* Transcript: Adam Stoker: [00:00:01] And I think that's the most valuable thing that I've gotten from this show is I've built really lasting and meaningful relationships from having conversations with people on this show. And I don't know if I would trade that for anything else in my career that I've experienced so far. [00:00:20] Hello, everyone and welcome to another episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Stoker. We've got a little bit of a unique episode for you today. Now, I've been saying that a lot because we've done a lot of different things this year than we've done in previous years. But this one truly is unique. We've hit a pretty interesting milestone on the Destination Marketing Podcast and I'm really, really excited that this is our 300th episode of the Destination Marketing Podcast. I never imagined when I started this show that we would get to 300 episodes. So I'm really proud of what we've done. We've got a great team that's been working hard to make this show successful. I thought it would be interesting to do something different. And as me and the team were talking, one of the things that we realized is that today February 9th that we're recording, this happened to be the day that my daughter had told me that it was take your daughter to work day at her middle school. And so when we kind of put that together, the team and I had been talking about some different things we could do. And one of my team members said, well, what if you just had your daughter interview you for the podcast for episode number 300? And I was like, you know what? That could be kind of fun. So I actually have a guest here. Her name is Millie Stoker. She's my oldest child. She's 12 years old. Millie, thanks for being here. Millie Stoker: [00:01:45] Yeah, you're welcome. Adam Stoker: [00:01:46] I'm excited to have you. I think this is going to be fun. Millie Stoker: [00:01:49] Yeah. Adam Stoker: [00:01:50] So, before we have you interview me, I want to let everybody get to know you a little bit. So let's start with a question. I ask all of my guests, Millie. Well, and maybe before that, why don't you just tell us — you're 12 years old. What do you do? Millie Stoker: [00:02:05] I'm 12. I go to Valley View Middle School in seventh grade and I'm pretty big into dance and art and nails and yeah. Adam Stoker: [00:02:19] Yeah, you do a lot of fun stuff. Let me ask you, what's your dream destination, Millie? If you could go anywhere in the world that you haven't been, where would it be? Millie Stoker: [00:02:27] Samoa. Adam Stoker: [00:02:28] Samoa. Why? Millie Stoker: [00:02:29] Because I did a research project on it in my CCA class and I was resting on it and it seems like a really cool place and on all the things, it was like the people there are amazing and there's a lot of really cool places. So, yeah Adam Stoker: [00:02:47] Samoa is a good answer and it's one that's not very popular on this show, which is really cool. What were some of the things that you learned about it that made you feel like, yeah, I'd love to go there. Millie Stoker: [00:02:56] It's for one, they said, like the people are really nice and there's always amazing people and they have cool buildings and the food is really good and there is this ocean trench, I forgot what it's called. It's something like [Inaudible 00:03:11] or whatever. I'm probably mispronouncing it because it's a Samoan word. Anyway, this, this ocean trench that it's cool and it's deep and it's got really pretty water and there's waterfalls and it's just a really pretty place. Adam Stoker: [00:03:29] Sounds like a pretty unique place. Maybe we put it on the family list of places we need to go. Millie Stoker: [00:03:34] Yeah. But you and Mommy would probably just go by yourself. Hawaii. Hawaii. Oh, we'll just go by ourselves. Puerto Rico. Yeah, we'll just go by ourselves. Adam Stoker: [00:03:45] So, are we talking about that since I'm about to take you to Hawaii in a month and a half. Millie Stoker: [00:03:49] No. Adam Stoker: [00:03:51] What about Millie, a favorite travel memory that you have? Millie Stoker: [00:03:55] I liked when me and you went to Vernal just by ourselves and we went river rafting and that was really fun. Really cool. I liked it a lot. Adam Stoker: [00:04:03] That was one of the more fun dad experiences that I've had. Taking you to Vernal and doing that. What was it about that trip that made it fun? Millie Stoker: [00:04:11] I don't know, We just don't really go on a lot of one-on-ones together and when we do it we don't go far. I say the soda retreat or something. So, that was cool. I also really like Great Wolf Lodge. Adam Stoker: [00:04:24] Yeah. Great Wolf Lodge was fun. Really fun. So, with Vernal, one of the things that I thought was really cool is I remember the first time we went down there there's a big rock that was like, 15 feet high and we jumped off of it into the water and I remember being pretty impressed with how brave you were to jump off that rock, even though you were fairly little still. Millie Stoker: [00:04:43] I've done it every year since. Adam Stoker: [00:04:45] Yeah. Yeah. We didn't get to go last year but we definitely need to try to get back. Millie Stoker: [00:04:49] Or the year before. Adam Stoker: [00:04:49] Yeah. It's been a couple of years, hasn't it? But Millie's not bitter at all. Are you? Millie Stoker: [00:04:56] No, I'm overjoyed. I didn't want to go at all. Adam Stoker: [00:05:01] Okay. All right. Yeah, I guess so. Okay, Millie's bitter that I haven't taken her to Vernal for a couple of years. But we'll fix that this year. Millie, I think now is a good time for me to maybe turn it over to you and you are going to interview me. So why don't you ask me the questions you have? Millie Stoker: [00:05:21] Okay. So I'm going to ask you the same question you asked me. What's your like dream travel destination? Adam Stoker: [00:05:29] Yeah, Millie, that's a hard one because on this podcast over the last several years, people have talked about so many amazing destinations that for me it kind of seems to change a little bit. Somebody will talk about a really unique place and I'll say, man, I want to go there and then the next episode, somebody else talks about an amazing place and I'll kind of feel the same way. So I feel like for me though, the true place that I feel like is the top of my bucket list it hasn't really changed I would love to go to New Zealand. New Zealand is pretty unique because first of all, it's got some of the best trout fishing in the world. It's got some of the most unique golf courses in the world. It's got beaches, it's got mountains, it's got waterfalls. There is so much to that destination that I feel like I could be there for three weeks or a month and not have two days look the same and I think that would be really, really fun to try a bunch of different things in a destination like that. I've also heard the people are really great and really fun too. And so, it's a place I'd like to explore and I'd say until I actually get there, it's probably going to be at the top of my list. Millie Stoker: [00:06:38] Did someone tell you about New Zealand or did you just hear about it somewhere? Adam Stoker: [00:06:43] You know? I don't know if it's that I read about it when I was a kid or if I've seen it in movies or what it is. But I can't remember a specific time that somebody told me New Zealand was amazing or anything like that. But as long as I can remember, I think that's been a place that's really been high on my list. Millie Stoker: [00:07:01] What's one of your favorite travel memories? Adam Stoker: [00:07:04] Oh, man. I've been pretty fortunate to be able to take a lot of vacations. Right. Millie Stoker: [00:07:11] You go, like, every week. Adam Stoker: [00:07:12] Every week… I do get to for work. I go to a lot of conferences and things like that. But I've had some interesting experiences. One of the experiences that really stands out is it's funny you talked about how, when you and me went to Vernal, that was a pretty special experience for you. Right? My dad and I, when I was 19 years old, we went up to a place that our family has been going fishing now for 60, 70 years and me and him went up just the two of us and I caught the biggest rainbow trout that I've ever caught in my life. And that vacation was just so unique, so special to me because I got to spend some really great one-on-one time with my dad, got some great pictures of a massive fish that I had never caught in anything of that size. It was a really, really cool experience. So that's probably one of my favorite travel memories. Millie Stoker: [00:08:10] So that, like, that was known as the fishing hole in the Stoker family. Right? Adam Stoker: [00:08:14] Exactly. It's a place up in just outside of Ashton, Idaho and Island Park. And we and our family refer to it as the fishing hole because we go every year and it's a pretty special place. Millie Stoker: [00:08:25] Oh, well, the first time I went was last year and I didn't like it because I got brand new Nikes and then I stepped in a mud puddle and ruined them. Adam Stoker: [00:08:36] You definitely ruined a nice pair of shoes at the fishing hole. Millie Stoker: [00:08:40] It wasn't my fault. Gosh. Adam Stoker: [00:08:42] Whose fault was it that you stepped in mud? Millie Stoker: [00:08:46] You for taking us down. Adam Stoker: [00:08:49] It was my fault. Millie Stoker: [00:08:50] But if I did seven, then I would have, wouldn't have paid for new ones that I like. So, yeah. Adam Stoker: [00:08:55] That's true. You were able to buy your own new shoes and they're pretty sweet. Well, what else Mills? Millie Stoker: [00:09:01] Why do you think your podcasts been successful so far? Adam Stoker: [00:09:05] Good question. And by the way, some of these questions are hitting me for the first time here. So it'll be interesting to see what questions Millie chooses to ask me. But I would say with why my podcast has been successful is it was really important to me to create something really valuable for the audience that I was trying to talk to. And the audience that I try to talk to is people who do destination marketing, right? And I felt like there was something missing. One of the things in destination marketing that's really great is we all go to these conferences and we hear these speakers that are really inspirational and exciting. Then everybody comes back to their desk and they kind of sit down at their computer, they're excited and they go, I know I'm excited, but I don't exactly know what to do right now. Right? And so I really try with this show to provide a takeaway at the end of every episode that allows somebody that's listening to be able to go implement the thing that we talked about. Something that is very usable or tactical. And I think that that's been pretty valuable for the people that listen. At least that's the feedback that I get. Millie Stoker: [00:10:13] What advice would you have for new business owners? Adam Stoker: [00:10:16] Advice for new business owners? Oh, man, advice for new business owners… I think be patient with yourself. I was really, really hard on myself early on when I bought this business and I expected myself to be perfect and I would be really, really hard on myself whenever something didn't work out, whatever the situation was. Or if a relationship with an employee didn't work out or a relationship with a client didn't work out. And it really was kind of painful for me. It made it hard to sleep and I was hard on myself and I think looking back on that, if I could do something different, I'd be a little bit more patient with myself because just like new employees are learning how to do their individual jobs, the job of being an owner of a company was new to me and I needed to learn the same way and a lot of that happens through mistakes and trial and error and everything that goes into that. And I made a ton of mistakes and I think I probably could have been a little bit more patient with myself through that process. Millie Stoker: [00:11:30] Nice. What's another hard thing you had to go through when you started? Adam Stoker: [00:11:35] Another hard thing I had to go through when I started? Well, I think, first of all, I think it's really easy when you're working for an organization to look at the person that's running the organization and say, oh, I could do this way better than that person. And I definitely was the employee that felt that way when we bought the business. Then when I actually bought the business and became an owner, I recognized just how much I didn't know that I thought I knew. Right? I didn't know anything about HR, I didn't know anything about accounting. I didn't know the ins and outs of running a business, creating processes. I only knew the things that I was good at and then I judged how the previous owner had handled things that I wasn't good at. In retrospect, learning all the little things that I think we’re really, really hard for me at first, that was a big challenge. And then after a couple of years after we bought it, I ended up having one of the business partners that I bought the business with, he actually ended up getting an offer to take a job somewhere else and that wasn't something that I anticipated happening. Like I thought we were all going to kind of go through this together. Right? I hadn't even considered the idea that one of us might move on. So then I had to go through the process of trying to buy him out of the business while also trying to make sure that we maintained our relationship. I think we probably could have done a better job of that even though he and I are still good friends to this day. I think both of us made mistakes in that process as well and that was one of the more difficult things that I've kind of ever had to go through as a business owner. Millie Stoker: [00:13:23] So speaking of words, this episode is sponsored by Canned Pineapple. Adam Stoker: [00:13:32] I'm so confused. Canned pineapple? What's it like? Like literally canned pineapple? Okay. Thank you canned pineapple for sponsoring this episode. Millie Stoker: [00:13:47] Go get yourself some canned pineapple. Adam Stoker: [00:13:49] What are you talking about? Millie Stoker: [00:13:52] It's good on Hawaiian Pizza. Adam Stoker: [00:13:56] I'm starting to realize that I definitely should have screened the questions here and the sponsors apparently. Millie Stoker: [00:14:01] I'm crying. Okay. Adam Stoker: [00:14:05] Let me know if there's any other sponsorships coming that I need to be aware of. Millie Stoker: [00:14:10] Okay. Adam Stoker: [00:14:11] Any other questions for me, Millie? Millie Stoker: [00:14:12] Tell me about this book. Adam Stoker: [00:14:15] Touchpoints? Millie Stoker: [00:14:16] Yes. Adam Stoker: [00:14:16] So I wrote this book because I've worked with a lot of destinations over the years and I actually saw that a lot of destinations had a hard time coming up with how they could improve their brand. And in that process, I also had really, really smart people on my show, come talk about how some tools and actions that people could take to improve their destination's brand. And so I wanted to take a combination of my philosophy of what I've learned that your brand is the sum of all the touchpoints your organization has with the outside world and then give people a framework by which to learn how to improve their brand and then evaluate their progress over time. And so I did that, I actually feel like if I could go back, I would have done a lot of things different in writing that book. It was the first time I had ever done that and while I'm proud of doing that, it's something that I would love to have another shot at and try to do a little bit better next time. But I actually think it's a great resource for especially new marketers to be able to figure out how to improve their organizational brand. Millie Stoker: [00:15:28] That's cool. Yeah. When did you start doing a podcast? When did you start it? Adam Stoker: [00:15:34] So, I started the podcast in May of 2019. Millie Stoker: [00:15:38] Okay. Please hold while I do math, four years and three-quarters or something. Adam Stoker: [00:15:45] Or so. Pretty close. Yeah. Yep. It's kind of crazy that it's been that long. But yeah, I can't believe that it's been almost five years that we've been doing this podcast, but I guess with 300 episodes, we would have had been doing it for a long time to get to that number. Millie Stoker: [00:16:02] Remind us listeners what your first episode was about. Adam Stoker: [00:16:06] My first episode? You know, my first episode was where I actually had that partner on the episode that I ended up buying out his name is Jordan. And we were talking about why we felt like it was a good idea to create a podcast for destination marketing. We talked a little bit about some of the things that we saw in the industry, some of the challenges that we thought needed to be solved. And we talked about what I mentioned earlier about there's a lot of great resources in the industry, but sometimes it's difficult to know exactly how to implement what needs to be done, and so we wanted to provide a place where people could do that. And then on top of that, we wanted to create a credibility piece so that if somebody was trying to decide, do I want to use Relic as my ad agency, they can go see if we know what the heck we're talking about. And that was another really important thing as we kind of started to get the show going. Millie Stoker: [00:17:03] How long did it take a lot of people to start listening to your podcast? Adam Stoker: [00:17:08] It's a good question. I was surprised at how quickly we got people to listen. I think one of the things that was kind of interesting is I recognized after the fact, I'd love to pretend that this was just brilliance on my part. But I realized that people are using the podcast platforms as a search engine. And so when they're looking for resources, something that they can use, they're searching the terms destination marketing. Well, I named the podcast, the Destination Marketing Podcast, which meant that I was the first one that popped up on most of those searches. So I think it kind of helped that as people were searching for resources, mine would pop up. And then my responsibility once they found my podcast was to make sure that the content was valuable enough for them to actually want to keep listening. Right? And so it didn't take terribly long for the numbers to grow. But what was kind of crazy is it is, I look at the way my audience has grown almost like you would look at compounding interest and I'm not sure that you and I have had the compounding interest discussion yet, but it's basically when you make an investment and let's say that you put a certain amount of money into an investment account that maybe it increases by 7% a year. So if it increases by 7% the next year, when it increases, it's 7% of the new total. So you get the growth of 7% from last year and then it kind of gets incrementally or exponentially bigger. I feel like my audience is kind of the same way where it's continued to grow by a percentage over time. But the numbers get bigger and then the growth gets bigger and it's kind of crazy to see that. Now we have 120 maybe. Even at this point, I'll have to look at the numbers, 125,000 people that have listened to the Destination Marketing Podcast and I never thought it would get that big. Millie Stoker: [00:19:05] That's cool. So, I want you to know you said big words and math and numbers and percentages, but I kind of understand. So. Yeah. Adam Stoker: [00:19:16] Okay. All right. Well, you know, it's something that you and I probably should talk about because I think – Millie Stoker: [00:19:21] No, I do enough of it. Seventh period. Adam Stoker: [00:19:24] Okay. We'll wait till seventh-period Math is done. Maybe in the summertime. Millie Stoker: [00:19:27] Summertime is my break. How about like, never? Adam Stoker: [00:19:34] Okay. Never. Well, maybe we'll see. I also have a responsibility to teach you some of that stuff. Millie Stoker: [00:19:40] Do you think each episode has gotten better and better? Adam Stoker: [00:19:43] No, and I don't mean that as a negative thing, I feel like in the first year we had some incredible episodes with some really, really smart people on. And while I think we've come up with great content over time, I think I've gotten better as a host, I've gotten better at carrying a conversation, I've gotten better at helping ask the right questions that allow people to really showcase their brilliance and what makes them smart. So, have I gotten better and better each episode? Yes, I think so. But some of my absolute favorite episodes are from four years ago and I don't know, I hate the idea of saying that, oh, the most recent episodes are the most valuable or the best ones because I'm really, really proud of some of those early episodes. Millie Stoker: [00:20:38] What have you learned? Adam Stoker: [00:20:39] Oh, man, I feel like by having these conversations every week, I feel like I've learned at a faster rate than I could in any other way. And so I've learned things about funding models for tourism destinations that I never thought I would learn, right? So I learned how in Utah, for example, the way destinations get their money is completely different than how destinations in other states or counties or whatever, get their money. I've learned how to manage a destination. I've had some people come on and just talk about how to be a better leader. And so every time I have a really smart person come on, which all the guests that I've had on have been really, really smart, I get to learn that and keep that. And so a lot of people kind of learn through trial and error and learn as they go and maybe they'll reach out to a mentor when they run into a problem. But I've had the opportunity to meet all these incredibly smart people. And every time they share their knowledge, that knowledge gets added to my brain. And I think it's helped completely change my perspective on destination marketing and even marketing as a whole. And that also includes, it's changed my perspective on being a leader and changed my perspective on the power of collaboration and relationships and is a competitor really a competitor or is a competitor a potential partner. All of these things I've, I've learned from the people that I've had on my show. It's the reason that I keep doing it is because I love the fact that I learn so much from each person that comes on the show. Millie Stoker: [00:22:22] So you want listeners and stuff, not because you want like to have a popular podcast. You want listeners because you want to help people have better businesses? Adam Stoker: [00:22:34] Absolutely. So there's a few reasons, right? Like number one reason that I have this show is I really want to provide a valuable resource for people in the industry that something that can help people really shorten the learning curve. Because the thing that's fascinating about the destination marketing industry is first of all, people have heard of tourism, but what they don't understand is that destination marketing is an industry within tourism that most people actually don't even know exists, right? And so they stumble into the industry, which is what I did, I stumbled into the industry too in 2012, but they stumble into the industry and then it takes forever to learn because it's hard to find the resources that you need to learn what you need to learn. Right? And, and so like number one is I want to help shorten the learning curve because I think if we can shorten how long it takes to become an expert in the destination marketing industry, I think we can do more incredible things as an industry than we could have otherwise. I think that's pretty special. Another reason I do this is obviously because I own an advertising agency. And if people agree with the things that I say, I would love for them to hire my advertising agency and have us help them with their marketing. So of course, there's a business component to this too that I think if I help enough people, that will also help my business grow. I actually think that's been a really valuable thing over time because now it's become the largest lead generation source for our business is that listeners will kind of raise their hand and say, you know what, I like what you say, I actually would love to have you maybe respond to my RFP or even we'll try out this new product that you talked about on the show or whatever and that's been really, really rewarding too. I think one of the things I want to add from your earlier question though, Millie is, I've actually had guests of this show become some of who I consider to be my closest friends now. And I think that's the most valuable thing that I've gotten from this show is I've built really lasting and meaningful relationships from having conversations with people on this show. And I don't know if I would trade that for anything else in my career that I've experienced so far. This has been a vehicle for me to build some of the most important relationships in my life. Millie Stoker: [00:25:03] Yeah, that's cool. Adam Stoker: [00:25:04] Any other questions? Millie Stoker: [00:25:06] Let me think. Adam Stoker: [00:25:08] Any other sponsors? Millie Stoker: [00:25:10] So I wasn't one of your closest friends until I came on the podcast. Adam Stoker: [00:25:18] I am very, very proud that now that you've come on this show, I can say that I really do like you, Millie. No. I think professional relationships is probably the best way for me to describe that. Millie Stoker: [00:25:33] By the way, I'm sponsored by Nike. Adam Stoker: [00:25:37] You're sponsored by Nike? Millie Stoker: [00:25:37] Nike golf socks. Adam Stoker: [00:25:40] Nike golf socks. That's very specific., I'd love to have them sponsor. Millie Stoker: [00:25:44] And right hand gloves. Adam Stoker: [00:25:44] Right-hand gloves. I think the sponsorship bit. I think we've kind of gotten through that. I think it's run its course. Millie Stoker: [00:25:52] Okay, no more sponsors. Adam Stoker: [00:25:53] No more sponsors. Millie Stoker: [00:25:55] Although there's many more. But okay, you could put that in a different episode. Adam Stoker: [00:25:58] Okay. Any other questions, Millie? Millie Stoker: [00:26:02] What was your favorite sponsor? Adam Stoker: [00:26:03] Today? My favorite sponsor I think when you hit me with the canned pineapple, it definitely caught me off guard. So that's my favorite sponsor for today because I didn't realize we were going to have sponsors. Millie Stoker: [00:26:14] Put on Hawaiian pizza. Adam Stoker: [00:26:17] Millie, this has been relatively fun and in all seriousness, it's pretty special that I have you here today. I think we've had some pretty fun and unique experiences over the course of your 12 years of life. And now to have you on my podcast and have you come to work with me today is pretty fun. So, thank you for doing this. Millie Stoker: [00:26:41] Yeah, I've had a really fun time. Adam Stoker: [00:26:42] Awesome. And hopefully, this has been relatively entertaining for those of you that are listening. But if you enjoyed today's episode, I hope you won't hesitate to leave us a rating or a review and it helps us continue to bring you amazing adult guests for the most part. But sometimes people like Millie. Thanks, Millie. Millie Stoker: [00:27:02] Yeah, you’re welcome. Adam Stoker: [00:27:03] And thanks everybody for listening and we will see you next week. [End of transcript]
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