July 2009: Publisher’s Update
As a member of the executive committee of the Destination & Travel Foundation (the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Destination Marketing Association International, which is holding its annual meeting this week in Atlanta), it’s been my pleasure to observe up closethe management styles and skill sets of several of the industry’s leading destination marketing executives. Since the vast majority of DMOs receive public funding from hotel occupancy tax revenue and nearly a third of them receive some form of state tax dollars, the DMO CEO not only has to manage a paid staff and volunteer board, but also has to manage key funding relationships with the mayor, city council, city manager or state-level funding source. As a result, DMO execs are thrown into a political role by virtue of their reliance on funds controlled by these governmental entities.
What makes all this even harder is that in the case of hotel occupancy taxes, for example, funds that were originally intended to be primarily reinvested in marketing to stimulate additional visitation are increasingly being diverted for uses other than destination marketing. Because it falls to the DMO executive to be the chief advocate for travel in his or her community, the DMO CEO can, on occasion, end up at odds with the destination’s political leaders. While every savvy DMO executive knows the importance of building support for the DMO among those in political leadership positions, the best laid plans of nonpartisan political education are often not enough to make DMO funding sacrosanct.
For more information on the important role of the destination marketing industry, click here to access the digital version of “Why Meetings Matter,” which we recently published in conjunction with DMAI.
Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company
2 Comments so far
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Tim, I enjoyed Nancy Mann Jackson’s article titled, Making an Offer They Can’t Refuse, published in the July issue of Association News. I’d like to add two key elements overlooked in the article; understanding real dollar ROI and understanding benefits. After personally working with scores of associations on their member recruitment & retention efforts, campaigns, and challenges–it still comes down to dollars and cents.
There is no way any association can effectively articulate the value they deliver to their members unless they can put an annual real dollar value delivered. This is an area that so many associations shy away from because it is a difficult process. Sure, any association can recruit members, but can they keep them? That’s the real question. What’s the value of having “turnstile” members?
In personally reviewing numerous association web site “member benefits” sections, I can attest to the FACT that must associations do not understand the difference between features and benefits. I say this because most “member benefits” sections simply list membership features. Today’s association members are looking to their associations to help make their lives better; through a great member investment ROI–delivering benefits that matter.
I can agree with all that was stated in the article in question, and will unwaveringly state that two hugely important points were missed. So important that the”user effectiveness” of the article, in my opinion, was diminished.
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Ed Rigsbee, CSP
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Ed,
Thank you for your comments! Attaching a dollar value to the benefits of membership in an association is certainly an approach–or at least an exercise–from which many groups would gain new insights and possibly a higher rate of membership renewals. It does get difficult when you try to place a dollar value on the educational and networking benefits of association membership. Thanks to your comments, we’ll plan to include an article examining this subject in an upcoming issue of Association News.