Transcript: Mark Romig: [00:00:02] Connect with an agency or someone who works in this world of influencers. It's important because there are so many influencers out there. And give it a shot. If you haven't done it before, I recommend that you try the influencer program and I think you won't be disappointed. Adam Stoker: [00:00:23] All right everybody, we are back at eTourism Summit when we love when we get to do the in-person episodes. It's been a while with COVID, but man, between Destinations International, the Utah Tourism Conference recently, and now with Tourism Summit, we've got to do a lot of in-person interviews. We've got a new friend with us today. His name is Mark Romig. Mark is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at New Orleans & Company. Mark, welcome to the show. Mark Romig: [00:00:52] Nice to be here, Adam. Thank you for having me. Adam Stoker: [00:00:53] We're thrilled to have you and appreciate you taking the time to come on. There's a lot I'd like to chat with you about today, but let's just start first with our traditional questions that we ask everybody on the show. Mark, what is your dream destination if you could go anywhere in the world? Mark Romig: [00:01:08] Right now, I would look for a flight to Split, Croatia. Love it. I've been to Croatia. My sister lived in Zagreb for several years. And just that coastal area in Croatia is just splendid. It’s gorgeous. That's where I'd like to go. Adam Stoker: [00:01:26] You know what? Croatia, we've done like 150 episodes. So, I got to remember, 160 now. I can't remember if anybody's ever said Croatia. But I don't think so. So, what is it about Croatia that makes it so unique? Mark Romig: [00:01:39] I'm a water guy. I like beaches. I like to see history. Croatia has it all. The people are so friendly. They're so warm. And getting to know them through my sister and her family that, as I said, lived in Zagreb, it's just a good feeling. And just the most gorgeous water you have ever seen. Adam Stoker: [00:02:03] Really? And where is it? I should know where Croatia is. MarkRomig: [00:02:07] Croatia is going to be off the eastern coast of Italy. You can actually ride up the Italian Coast, go through Venice and come back down, and you'll find yourself in Croatia. It's Split Dubrovnik. People will know Dubrovnik from The Game of Thrones. That was one of the locations of one of the big cities in The Game of Thrones. Lots of history and lots of water. Adam Stoker: [00:02:34] And that's right up your alley, right? Mark Romig: [00:02:36] That's right. Adam Stoker: [00:02:37] All right, Mark. So, I'm going to count that as maybe one of your favorite places you visited. For your dream destination and one of the places you haven't been that's still on your list. Mark Romig: [00:02:47] That would have to be the Arctic. Adam Stoker: [00:02:49] The Arctic. Mark Romig: [00:02:50] I would like to go to the North Pole and experience all of that. Adam Stoker: [00:02:54] So, you want to go to the actual North Pole, not North Pole, Alaska. Mark Romig: [00:02:57] That's right. I want to go to the top, go to the top of it all. And again, probably also to Antarctica, too. That's on my bucket list. Adam Stoker: [00:03:07] Now, what's the highest you've been? Mark Romig: [00:03:09] The highest I've been is probably the Rocky Mountains as far as elevation. Adam Stoker: [00:03:16] Okay. Sorry, I'm looking for close to the North Pole. Mark Romig: [00:03:18] Close to the North Pole, it would be probably St. Petersburg, when it was Leningrad, that was several years ago. Adam Stoker: [00:03:26] Is that Russia? Mark Romig: [00:03:27] Yes, it's outside of Finland. Adam Stoker: [00:03:32] Okay. I used to, years ago in a past life, I drove tour buses in Alaska and we would drive guests to North Pole, Alaska. I felt like— Mark Romig: [00:03:42] Is it where Santa Claus is? Adam Stoker: [00:03:43] It is. And they actually answer letters every year. Mark Romig: [00:03:48] Do they? Really? Yeah. I haven’t written some of those letters back in my day. Adam Stoker: [00:03:52] Yeah. Almost every kid has, right? It was a unique thing, but I did feel like it was a little bit of a rip off only because it wasn't the real North Pole. Mark Romig: [00:04:02] Yeah. I'm getting up there in age, so I've got to get my sights set on that travel. Also, Greenland. I think Greenland is supposed to be just another beautiful place to go. Adam Stoker: [00:04:13] Yes. And that's been actually a popular answer on the show. People really like that. Mark Romig: [00:04:19] So, I've got Croatia, which hasn't been the answer for many years perhaps. And then we got Greenland. Iceland, as well. Adam Stoker: [00:04:26] Both of those are great, great answers. Well, Mark, tell me a little bit about you and your role at New Orleans & Company and then tell us a little bit about your destination. Mark Romig: [00:04:36] All right. So, New Orleans & Company is a CVB. We’re a Convention and Visitors Bureau. We changed our name, our brand, several years ago to really reflect more of the fact that we represent so much of New Orleans. Not only the typical tourism businesses, hotels, restaurants, attractions but there are so many other people who are part of the magic of our city, the culture bearers. We're talking about musicians. We're talking about the black Mardi Gras Indians. We're talking about the artists that are around Jackson Square. So, New Orleans & Company, we believe, represents what we do much better. We have approximately 70-71 people that work with us, all sorts of professions. Adam Stoker: [00:05:19] It’s a big group. Mark Romig: [00:05:20] It is a big group. It was much larger before COVID, but due to the fact that our funding stream was interrupted severely, we had to make some difficult decisions there. But we have a great group of individuals, a lot of them have been with the company 15, 20, 25 years. So, there's a lot of experience there. And they're out there talking with meeting planners, trade show representatives, group tours, individuals. We've got marketing around the world to keep the brand of New Orleans alive. Adam Stoker: [00:05:51] Yeah, I've got to imagine that with a brand that's as recognizable as the name New Orleans, there are actually challenges that come along with that because it's very easy if I have a very small destination that pulls from one major metropolitan market, right? I know where to spend my money. I know how to spend my money. If I'm New Orleans and I'm pulling people from all over the world, even though my marketing budget is larger than other destinations, how to slice that up correctly that it's the most effective use of those funds has to be a challenge? Mark Romig: [00:06:23] It is a challenge. And the old saying out of sight out of mind is really true. If you're not out there, keeping the message of New Orleans against all these other destinations, relevant and consistent, you're going to lose out. If I can tell the story of Katrina and COVID, as it relates to Katrina, New Orleans came through it and the rest of the world came to our aid. We had people coming from all over the world that wanted to be part of the redevelopment and rebuilding of the city. And it was humbling to see this. In fact, the idea of voluntourism was created from the standpoint of people who wanted to still enjoy what they could about New Orleans, come and get the food, but they also wanted to work in rebuilding houses. So, we had people just coming in and camping out and in some cases to help rebuild the city. Here now with COVID, everyone's coming out of it, right? So, we're competing with all these other destinations and they're worthy of competition as well, the Nashville's, the Austin's, the Orlando's, Los Angeles. So, we're all in the same boat now. And we're just now getting our funding stream back in line and we'll be back out there telling our story. In fact, the regional market, the drive market is probably a little bit more than 50% of the people that visit the city on a regular basis. So, we're starting to get that word out now. And of course, every now and then you have a storm that comes through, a hurricane, and we have to redevelop our strategies around that, but New Orleans, as you probably well know as a very resilient city with 303 years young. We've been through a lot of things. And each time, we come back stronger and we've learned a little bit more. Adam Stoker: [00:08:06] So Mark, it's interesting to hear what you've been working on coming out of COVID and everything. I'm glad to hear that you guys are getting kind of back up to speed. I have one experience with New Orleans. I'm going to be honest with you, it wasn't a great experience, but I'll tell you why. I've got a good reason as to why. I went to see BYU play LSU a few years ago down in New Orleans and I don't know that I've ever seen a football team beaten that badly consistently. It was painful. I want to go back without the emotional disappointment that I had so that I can change my perception of New Orleans. It had nothing to do with the city. It had to do with the pain of the beat down that we took. Mark Romig: [00:08:51] Okay. I totally understand that having been through many sporting events where my favorite team did not do as well as I had hoped. And as you know, there are very rabid fans down in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana. Adam Stoker: [00:09:05] We met a few of those. Mark Romig: [00:09:06] Yes. But hopefully, you had some good meals and you might have visited some of the museums and did some nice walking tours around the French Quarter. Adam Stoker: [00:09:15] And had beignets which are to die for. Mark Romig: [00:09:18] You know, it's interesting when we put out visuals about the city on our website or we utilize Instagram as a way to tell our stories, Visit New Orleans is a great site for people to visit on Instagram. The beignet, the visual of the beignet is always the most popular thing we put out there. We get more likes. We get more shares when we put a plate of beignets out there with the cafe ole. Adam Stoker: [00:09:43] I can't speak to everyone that's eating the beignet, but for me, it was a way to ease the pain. And we soothed our pain as we washed those beignets down. Mark Romig: [00:09:51] So delicious, yes. Adam Stoker: [00:09:54] So, what I try to do on the show, Mark, whenever we have someone come on is I try to come up with at least a tactical takeaway that people listening can say I need to go implement that in our destination. You and I were talking before. I think you've got a variety of things that you could tell us. I actually maybe would love to do a full episode at some point about your rebrand because I think your rebrand is a fascinating exercise. Mark Romig: [00:10:16] Sure. Adam Stoker: [00:10:17] But as far as a tactical takeaway for today, what do you have for us? Mark Romig: [00:10:21] Yeah. Let's focus on the influencer. About six years ago, we decided to underscore what we knew to be the truth, but it doesn't get out there sometimes. And that New Orleans is a family-friendly city. It's a place where you can bring children. It's a place where children can just rebel in the children's museum or the streetcar or the riverboat ride, or the walking tour of the French Quarter and the haunted walking towards, and really get into the city and the family can experience something together. We have never done this before, but we brought in some mommy bloggers. We chose through our agency, Dentsu, a number of families, particularly moms who do this professionally. They will go to a destination. They'll talk about it prior to getting to New Orleans. They blog while they're here and then they talk about it when they get back home to their friends. And they send it out. So, we had a number of mommy bloggers come in that summer, six actually. And it was a fantastic success for us. They showed some great photos of the family visit and they kept that message alive. And it was picked up, around the nation. And we started slowly but surely. We did it several more years that we were able to kind of pivot and let people understand that New Orleans, sure, it's a great place for adults, but it's also a great place for families. And then we expanded that beyond mommies. We did that with museum followers. We have the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and we brought in some bloggers who are veterans who speak to military history. We did it around foodies, people who particularly follow restaurants. They do it for a living. Isn't that a great way to live by the way to be a food influencer? So, really, every segment in every asset of New Orleans, we found an influencer for and we continue to do that to this very day. Adam Stoker: [00:12:21] Interesting. Okay. I really like that. I've got some questions for you about the idea of using influencers. I think the first question that I have is as you were deciding on these influencers, did it matter where they were from or did you try to find the ones with the most accurate audience, I guess? Mark Romig: [00:12:40] I think audience size is important. How many followers they have? What platforms are they working? That was important. We like to show some diversity. So, you want to have your audiences see themselves in the activity, whether they’re black, brown, whatever background or nationality, you want them to feel like, okay, I belong there. And that's important too. So, it was a variety of purposes. Sometimes, you didn't have as much to choose from because there are some specialists out there, like military history. But, it was a way for us to ensure that we were doing the right thing, letting people see themselves. And we do the same thing with our website. For instance, all of our photography, our visuals, you want the viewer to actually see themselves in what you are offering. And we did that with the influencers. Adam Stoker: [00:13:31] I think that's a great point. And I think another thing about influencer marketing that fascinates me is 20 years ago, it was very simple. When you want to tell your story, you buy advertising. When you want someone else to tell your story, it's public relations. And over the last 20 years, those lines between public relations and advertising have really kind of blended where now you hire an influencer. And the influencer tells your story. It's this blend of advertising and PR, right? Mark Romig: [00:14:00] They've become ambassadors for you, right? They're speaking the third party. We don't control what they write. We get them to our destination. There's a fee involved ensuring that they can book their time, get the flights, taking care of the hotels. But once they're here, we set them on their itinerary, what they want to see and what they want to do, and then it's hands-off. And we've had a lot of success. Adam Stoker: [00:14:23] That's great. And whenever someone else tells your story, it's just that much better. Mark Romig: [00:14:29] it’s so much better. The experiential discoverer is what we described to be the visitor that comes to New Orleans. It's not the person who would come in and sit by a pool and read a book though we have no problem with that. Please come and sit by a pool and read a book if you'd like. But they want to get out into the neighborhoods. They want to get out into the city and explore and discover, and that's what we find these influencers paralleling in what they do. Adam Stoker: [00:14:53] Interesting. Okay. So, there's so much that goes into influencer marketing. I mean, from choosing the influencer to holding them accountable for the agreement, there's so much that goes into it. But if you were to boil down your advice for a destination that's listening that wants to do a better job of influencer marketing, what does that advice in under 60 seconds sound like? Mark Romig: [00:15:13] It would be connected with an agency or someone who works in this world of influencers. It's important because there are so many influencers out there. Choose a topic that you would like to expand on and give yourself an opportunity to look at the opportunities that are there and go with one, or two, or three. And give it a shot. If you haven't done it before, I recommend that you try the influencer program and I think you won't be disappointed. Adam Stoker: [00:15:43] So, maybe test small. Mark Romig: [00:15:45] Test small that go from there. Particularly if you want to change some idea of the city that you think are destinations that you think people have the wrong image of. That's a good way to do it. Adam Stoker: [00:15:55] Okay. Mark, if people want to learn more about New Orleans & Company, and you specifically, what do they need to do? Mark Romig: [00:16:00] This is as easy as I can get it. It's mark@neworleans.com. Adam Stoker: [00:16:08] Yes, that's a simple way to connect. Love the URL. Mark Romig: [00:16:10] Thank you. Adam Stoker: [00:16:12] Mark, thanks so much for coming. Mark Romig: [00:16:13] My pleasure. I really appreciate it, Adam. Adam Stoker: [00:16:16] Enjoy the show. Mark Romig: [00:16:17] Thank you. Jacqueline Crane: [00:16:20] Hello, everybody. My name is Jacqueline. Jess Darrington: [00:16:22] And I am Jess. Jacqueline Crane: [00:16:24] And we are the co-host of the Influencer Marketing for Destinations Podcast, part of the Destination Marketing Podcast Network. Jess Darrington: [00:16:30] We would love for you to listen to our show where we talk all things influencer marketing as we share a joint love for the tourism industry and we'd love to help you effectively collaborate for successful partnerships. Jacqueline Crane: [00:16:42] You can listen to our podcast on thedmpn.com or wherever you find your podcasts. We hope to see you there. [End of Transcript]
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