SITUATION
Experience Kissimmee is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) for Kissimmee, Florida; a city that offers something for every type of visitor. Being minutes away from some of the world's most famous parks and attractions, in addition to beautiful year-round weather, endless dining options and various sporting events, makes ExperienceKissimmee.com an ideal option for the DMO's partners to place advertising.
Although Experience Kissimmee's website offered plenty of information for visitors and business to explore, the DMO's in-house staff found it challenging to manage their partner online advertising efforts. Experience Kissimmee decided to take advantage of a fully-managed online advertising platform that offered an additional source of revenue at zero expense.
SOLUTION
Simpleview's Destination Travel Network (DTN) provided Experience Kissimmee with an option for partners to advertise on the DMO website to enhance their existing exposure, and connect with more visitors and potential customers. Experience Kissimmee's staff worked closely with their dedicated DTN team to determine which ads would best fit their needs, while maintaining a native content look that blended seamlessly with the site design and DMO brand.
DTN implemented site banners and featured listings on both mobile and desktop, in addition to page sponsors, and text links to allow plenty of opportunities for partners to participate. Also, when Experience Kissimmee learned they would soon transition from a public to private entity, they began offering sponsored header images, which provided a unique advertising placement for partners, and another significant (12%!) increase in revenue for the DMO.
By partnering with the Destination Travel Network, Experience Kissimmee now has a single point of contact that manages their website advertising, from directly corresponding with partners for advertising opportunities, to providing at-a-glance monthly reports for the DMO staff to review.
RESULTS
With over 80 advertisers currently taking advantage of nine types of ad placements on the Experience Kissimmee website, it didn't take long for revenue to quickly pile up. Since ad sales began in early 2013, Experience Kissimmee has seen outstanding revenue growth from DTN, increasing market revenue by 120% in just 18 months! By 2015, revenue to the DMO already exceeded $10,000 per month - with minimal resources required on behalf of Experience Kissimmee. In addition, the DMO has a 2.4% click-through rate (CTR) for their mobile banners and header images, while the national average is only .1 - .3%.
To further confirm DTN's impact, the amount of renewed advertiser contracts speaks volumes as well. "Moving from something that was getting done in-house into a full team managing has really boosted ad sales. I feel very confident in our team; they know our destination and our partners," noted the Director of Online Communications for Experience Kissimmee.
Consistent with their goals, Experience Kissimmee now has a significant, established source of revenue that provides additional exposure for the DMO's partners and promotes further investment into the DMO for years to come.
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