Stakeholder Alignment Matters in Destination Marketing
As I mentioned in a recent Facebook post, I’ve been thinking about the role of “stakeholder alignment” when it comes to growing a local visitor economy.
It feels like a very consultant-speak sort of phrase, the kind of phrase I would normally run a mile to avoid. And the reason it feels like that is that it’s a term that appears frequently in white papers, strategy documents, growth plans and vision papers.
But what does it mean after the document is signed off and the press release is published? Because talking about it is one thing – but doing it is what happens after the press release.
Let’s take something very basic, incredibly simple and something that nearly everyone can identify with: social media.
Imagine a significant event is happening in a town centre. It doesn’t clash with another major local event and it will potentially bring thousands of people into town.
The Town Council didn’t organise it. Neither did the district council, BID or Chamber of Commerce.
Should they promote it? I’d argue that they should.
Not because they have a direct stake in the event, but because they have a stake in the place.
More people coming into town means potential customers for shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants. It gives residents and visitors another reason to spend time there. And a successful event contributes to the perception of the town as somewhere where things happen.
Sharing a post from the organisers costs virtually nothing. It takes seconds. But multiply that amplification across local organisations, businesses and their networks and suddenly you’ve turned the volume up considerably.
But as I’ve seen this in lots of destinations and among entities involved with their marketing and promotion, it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes organisations:
- become territorial (‘if we talk about someone else on our feed, it’ll dilute our message’ or ‘those are OUR followers’)
- work within very narrowly defined remits (‘we didn’t organise it, so it isn’t our job to promote it’)
- have communications policies or organisational structures that create unintentional silos
And that’s where ‘stakeholder alignment’ would help. If everyone involved in a town’s economic, cultural and visitor development has broadly agreed on the direction of travel, somebody else’s successful event isn’t competition. It’s contributing to the same objective.
That doesn’t mean everyone has to move in lockstep. Organisations have different briefs, priorities and audiences. But there ought to be some shared understanding of the place they’re collectively trying to create – and the face they’re trying to present to the outside world.
I know, I know – all those entities were invited to chip in with their views on the growth plans and vision statements. They may have even gotten name checked in the press releases when the documents were published.
But are they bringing any of that ‘on page’ togetherness into the real world?
Does that shared vision ever influence decisions organisations make, such as:
- Do we amplify this event?
- Do we tell our members about that initiative
- Can we connect these two organisations?
- Does their success help us achieve something we’re all trying to achieve?
Because stakeholder alignment isn’t about getting your logo in a line on a strategy document.
It’s about supporting the efforts of fellow stakeholders to achieve success for the place you have a stake in.
