Speaker: Rick Leson, Director of Sales & Marketing
What challenges/problems were you needing to solve when you hired Digital Edge?
Rick Leson: We looked to Digital Edge to assist us with our marketing needs. After the pandemic, we were short a few staff members and was running extremely lean and mean and having a company like Digital Edge who could take over our social media needs, who could assist us with the creative needed for sending out E-blasts. It's, it's just been incredible and that's really why we hired Digital Edge and it's been a great success for us.
How has Digital Edge helped your convention center sales and marketing efforts?
Rick Leson: I think Digital Edge has helped our Convention Center in two main ways. What we have learned in Palm Springs is that we have great success once we can get our clients into the destination. Digital Edge early on assisted us with a FAM trip that we do every January. That's the Palm Springs International Film Festival and really worked with us to bring some new clients to the table. So we're happy for that. I think one of the things that impressed me the most is the amount of time that this group has spent here in the destination; speaking to the stakeholders, meeting with the hoteliers and from there creating a really, really nice, neat something I could be proud of micro-site where we send the clients to that site so they can get a better understanding of what we have to offer in regards to citywides here in Palm Springs.
What's one success story that wouldn't be possible without your partnership with Digital Edge?
Rick Leson: I think our greatest success story is the creativity that Digital Edge brings to the table. One of the things that I'm happiest with is the micro site which was created. They came up with a great name. It's not a "meeting planner tool kit", but it's a "Convince Me kit". And once the planners do reach that page, there's an awful lot of information on how we handle our citywide events. It's got all the hotel information and it's just become a nice site, very colorful that we can send our clients to for an understanding of how we do business here in Palm Springs. So that's what I'm most happy with that Digital Edge has accomplished.
How has Digital Edge elevated your convention center's creative and digital presence?
Rick Leson: Our digital presence has increased dramatically. As I mentioned, social media is sort of something which I'm not as familiar with. So we did reach out to Digital Edge to assist with those efforts. And there's not a morning, I don't come in where somebody has reached out, reacted to a Facebook posting and Instagram posting And it's been very positive, it's been a successful program for us. And I think that's how Digital Edge has most helped this process.
