Speaker: samantha gutting, SVP / Chief Sales Officer
Could you describe a time that Digital Edge helped you?
samantha gutting: Digital Edge has been such an amazing partner for us here in Branson. And there's been so many different times that they have really come through for us in a time of need Or in a time when we, you know, just didn't have the bandwidth to execute everything that needed to be done. So I'm gonna kind of tell a story about probably one of the most impactful times and we're gonna go back a little bit. It was during the pandemic and our president at that time, you know, said, what are you gonna do? You know, what, what do you, how are you gonna reach people? Obviously, we weren't selling, most people weren't selling, but we wanted to, you know, reach out to people and, and stay in contact with them and, you know, and let them know that, that we were here and that we cared. And so what we kind of came up with was a digital FAM experience and while we didn't really know what exactly that meant, we knew that we wanted to reach out to people and maybe give them a moment of calm and, you know, outdoors and the beauty of where we are here in Branson and the Ozark Mountains and our beautiful lakes and our amazing golf courses. So we reached out to Digital Edge, told them the concept and they were all in, I mean, they were all in and we pulled this off in a matter of weeks, not months. So, what came of that is we were at a very minimal team here. Um And we pulled together people here. We had part of our team on a huge a boat out on Table Rock Lake. We had another couple people out on a golf course. We had other people that were at our hotel partners. Some of them were traveling, they were at other hotels in other states and we took live questions and I think we wound up having over maybe somewhere around 250 plus people that signed up for the virtual FAM. People as far away as France, it was really a game changer for the destination during that time. I mean, it brought smiles to people, people had a moment of being outside again and, and we had a good time and that really came through in the entire FAM experience. And what that led to was amazing feedback from buyers from partners, from friends from all over the United States. And it was talked about not only months after, but years after, and we eventually wound up winning an award for our virtual FAM. So, and that, and again, that is just one of the many times that they have really come through for us. We just really look at the Digital Edge team as part of our team. There's really no space between us. We look at them as not only amazing partners in the industry, but we look at them as friends too and we, we wouldn't want to be doing this without them.
How would you describe Digital Edge in three words?
samantha gutting: Three words I would use to describe Digital Edge is responsive, creative and flexible. They have really come through for us so many times, you know, we'll have an opportunity come up that maybe wasn't part of our strategic plan for the year. We'll call them and say, hey, that we have this opportunity and they are, they're on it. I mean, they're right there next to us, helping us come up with a plan with creative, whatever we need. They're super flexible, obviously. Can I add fun in there? They're a lot of fun to work with.
Why is Digital Edge different from other similar products or services?
samantha gutting: I think the, the biggest difference I've seen in working with Digital Edge as our meetings marketing agency is that they don't make you feel like a client. They don't feel like your agency, you feel like you are on the same team. You know that when they ask you to do something that they're all in on it too. That, it's not sales oriented, everything is a collaboration. It's a lot of trust and it's a really, really nice collaboration with them.
What value does Digital Edge provide your sales and marketing effforts?
samantha gutting: One of the biggest values with Digital Edge is that they understand the D.M.O world. They understand who we work with, who our partners are here in market, not just clients and buyers, but they understand the relationship with our partners, our hotel partners, our attraction, all of our stakeholders here in the community because they come from that background. So they have the experience and they understand. So they, they also know the pressures that we have here as a D.M.O and they really come alongside us and help take a lot of the, the work off of our team and they take it on themselves and execute in a timely fashion in an orderly fashion. And it's just, it's really been a game changer for our team and honestly, for morale within the team, it's great to have somebody that you can rely on and there's no concern for the end product.
