Carlsbad residents are fortunate to live in a beautiful coastal Southern California destination. Most residents say they welcome visitors and want to share it. With that spirit in mind, Visit Carlsbad is encouraging you to share all that you love about Carlsbad with groups, organizations, and professional associations you are involved in by working to bring your meeting home. As a proud resident of Carlsbad, you can help positively impact the local economy by recommending Carlsbad for your next gathering.
There has been a marked shift by Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVB) during the past few years to reposition themselves as hip, engaging and interactive. For many, it starts with dropping the traditional CVB name and replacing it with something that's more visitor-friendly. The trend started after the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus renamed itself the Destination Marketing Association International in 2005. Local destination management organizations soon followed suit and with name changes came new marketing campaigns.
Just over a year ago Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau changed its name to Visit Carlsbad. But according to Sam Ross, Visit Carlsbad's executive director, it takes more than a name change to attract meetings and events, especially in today's competitive climate. “We didn't change our name just to be part of a trend, we did it for valid business reasons and because it made sense,” says Ross. “At the end of the day, we're selling a destination, not a bureau.”
For meeting planners, once they get through the logistics of dates, rates and availability, they evaluate a destination based on its appeal to attendees. For years, Carlsbad has played itself up as a great family destination.Meeting planners have said they know we're family friendly, but ask, “What can you tell me about Carlsbad that will get attendees excited about coming there?”
For the past several years, Carlsbad's group sales were contracted through San Diego North CVB. Reorganization by San Diego Convis' sales group created a strategy to focus only on San Diego-proper hotels. This tactic did lead to the demise of San Diego North CVB and as a result left Carlsbad's meetings market without a dedicated sales staff. To help offset this sales void, Visit Carlsbad now provides an online tool called empoweMINT.com. The program simplifies the research, distribution, and selection of destinations, hotels, and meeting venues by leveraging Carlsbad's existing assets to drive more RFPs, create a referral network, and collectively improve the historical database for intelligent prospecting.
In addition to offering empowerMINT, Visit Carlsbad recently hosted a meeting with Carlsbad hoteliers regarding group sales efforts for Carlsbad. Attendees aired concerns and brought good ideas to the table about building a healthy group sales component for Carlsbad. The group will continue meeting with Visit Carlsbad's staff and marketing consultant Christine Shimasaki to come up with a viable plan for group sales for Carlsbad.
Aggressive marketing by
destinations
In addition to name changes and repositioning, many cities are taking a much more aggressive stance when it comes to marketing themselves as destinations of choice for meeting and event planners. Early in 2009, Orlando implemented a hyper-targeted marketing effort called “Operation Connect.” In this effort, representatives from the Orlando/Orange County CVB, the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), area hotels and public figures (including the mayor) made in-person sales calls to more than 1,000 meeting and event planners around the country, encouraging them to bring their events to the city. “This was a massive marketing effort,” says Kathie Canning, the deputy general manager of the OCCC. “In the face of a down economy, we haven't cut our marketing budget, we've increased it. This significant investment by visionary leaders here in Orlando has paid off tremendously.”
While Carlsbad does not have a convention center, it has a good inventory of meeting space. Close proximity to airports, a variety of meeting spaces, lots of hotel rooms, great climate, attractions and activities are all in Carlsbad's favor as a destination for successful meetings.
There has been a marked shift by Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVB) during the past few years to reposition themselves as hip, engaging and interactive. For many, it starts with dropping the traditional CVB name and replacing it with something that's more visitor-friendly. The trend started after the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus renamed itself the Destination Marketing Association International in 2005. Local destination management organizations soon followed suit and with name changes came new marketing campaigns.
Just over a year ago Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau changed its name to Visit Carlsbad. But according to Sam Ross, Visit Carlsbad's executive director, it takes more than a name change to attract meetings and events, especially in today's competitive climate. “We didn't change our name just to be part of a trend, we did it for valid business reasons and because it made sense,” says Ross. “At the end of the day, we're selling a destination, not a bureau.”
For meeting planners, once they get through the logistics of dates, rates and availability, they evaluate a destination based on its appeal to attendees. For years, Carlsbad has played itself up as a great family destination.Meeting planners have said they know we're family friendly, but ask, “What can you tell me about Carlsbad that will get attendees excited about coming there?”
For the past several years, Carlsbad's group sales were contracted through San Diego North CVB. Reorganization by San Diego Convis' sales group created a strategy to focus only on San Diego-proper hotels. This tactic did lead to the demise of San Diego North CVB and as a result left Carlsbad's meetings market without a dedicated sales staff. To help offset this sales void, Visit Carlsbad now provides an online tool called empoweMINT.com. The program simplifies the research, distribution, and selection of destinations, hotels, and meeting venues by leveraging Carlsbad's existing assets to drive more RFPs, create a referral network, and collectively improve the historical database for intelligent prospecting.
In addition to offering empowerMINT, Visit Carlsbad recently hosted a meeting with Carlsbad hoteliers regarding group sales efforts for Carlsbad. Attendees aired concerns and brought good ideas to the table about building a healthy group sales component for Carlsbad. The group will continue meeting with Visit Carlsbad's staff and marketing consultant Christine Shimasaki to come up with a viable plan for group sales for Carlsbad.
Aggressive marketing by
destinations
In addition to name changes and repositioning, many cities are taking a much more aggressive stance when it comes to marketing themselves as destinations of choice for meeting and event planners. Early in 2009, Orlando implemented a hyper-targeted marketing effort called “Operation Connect.” In this effort, representatives from the Orlando/Orange County CVB, the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), area hotels and public figures (including the mayor) made in-person sales calls to more than 1,000 meeting and event planners around the country, encouraging them to bring their events to the city. “This was a massive marketing effort,” says Kathie Canning, the deputy general manager of the OCCC. “In the face of a down economy, we haven't cut our marketing budget, we've increased it. This significant investment by visionary leaders here in Orlando has paid off tremendously.”
While Carlsbad does not have a convention center, it has a good inventory of meeting space. Close proximity to airports, a variety of meeting spaces, lots of hotel rooms, great climate, attractions and activities are all in Carlsbad's favor as a destination for successful meetings.