. People are hit with TV and radio commercials, digital ads, email marketing, social media...it's a lot to take in, and a lot for businesses to keep up with. Thankfully, we know that email marketing is not dead and can still deliver solid results. Entrepreneur recently released, "7…
Read moreMarketing to Millennials from a Millennial
The Millennial generation is coming into the workforce now, in a world with a tough economy. The Millennials are used to having things their way, and we can get very upset when life does not go as planned.
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