Blog - Tourism Marketing | The Goss Agency

Cultural 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…

New Trends as Female Solo-Travel Gains Popularity

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager Solo-travel is a growing trend. Especially among females. In 2016, The US Travel Association reported that more than 11 percent of adult leisure travelers were women solo-travelers. And according to Stark Tourism, the female-only travel segment makes up about 350,000 women around the world. As more women travel by themselves,…

The Importance of Destination Safety

By Travis LeJune, Account Manager Traveling is one of our favorite things to do. We explore, we learn, and the places we visit become a part of who we are. Of course with traveling, you always want to take precautions and travel as safely as possible, but right now, travel safety is receiving a bit…

Industry Insights

Week of July 17th, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Expands its Ad Reporting – Will Tell Brands if the People Clicking on Their Ads Actually Made it to Their Sites [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-will-tell-brands-people-clicking-ads-actually-made-sites-218653" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Here’s How Publishers and Brands are Using Links…

How Airbnb is Changing the Hotel Industry

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager & Social Media Manager Since Airbnb’s launch in 2008, more that 115 million travelers have stayed in 3 million Airbnb listings in more than 191 countries. It’s one of very few privately-held start-ups that can boast profits at such an early stage. In 2015, according to New York Times, one…

Cultural Creative: Haywood County

By Jeff Goss, President and Creative Director Have you ever walked outside with a fresh cup of coffee and taken in the fresh mountain air of Western North Carolina around sunrise? If you have, you know exactly what I’m about to describe. You can close your eyes and imagine you’re in the jungles of Brazil…

Cultural Look at Clarksville, Tennessee

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager & Social Media Manager In late April our team trekked to the Volunteer State to do an on-the-ground assessment of Clarksville, Tennessee. Have you ever heard the song Last Train to Clarksville by The Monkees? If not, you need to. As we drove through the beautiful green countryside, the team…

7 Steps to Take When Executing a Paid Social Campaign

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager and Social Media Manager In 2016, 40% of marketers reported social media has become more challenging — with changes in search algorithms, emerging trends, and a decline in organic traffic. Organic traffic has especially become difficult for marketers. A Facebook page with over a million likes averages a 2.27% engagement…

Classic Creative: Cherokee Nation

By Jeff Goss, President and Creative Director The Treaty of New Echota was signed December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political group, The Treaty Party, headed by Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and nephews Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie. The…

Craft Beer Tourism & Culture

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…

Industry 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"…

Cultural 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]…

What Is A Website Audit, and Why Do I Need One?

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager [caption id="attachment_9093" align="aligncenter" width="630"] The Historic Biltmore Village Website, developed and designed by The Goss Agency[/caption] The internet is a busy place. To say that it’s a “saturated marketplace” is a bit of an understatement. As of September 2014, the internet clocked in at 1 billion websites (website here refers…

4 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…

Cultural 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…

Cultural 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"…

The Secret to Driving Local Business (is Working with Other Local Businesses!)

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager It is like a war – each morning, soldiers leave the comfort of their beds, don their uniforms, and rush onto the battlefield armed with their cellphones, a fresh cup of coffee, and the occasional midmorning snack. One by one, the soldiers make their way to the frontlines and begin…

The 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…

Cultural Creative – “Unto These Hills”

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director The original script of the outdoor drama Unto These Hills was written by Kermit Hunter, a University of North Carolina professor, in 1950. The play told the story of the Cherokee people, who can be traced back to the Paleolithic period, have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina…

A 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…

The Need to Focus Advertising Dollars in Mobile and Social is Paramount as the New Year Rolls In

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator The ever-changing digital world has brought much upheaval to the e-commerce landscape for the last several decades — and this new year is no different. But while change is inevitable in the ecommerce industry, it’s also growing at a great speed, with experts predicting that worldwide sales will surpass $2…

Cultural Travel by Pixel

Week of January 16, 2017 [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] The World Trade Organization has identified 6 "pivotal areas" as the basis of Cultural Tourism success: handicrafts and visual arts; gastronomy and culinary; social practices, rituals, and festive events; music and performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; and knowledge and practices concerning nature. [button text="See Full…

Cultural Creative: The Islands of Palau

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Palau, settled 3,000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines, was discovered by Europeans in the 16th century and made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1574. Sold to Imperial Germany in 1899, Palau was conquered by Japan during World War I and was made part of the U.S.…

Retailers 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…

Facebook’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…

Salesforce moves beyond first-party data with Krux integration

The CRM/marketing giant unveils several new features for its Marketing Cloud that incorporate its recently purchased data management platform. Barry Levine on December 16, 2016 at 10:46 am In October, Salesforce announced it was buying data management platform (DMP) Krux. This week, the CRM/marketing giant unveiled the addition of three new features to its Marketing…

Reserve 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…

Cultural Travel by Pixel

Week of December 19, 2016

5 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…

Cultural Creative – Cherokee “Oops” TV Spot

By Jeff Goss, President/CEO [row] [span8] [/span8] [/row] Well, there’s selling baskets in the gift shops, and then there is telling the story of a basket and having people buy it. We chose the latter as we focused on the lifestyle of the Cherokee civilization to build the brand by increasing interest and intrigue —…

Marketing 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…

Cultural Travel By Pixel

Week of December 5, 2016

New features may be coming to AdWords Responsive Ads

Some accounts are now requiring a square image. Ginny Marvin on December 1, 2016 at 2:27 pm It seems Google may be getting ready to test some new features for responsive ads in AdWords. Spotted by Jonah Pessin at HeBS Digital, Google is requiring two image sizes in some accounts. In addition to the landscape…

SEO without SERPs is here with Google Assistant, Home and Amazon Echo. Here’s how to survive.

Columnist Bryson Meunier discusses how the rise of digital assistants will impact how search engine optimization is performed. Bryson Meunier on November 28, 2016 at 12:24 pm On the first full day that we had a Google Home in our house, we interacted with it 473 times over the course of the day. Four hundred…

Snapchat shuts down Story Explorer feature in Live Stories

Snapchat has removed its Story Explorer feature that allowed people to view specific moments of a Live Story from different perspectives. Tim Peterson on November 30, 2016 at 11:00 am A year after introducing Story Explorer as a way for people to view the events documented in Live Stories from many different angles, Snapchat is…

Stand by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

The Goss Agency proudly stands by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members in North Dakota who have braved tear gas, rubber bullets, and freezing temperatures to protect their drinking water and culture. The Standing Rock Sioux are currently soliciting donations for legal, sanitary, and emergency purposes to ensure the safety and well-being of the protesters.…

Cultural Traveler By Pixel

The 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…

Cultural 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…

What 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.…

Cultural 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…

The 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…

How 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…

Cultural Creative: The Island of St. Lucia

TGA Weekly Digital Update

Cultural 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…

Branding 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…

5 SEO Mistakes You’re Making

In the early days of SEO, the mindset for most specialists was, "How do we trick Google into giving us better search results?" Well, if Google has ever been accused of something, it wasn't stupidity, which is why they've since begun penalizing SEO specialists who try to game the system. Nowadays, good SEO isn't achieved…

Classic 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…

4 Reasons Why Your Destination Should Use Instagram Stories

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Was Instagram being a copycat of Snapchat when it rolled out its new feature, Instagram Stories? Of course. Should brands still use and be aware of this new feature? Most definitely. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories are available to be seen by all followers of a user…

ARE 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…

Classic Creative: Ah TAh Thi Ki Museum

By: Jeff Goss, CEO and President It was such an interesting visit. It was not only a trip to the Florida Seminole lands, but also a journey back in time to the roots, the history, and the culture. The Seminole lived in relative peace for centuries, save a few Indian wars among their neighbors. Then…

4 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…

Q+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…

Photo Credit: UXPin By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Web design trends are consistent in one aspect - They are always changing. You could say it is a living beast on its own. Tackling the beast this year is no different. Trends this year include: moving toward a more minimalist design versus the 3D look, adding…

What 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?…

Cultural Creative – Natchez, Mississippi

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Renowned as the rowdiest landing on the Mississippi in the 1800s, it truly is fascinating to visit Under The Hill in Natchez, MS. Built from 1730-1734, Under The Hill consists of about 20 buildings on the river’s edge below the bluff where the French built Fort Rosalie to…

Why 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…

Pin 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…

Pokémon Go – The Future Virtual Reality Marketing World

By Travis LeJune, Account Intern It’s July 2016, and I am doing the same thing I was doing in July 1999. I would be questioning myself if it weren’t for the fact that everyone else is doing the same thing. Pokémon is back! Who hasn’t heard? The Pokémon Company and Niantic have teamed up to…

By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Snapchat has existed for under 5 years, yet has achieved incredible numbers such as 100 million daily users and 10 billion daily views, making it an acknowledged rival of Facebook. Most businesses have created their own pages on Facebook for posting original and curated content, and many have joined Facebook-owned…

By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Snapchat has existed for under 5 years, yet it has achieved incredible numbers such as 100 million daily users and 10 billion daily views, making it an acknowledged rival of Facebook. Most businesses have created their own pages on Facebook for posting original and curated content, and many have joined…

ADmirable: 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…

Top 5 Mobile Advertising Trends in 2016

By Ryan Laffler, Digital Director, and Rachel Hornay, Art Direction/Copywriting Intern 1. FORGET YOUR WALLET Mobile wallets have become the new way to pay. Once companies proved that mobile wallet transactions were properly encrypted and secure, mobile wallets began to take off. Many top brands such as Apple, MasterCard and Android now offer mobile payment.…

Q&A – What is the core of Award Winning Creative?

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Q: What is the core of Award Winning Creative? A: Award, which award? Many awards are meaningless because the standards are so low (everybody gets a trophy). Others are an ego-stroking fest among “creative elites” congratulating one another for work they created more for themselves than the client and client’s…

Digital 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…

By Eddie Maiale (UX = user experience) In web design, one of the first and most important topics is user experience design. What is user experience design? A designer's job is to make sure the user is satisfied and considered when developing a website, application or product. This is where user experience comes into play…

By Rachel Hornay, Art/Copy Intern They say that a picture is worth a thousands words, especially with today’s language evolving with the usage of emoji characters. Emojis are intended to illustrate, or in some cases replace altogether, the words we send each other digitally, whether in a text message, email, or tweet. Instagram calls emoji…

Bring International Travelers To Your Destination

Summer is here! Here are some insights on the international traveler coming to the U.S.: There are many reasons why summer is a peak travel season. Many families are able to take time to travel with the kids out of school, while others take advantage of visiting better climates to escape the summer heat, or…

Cultural Creative – Haywood County, NC

By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Welcome back! We are reaching the end of this series on material design, and the information in the last sections of material design is not to be ignored as it is just as important as something like style and color. Today we will be going through some guidelines for a…

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…

By Eddie Maiale, Graphic Design Intern And we are back for round two! For those of us who have not read the previous post, following this link will bring you to part one in this three-part series covering Google’s material design. Previously, we covered what material design actually is, what Google means by the word…

By: Chloe Ayres, Senior Designer I have, at this point in my life, spoken “designer” for over ten years, so I often forget that it is absolutely a foreign language to some people. Terms like hex code, dot pattern, and bleed (not in the way you would think) are not in everyone’s vocabulary. This is…

Corporate Identity Development – Biltmore Lake

Corporate Identity development, or logo design as it is also called, is truly an exciting part of the job for an advertising firm. It is a chance to create one mark that expresses an entire brand. What would Nike be without the swoosh? Would Citibank be as distinctive without the red umbrella? Our message is…

The Boldest Marketing Move Budweiser, or America, Can Make

By Travis LeJune, Account Intern Budweiser-The Great American Lager: The country’s third most popular beer has always been known for some largely patriotic, expensive, and radical advertising campaigns. With roughly a 1.3 billion dollar marketing budget, and being one of the top 25 biggest advertising company spenders in the country, there just may be too…

By Eddie Maiale, Graphic Design Intern Since its debut in 2014 at the 2014 Google I/O conference, you may be wondering, what is Material Design? Well, there are many ways to describe what it is, but let us start from the beginning. Material Design is a visual language created by Google that attempts to synchronize…

Cultural Creative: Historic Biltmore Village

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Not many people know Historic Biltmore Village was originally known as a little town in Western North Carolina called “Best.” Best was acquired by George Vanderbilt to create a community with homes, shops, a school, and even its own church for the 1,100-plus craftspeople and their families who were hired…

Space tourism. Not in my lifetime, right? Not according to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, who believes his space exploration company Blue Origin will have thrill-seeking tourists in space as soon as 2018. Read more about this exciting development here. Learn more about this exciting project here.

By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Vine has had a rough year. The popular social media app that allows users to string together a series of videos up to six seconds long in all is quickly losing market share in the digital advertising industry. Competitors like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat are all moving to capitalize…

7 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…

Cultural Tourism Opportunities in Our Backyard

Senior Account Manager for The Goss Agency, Dari Mullins, was recently asked to write an article for WNC Woman about tourism opportunities in the Asheville area. A native of Western North Carolina, Dari has seen Asheville change from a boarded-up downtown area to a thriving center of tourism. How has our city done this? Dari’s…

6 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…

Instagram, Twitter to Expand Video Advertising Opportunities

Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Instagram and Twitter are finally beginning to embrace video advertising. What’s the big deal? Video ads cost more on average to make than banner ads, and they also take more time for a viewer to digest. Are they even worth it? Absolutely. A 2014 study by Millennial Media showed that engagement…

Creative History: Qualla Arts Basket Ad

[mp_row] [mp_span col="12"] Here is how we, “Turn Facts Into Visitation” in an actual campaign. In researching the history of the Cherokee and their culture in preparation of an ad campaign to be designed to transcend all media, we came across a simple fact that might be overlooked by many. After all, the fact was…

YouTube 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…

7 Benefits of Building a Microsite for Your Destination

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock and Dari Mullins Microsites are rising in popularity for destination marketing organizations (DMO’s) as these organizations reach out to niche affinity groups. Microsites enable DMO’s to promote their destinations to specific interest groups (like nature enthusiasts, foodies, music lovers, etc.) without having to overwhelm the main homepage with content about every single…

How Facebook’s Big Conference will Impact Businesses

By Brady Rothschild, Account Support The Facebook Development Conference (F8) took place in California this week. Facebook laid out their strategy for the next ten years and many of the announcements will make a direct impact on businesses. This shows how they are going to keep people as well as businesses connected in every possible…

How Instagram’s New Algorithm Affects Your Business

by Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Algorithms are everywhere. On your smartphone, at the ATM machine, while waiting at a stoplight, I literally mean everywhere. And that’s a good thing! At their core, an algorithm is a formula or a set of processes to solve a problem. They’re especially useful when dealing with enormous amounts of…

Why It’s Important to Build a Brand Consumers Can Relate To

By Brady Rothschild, Account Support I recently read an article in HuffPost Business called “The Future is in the Hands of Brands”about building a brand customers can relate to. In this article, they spoke about how certain Youtube channels are viewed millions of times, even though the content of these channels is not exactly great.…

5 Takeaways from Social Media is a Behavioral Shift

Today on Social Media Today, Andrew Hutchinson discussed how we have to stop talking about the individual social platforms so much and start talking about what audience trends the usage of these social networks reveals about these audiences. Here are 5 key takeaways from his analysis.

Conclusions about Cultural Tourism by World Tourism Organization

Excerpt from our Cultural Tourism whitepaper. If you're interested in receiving this white paper, sign up for our newsletter from our homepage or our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thegossagency/app/100265896690345/. A set of conclusions has been offered by the World Tourism Organization with respect to planning for cultural tourism. DEFINE TOURISM PRODUCTS The process above is one way to take the sometimes historic,…

How to Leverage Hashtags for Business on Different Social Media Platforms

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock Hashtags have become a common way for millennials and individuals to express themselves on social media and reach out to the world around them. They can join in on conversations revolving around a certain topic and spurt their opinions to everyone interested in that topic. But while hashtags are popular for individuals,…

The Six Components of Mobile SEO in 2016

By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Most businesses understand the importance of SEO, but what about mobile SEO? How is it different? How is the landscape changing moving forward? We tracked down six fundamental components to a successful mobile SEO strategy in 2016. Bryson Meunier, the SEO Director at Vivid Seats, broke down the components in…

Anchor: The Next Big Social Media Platform?

By Brady Rothschild, Account Services What is Anchor? Anchor is an app that allows one to create content in real time and share it with one’s friends, followers and others who are just browsing the Internet. It works very similarly to Twitter, or Instagram, but instead of text or pictures, talk is used to engage with other…

Social advertising is here to stay, and you can take advantage of these low-cost, low barriers to entry social ads on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Linkedin. Here are 4 easy ways to dip your toes into Facebook advertising for your business page. Boost Your Posts This is one of the easiest ways to advertise on…

Excerpt from our Cultural Tourism Whitepaper, available via newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/bM3KBX Our Cultural Tourism Discover Process is called Culture Context™ and it depends on a thorough understanding of the local culture and the context in which a particular destination competes. That context is defined by three domains: 1) the place 2) the people 3) the peer group. We sometimes…

World Trade Organization’s 6 Categories of Cultural Tourism

The most comprehensive view of cultural tourism comes from the World Trade Organization. Based on 2012 global survey, they identified six cultural heritage categories: Handicrafts and visual arts Gastronomy and culinary Social practices, rituals, and festive events Music and performing arts Oral traditions and expressions Knowledge and practices concerning nature

The Real Impact of a Cultural Tourism Strategy

By John Heenan, Cultural Tourism Relations Destination marketing is thriving in the US and around the world. One significant trend is emerging and is proving to be a real economic driver that DMOs and tourism offices can easily embrace and deploy today by embracing a cultural tourism strategy. Recent data from Visit Florida shows that…

Are You Providing Enough Value with Your Content Marketing?

Content marketing basically encompasses anything that you distribute with the intention of your audience consuming it. Blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, whitepapers, emails, newsletters...most of these pieces of content are all what social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk would call "jabs." Vaynerchuk recently said, "I’ve done 185 episodes of a show answering questions people ask me on…

Insights from our Cultural Tourism whitepaper. Read the full report by signing up for our newsletter. From our experience with destination marketing, we’ve developed a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the cultural traveler that we use to develop cultural tourism strategies. Below are a few generalizations which transcend specific places and population groups. The market…

By Dari Mullins, Senior Account Manager While in Savannah at the Coastal Nature, Coastal Culture: Environmental Histories of the Georgia Coast symposium last week I encountered a new tourism term–-Dark Tourism. Ironically, I had participated in this form of tourism without even knowing it by visiting two cemeteries while on a work trip. I walked through…

Cultural Tourism DC, "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, develops, delivers and celebrates real experiences for Washington area residents and visitors." When you think about it, that definition (besides the nonprofit part) could and should be part of the mission statement for any tourism organization.

By Chloe Ayres, Head Designer AirBnb, Tinder, Yelp! – all of these apps provide location-specific information content on a global scale. All of these companies have also adopted the “McDonald's model” of “a burger should taste the exact same in every McDonald's.” While consistency is certainly key in establishing a strong brand identity, it also leaves…

Treat Each Social Media Channel Differently

We constantly hear about how overwhelmed people are by social media and it usually stems from people failing to treat each social media channel differently. Typically, this anxiety happens when organizations don't do one or all of the following...

Cultural Tourism Whitepaper Introduction

Introduction to our recently released Cultural Tourism Whitepaper: 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…

Cultural Tourism Insights from Our Cultural Tourism Whitepaper

by Brady Rothschild, Account Coordinator and Mars Hill University student Here we break down five important takeaways from our Cultural Tourism whitepaper to help benefit your destination. If you're interested in receiving this white paper, sign up for our newsletter from our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thegossagency/app/100265896690345/ or on our homepage. What is cultural tourism? The World Tourism Organization…

Millennials are the rising generation, entering the workforce and demanding control of their travel experiences. Many have very specific needs and wants and love to travel. The Millennial generation wants to explore, but they do not want to be told what to do.

There are many exciting new trends in travel and tourism marketing to look forward to in 2016. Mobile, virtual reality, personalization, content, and so many more. Of all the predictions, the one that is most exciting and holds the greatest potential impact for destination marketing executives is the rise of Cultural Tourism.

Cultural tourism isn’t a brand new term, but the concept isn’t quite as simple to grasp as promoting, for example, a striking mountain range in your area or a Michelin rated restaurant

We've started a new Cultural Tourism Facts series on Instagram and Twitter to help raise awareness of how "We Turn Facts into Visitation" for our cultural tourism clients. Be sure to follow along at https://www.instagram.com/thegossagency/, handle @thegossagency, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/thegossagency, handle again @thegossagency. People love these factoids that are perfect for sharing at a cocktail…

While the term “cultural tourism” has been in use for several years, we still have a ways to go until it becomes a household term. Just do a Google search for “Cultural Tourism” and you’ll see that only two destinations make the first page of results--Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Europe. These results show that savvy…

by Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager Businesses continue to seek out different ways to reach their consumers and increase brand awareness using social media. More and more brands are joining the social media band-wagon, and the need for brands to differentiate themselves from their competitors is critical. As we begin this New Year, here is a list of social…

Driving travel and tourism success is getting increasingly hard as more destination marketers search for ways to increase awareness and differentiate their offerings. At the same time, more travelers, from boomers to millennials are searching for new adventures, forgoing the traditional list of destinations to find unique, authentic, and culturally enriching experiences. I know you have many challenges that keep you…

Understanding Content Marketing for 2016

2015 marked some big developments in content marketing. Periscope launched in March 2015. Other livestreaming apps Meerkat and Blab also joined the fray. Snapchat became more mainstream, hitting over 100 million active users.

When everyone on your team is tuned into the mission, goals, and differentiators that help define your brand, opportunities will continuously arise to make brand connections and highlight your brand identity. For example, we live by the following philosophy: "Although the stripes on the zebra are unique, when the zebras are grouped together it's difficult…

5 Emerging Trends in Online Marketing You Need to Know

As 2015 comes to a close, it's time to look ahead and brush up on the emerging trends that will affect your online marketing. Mobile Will Trounce Desktop It was only a matter of time: in 2015, mobile traffic on Google finally surpassed desktop traffic. In response, Google released an algorithm designed to crush a…

By now, you probably realize how important it is to refresh (or completely overhaul) your website so that it incorporates all the current features users expect as well as compiling with SEO, mobile, and other trends. As we shared in a previous blog post, "Iterative Website Design," your website is a living representation of your…

2016 Marketing and Advertising Trends Roundup

2016 is right around the corner, so we’ve rounded up 10 pieces of the top advice about marketing and advertising trends to help your business reach new heights next year. Share this with everyone you work with, then schedule a brainstorming session so January 1, 2016 can’t sneak up on you. Forbes “Video ads will start…

Snapchat Explores Audience-Targeted Advertising

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Four years ago, Snapchat burst onto the social media scene with a novel idea: an app that lets users share photos and videos that are only viewable for a limited amount of time (as of today, the range is from 1 to 10 seconds). The idea started out as a…

A New Year Is on Its Way, Along with Some New SEO Guidelines

Search engines - whether it be Google, Yahoo, or even Bing (yes, some people do use Bing) - are getting smarter. And companies need to update their SEO guidelines in order to keep up...

Adweek recently released a list of the 20 most viral ads released in 2015, so we analyzed the winners and created a list of five patterns for why these ads went viral. Even if you don’t have a huge advertising budget, you can always be inspired by the content, messaging and tactics behind ads by…

As an agency, we win when our clients win. We get just as much or more of a thrill when our efforts on behalf of our clients net great results, like with this best ever email marketing campaign sent last week. As Entrepreneur recently shared: The average person gets 121 [emails] a day. The human race…

Being a Native to Asheville makes me an anomaly in most circles. I was born and raised in South Asheville when US- 25 was a two lane road and it only took 10 minutes to make it into downtown Asheville...

Travel brands showcase the power of pictures, real-time content, and useful information on social media, and these are lessons that all businesses can learn from and incorporate into your social media efforts. We take a look at posts from 5 travel brands and show how they ‘get’ social media. We utilize the recent eValue Analytics…

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…

by Ryan Laffler, Account Manager San Francisco is currently experiencing one of the worst housing crises in the nation, with skyrocketing rent and home prices in part caused by short-term renting services like Airbnb and HomeAway. Here is how it works: a landlord offers short-term renting through Airbnb which in turn removes the property from…

Berger’s Six ‘STEPPS’ for Creating Viral Marketing Content

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Support While it seems like a successful viral marketing campaign relies mainly on luck and timing, creative content plays a critical role in what makes things go viral. In the book Contagious, Professor Jonah Berger explored this idea and discovered six characteristics of viral marketing content. The acronym for these six…

These are photos from our recent branding workshop for our new client, Natchez, Mississippi that brought together around 40 stakeholders that have a vested interest in helping Natchez reach new levels of success as a premier tourism destination. Our branding workshops aren't just "get everyone into a room and throw ideas around" sessions. Instead,…

Big thanks to the Natchez Democrat for their latest story about our recent ideation workshop for the city of Natchez. Full story below and on their website at http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2015/10/16/ideation-workshop-brainstorms-brand/. Before the branding comes the brainstorming. That's the mindset The Goss Agency--an Asheville, NC based cultural tourism branding firm--is taking in its quest to identify a…

Advertising has changed rapidly thanks to the onslaught of the digital age. So, companies that do invest in traditional advertising methods such as print and billboards are pushed to think of a way to create interactive ads, getting more bang for their buck by bringing their offline advertising efforts online, too. How? By getting viewers to…

Some businesses have ignored being consistent on Twitter because they don't understand it or think there is no way to stand out with millions of tweets streaming every hour...

Marketing 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.

The old saying, "Success breeds success" is certainly true when it comes to email marketing. For our client Blossman Gas, we capitalized on the success of last week's E-Direct Ad and tweaked the targeting to get even more people to open and click through the content. The result? The open rate increase 3% from…

By CEO and Creative Director Jeff Goss The Goss Agency focuses on the idea first, then design. We arrive at creative ideas that communicate the brand experience in a manner that touches emotions, making one laugh, think, feel. This level of communications over time results in a brand and brand loyalists.

Email Blast Nets Big Jump in Website Traffic

We sent this Direct Email out for Blossman Gas: And generated this excellent website traffic for our client: The graph above shows how one direct email campaign with a 2% clickthrough and 11% open rate to over 430,00 targeted single family homes spiked website traffic from 1500 views per day to 4500 per day within 24…

Pinterest recently hit a huge milestone--100 million users! This news means even more when put into the context of predictions that it would only reach 47 million users by 2015, and 59 million users by 2019...

Asheville Marketing Firm brings National/International Tourism Destination home to Asheville

We're proud to represent Asheville on a global stage for our new destination client, Natchez, Mississippi! Read the full press release below and read this piece by Natchez Democrat about the news: Asheville Marketing Firm brings National/International Tourism Destination home to Asheville NATCHEZ, MS, September 17, 2015 – The Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau has contracted The…

5 Design Quotes that Provide Inspiration Beyond Design

We had to share these very cool GIF versions of someone of our favorite inspirational quotes that apply to much more than design. We've shared the quotes below, but you'll have to visit...

For our client, Brandzaffair, we decided to experiment with the new Pinterest promoted pins opportunity. Before we share our results, we thought we’d round up a few expert opinions and information about the advertising tool. According to Quick Marketing, “These advertising options give businesses the opportunity to pay and feature selected [Pinterest promoted] Pins…

Facebook Overtakes Google as Top Website Traffic Driver to News Sites: What It Means For Your Business

Google has long been the king of driving traffic to websites. For years, businesses have worked to make Google happy by being conscientious of certain key website factors: search engine optimization, keywords, meta-tagging, including images, posting new content frequently...the list goes on. Yet, Parse.ly has revealed that Facebook has now overtaken the web search giant…

1 Message, 7 Digital Advertising and Print Advertising Uses

The idea behind this message for our client Alliance Autogas was to highlight the safety and ease of use of the Stäubli Nozzle (which is the technology that you use to fill up your tank with propane), and the result is a consistent digital advertising message optimized for 7 different uses. 1. Display Ad 2. E-Direct…

In this piece for design blog identitydesigned.com, Greg Jewett of Ho Chi Minh-based Rice Creative chronicles the process of visually branding a new business through his work for...

PRESS RELEASE Branding Agency to Work in Conjunction with New Public Relations Agency NATCHEZ, MS, September 1, 2015 – The Visit Natchez Convention & Visitor’s Bureau has contracted The Goss Agency, one of America’s leading cultural tourism branding services firms, to direct a comprehensive brand audit of the 300-year-old historic destination. The Goss Agency will work in…

5 Things You’ll Learn From a Digital Audit

The rapid pace of social media means that sometimes, businesses fail to take the time to assess if what they're doing aligns with best practices and you're hitting your goals. Hopefully, you're already doing monthly reports to see growth and impressions for each of the channels you are utilizing, but this report is only showing you a piece…

Instagram can net some powerful results for businesses thanks to its quick and easy ways for your customers to engage with just a tap on the screen, and its scroll-ability keeps people glued to their feeds. An image posted to Instagram can easily gain tens or hundreds of likes or comments, whereas a Facebook or Twitter…

Video is fast becoming an essential part of any businesses’ marketing mix. Here are some video marketing tips for creating better content and how to get more eyeballs on the videos you create. 2 Minutes or less Data shows that “more than 80% of viewers watched one that was 30 seconds or shorter, while less…

Social media is one of the most powerful tools a business has in its arsenal. Need to respond to hundreds of customer inquiries from multiple countries before lunchtime tomorrow? No problem...

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