If there’s one lesson that we, as destination marketers, have learned from the last couple of months, it’s how to be adaptable. For DMOs, that has largely meant shifting their focus to creating and promoting digital content and virtual experiences. For the team at Visit Salt Lake City, digital content was already a large area of focus. From their #SaltLakeStrong campaign to their Salt of the Earth series, keep reading to learn how they’ve leaned into the trend and how they plan to keep adapting in the future. 
 

What is the #SaltLakeStrong campaign?

The objective of the #SaltLakeStrong effort was to bring together the community as we all are going through these tough and uncertain times. There were so many amazing stories of how individuals and local companies were going above and beyond to help others.  We wanted to collect and share these stories to show the spirit of our community and its nature towards charity and humanitarianism. 

What does “the new normal” look like for your destination going forward? How are you working to keep your community safe as tourism starts to come back?

This is a tough question but I think we have to do everything that we can. The hospitality industry needs to lead by example and go above and beyond in terms of health and safety standards. I don’t think any visitor will not appreciate extra efforts made to keep them safe. This does begin with government leaders and our county and city mayors have taken the most cautious approach in our state, but it will be important for the community to follow all precautions outlined, not only for the visitors but for ourselves.

Tell us about your Salt of the Earth series. 

This is a series to promote People, Places and Stories. Salt of the Earth has a very specific meaning that an individual or group is a representative of the best or noblest elements of a society. We wanted to feature the unique and interesting personalities that make up our community, their places of business and why they have chosen Salt Lake as their home. The series is a monthly blog feature that includes a two-minute video and has distribution across all of our owned media efforts.

Do you think it’s important for destinations to focus on creating more virtual content moving forward? What advice do you have for other destinations looking to move in this direction?

Yes, virtual content is not going away after COVID. Convention groups are already realizing the potential reach they have virtually is much greater than having their meeting at one physical location. While there will still be a need for physical connections and meetings, many groups will begin offering hybrids that include more live streaming and virtual connection points. We have begun to look at even creating our own broadcast studio to become an asset for our own messaging as well as an extra for those groups who will want to use these services for their meetings and groups.