Destination Marketing Case Study:
How 360 Elevated Turned Destination Awareness Into Traveler Demand
Building Interest & Driving Valuable Visitors
A destination marketing organization partnered with 360 Elevated to strengthen awareness, attract new travelers, and create more reasons for visitors to experience the region beyond a single landmark or seasonal event. The opportunity was larger than simply increasing visitor numbers. The destination needed to reach travelers earlier in the trip-planning process, showcase a broader range of local experiences, and encourage visitors to stay longer, explore more, and spend across restaurants, attractions, lodging, retail, outdoor recreation, and other local businesses.
360 Elevated developed an integrated destination marketing strategy centered around public relations, travel storytelling, airline partnerships, influencer collaborations, branded content, and high-quality creative production. Rather than relying primarily on traditional destination advertising, the strategy focused on creating credible reasons to visit and distributing those stories through trusted travel media, creators, airline audiences, national brands, and digital channels.
The result was a more visible, experience-driven destination brand designed to influence not only where travelers chose to go, but what they did and how they spent once they arrived.
Industry
Travel & Tourism
Hospitality & Leisure
Economic Development
Travel Destination
Services
Public Relations
Destination Marketing Strategy
Content Creation
Videography
Advertising
Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Influencer & Brand Collaboration
0
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Targeted Impressions
0
%
Increase in Website Traffic
$
0
+
Estimated Traveler Spend Influenced
0
%
Increase in Booking Activity
The Challenge
The destination had plenty to offer travelers, but many of those experiences were not reaching audiences outside the immediate region. Potential visitors may have recognized one or two major attractions, but they were less familiar with the full range of activities available throughout the destination. Outdoor recreation, culinary experiences, local businesses, arts and culture, family attractions, seasonal events, lodging, shopping, and surrounding communities all represented opportunities to expand the visitor experience. This created several common destination marketing challenges.
Travelers needed more reasons to choose the destination over competing markets. National awareness needed to increase without relying exclusively on paid media. Local tourism partners needed stronger exposure. Potential visitors needed to see what a complete trip could actually look like. The destination also needed to reach people during the highly competitive travel inspiration and planning phase, before flights, hotels, and activities had already been selected.
For example, a traveler considering several regional destinations might be influenced by:
- A travel article highlighting a three-day itinerary
- An airline email featuring a destination getaway
- A creator showing outdoor activities and local restaurants
- A national lifestyle brand collaborating on a travel campaign
- A social video showcasing an unexpected attraction
- A press feature naming the destination among places worth visiting
- A seasonal guide featuring events and experiences
The challenge was not simply generating more impressions. It was creating enough meaningful third-party visibility and compelling destination content to turn curiosity into travel intent.
The Destination’s Marketing Goals
When the tourism organization partnered with 360 Elevated, the goal was to increase destination demand while creating a measurable impact throughout the local visitor economy. The strategy focused on attracting travelers who were likely to do more than simply pass through the destination.
360 Elevated worked to reach visitors who could stay overnight, dine locally, purchase experiences, attend events, explore attractions, shop, rent equipment, and engage with multiple local businesses during their trip. Another priority was expanding how travelers perceived the destination. Rather than allowing the market to be defined by one attraction or one season, campaigns introduced visitors to multiple experiences including outdoor recreation, food and dining, arts and culture, family activities, wellness, shopping, seasonal events, and local neighborhoods.
Airline partnerships and national collaborations helped introduce the destination to travelers outside the immediate drive market, while PR and influencer campaigns added credibility through third-party storytelling. The broader goal was to build a tourism marketing ecosystem that generated awareness before the trip and increased economic activity after travelers arrived.
Goals
Attract New Travelers
Increase Overnight Stays
Grow Visitor Spending
Increase Travel Media Coverage
Promote Local Attractions & Activities
Improve Storytelling
Increase Community Engagement
Support Local Businesses
Create Scalable Systems
Expand Seasonal Visitation
The Destination’s Marketing Results
Through a coordinated mix of public relations, destination storytelling, influencer partnerships, airline collaborations, and creative content, 360 Elevated helped expand the destination’s visibility among travelers outside its traditional audience. Earned media campaigns positioned the destination around timely travel trends, seasonal opportunities, unique local experiences, and itinerary-driven storytelling. Instead of relying on broad destination messaging, 360 Elevated’s PR outreach worked with local journalists and travel publications with specific angles to cover: Weekend getaway itineraries, outdoor adventures, seasonal travel guides, local culinary experiences, family-friendly vacation ideas, local arts and culture features, and affordable trip ideas.
This strategy helped place the destination inside the travel content potential visitors were already consuming while researching trips. Influencer and creator collaborations provided another layer of authentic storytelling. Selected content creators experienced the destination firsthand and produced content around restaurants, lodging, outdoor recreation, attractions, cultural experiences, and local businesses. Instead of simply asking influencers to post a scenic image, campaigns were structured around complete itineraries. A creator might begin the morning at a locally owned café, spend the afternoon hiking or participating in an outdoor activity, visit an attraction, dine at a local restaurant, and stay at a nearby hotel. This approach demonstrated how much travelers could actually experience within the destination. Airline partnerships helped extend reach into strategic markets to reach returning and new visitors. The creative content was integrated into airline marketing channels where travelers were already thinking about upcoming trips. Depending on the campaign, this could include airline emails, destination landing pages, loyalty-member communications, digital placements, or co-branded travel promotions.
Together, these strategies helped generate 109 million targeted impressions, increased website traffic by 43%, and 21% increase in visitor spending while supporting spending across attractions, lodging, dining, retail, recreation, and other tourism businesses. More importantly, the campaign helped change the conversation around the destination.
The 360 Marketing Strategy
At 360 Elevated, we believe destination marketing campaigns should be built around a simple principle: travelers choose experiences, not geographic boundaries. For this destination contract and the campaigns, we developed a strategy designed to give people compelling reasons to visit while making those reasons visible through trusted voices and high-impact partnerships. The strategy connected PR, airline marketing, influencer campaigns, brand collaborations, photography, video production, and destination storytelling into one coordinated tourism marketing system.
Rather than treating each channel independently, campaigns were designed so that one piece of activity could generate momentum across several others. For example, a hosted influencer trip could produce short-form social content, destination photography, partner exposure, itinerary content, website assets, and media opportunities simultaneously. This helped increase both the reach and long-term value of each campaign.
360 Elevated developed PR campaigns designed to earn meaningful destination coverage rather than simply distribute press releases. Our team identified travel trends, seasonal opportunities, destination stories, and newsworthy experiences that could appeal to journalists, editors, travel writers, broadcasters, and lifestyle publications.
Media outreach was supported by photography, destination information, interviews, itinerary suggestions, and local expert access. This gave journalists stronger resources for developing useful, engaging travel stories while positioning the destination in front of audiences actively looking for places to visit.
Multiple types of content were developed around the experiences travelers could actually have once they arrived. Rather than focusing exclusively on scenic destination imagery, 360 Elevated created content around complete visitor experiences.This approach allowed the destination to compete for a broader range of travel searches and traveler interests.
A visitor inspired by outdoor recreation could discover nearby restaurants. Someone interested in a festival could find lodging options. A family researching attractions could discover an entire weekend itinerary. The content connected individual tourism businesses into a larger destination experience.
We developed compelling visual content to highlight real stories and community impact, helping bring OWCAP’s mission to life and create stronger emotional connections.
The strongest destination campaigns reinforced the same message across multiple trusted channels.
For example, a traveler might see a travel creator’s video featuring the destination or read an article about a weekend itinerary several days later, and maybe receive an email featuring flights to the region. Each interaction strengthened familiarity and reduced uncertainty. Instead of relying on one advertisement, the campaigns used multiple forms of media, platforms, and more to resonate with travelers to choose the destination.
We kicked things off by building relationships and strategic brand partnerships to help introduce the destination to audiences that might not have encountered it through traditional advertising. 360 Elevated identified brands whose customers overlapped with the destination’s target travelers.
We partnered with a variety of brands focusing on outdoor activities, food and beverage, hotels & hospitality, and apparel companies. These partnerships helped the destination borrow attention and credibility from established brands while giving partners compelling environments and reasons for their own storytelling.
The destination already had a mix of paid and organic social media content produced. 360 Elevated created a strong social media strategy to base our social media content on, and it connected with and inspired potential guests to imagine themselves at the experience before they arrived. Content was organized around event milestones and audience questions rather than simply posting generic promotional graphics.