Introduction
Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau, on the Southwest coast of Florida, is a destination that touts wonderful outdoor experiences and a laid-back lifestyle. As the Visitor and Convention Bureau for Charlotte County, Florida, they introduce the destination to national and international visitors, focused on staying top-of-mind when travelers are searching for leisure, sports, and meetings and conventions. The team partnered with Sojern on a co-op campaign to drive partner engagement, stretch marketing budgets, and help local businesses to drive bookings.
Objectives
In the past, the Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau primarily focused on print and other traditional forms of marketing for much of their advertising. In 2021, they partnered with Sojern to enhance their marketing plans and implement programmatic digital advertising targeting travel intenders. The focus on travel intent was critical. Due to the success of their initial programs, the team sought to expand their plans with Sojern to incorporate a co-op program to help their local partners reach travelers as they moved down the marketing funnel. Like many DMOs, partner engagement is extremely important to their team. This program would not only boost partner engagement but also help partners, both large and small, reach travelers who were ideal for their specific businesses.
The Sojern co-op match program offered even more with its one-to-one-to-one structure, where the DMO could match partner funds, and Sojern would match the contribution in media value. This gave participants three times the value of their investment on a campaign tailored to their specific goals and needs. This allowed the DMO to better support their partners in reaching visitors and help partners increase revenue for their individual business. “When the team shared the co-op program, with the opportunity to do the one-to-one-to-one match, we knew there was no reason in the world that we wouldn’t want to be a part of it. To be able to stretch our dollars and our partners' dollars, all with Sojern’s support—it's a great program,” said Maureen Morgenthien, director of marketing at Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau.
“Partnering with Sojern is one of the best things I've ever been able to bring to the bureau in my role. I'm very pleased with our partnership with Sojern, from the marketing that we do on our own, to the co-op plan which is priceless to us. Our partners love it, we love it. It's been a great relationship and we value it so much. Working with Sojern has made my life a lot easier. We'll continue working with the team for a long time,"
Solution
For the 2024 fiscal year, the Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau activated a co-op campaign that included the regional airport and attraction partners. Running from January to August 2024, it resulted in a 29:1 ROI and $707,056 in estimated economic impact. The campaign drove 2,823 confirmed travelers to the destination with 1,148 flight bookings.
With a smaller team and limited bandwidth to manage a complex co-op program, the Punta Gorda team appreciated how easy it was to work with Sojern, who handled all the heavy lifting. The team primarily focused on top-of-funnel marketing to build awareness and create demand. Through the co-op program, smaller businesses benefited by targeting travelers further down the funnel, helping drive them toward conversion. Sojern put the right message in front of visitors at the right time for each individual partner business that participated.
“The Sojern Co-op program is one of the best programs we've ever presented to our partners and has been the most popular and successful offering in our co-op plan for 2024. We had great feedback from our partners, with one partner sharing that his business in Q1 was measurably increased—it was the best Q1 he ever had. Some partners that never worked with us before took advantage of the program. It accomplished everything we wanted for our small businesses and we got the return on investment over and above what we were hoping for,” Morgenthien said.
About the Partnership
Host:
“Partnering with Sojern is one of the best things I've ever been able to bring to the bureau in my role. I'm very pleased with our partnership with Sojern, from the marketing that we do on our own, to the co-op plan which is priceless to us. Our partners love it, we love it. It's been a great relationship and we value it so much. Working with Sojern has made my life a lot easier. We'll continue working with the team for a long time."
Maureen Morgenthien, Director of Marketing, Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach Visitor & Convention Bureau
Agency:
Hotel Partner:
Attraction Partner:
“After recently running a campaign with Sojern, designed to drive potential museum visitors to our website, we experienced a significant increase in online admissions. At the end of the campaign, our admissions, year-over-year, had increased by 24%. We credit a big portion of the increase to the campaign we conducted with Sojern.”
Gary Butler, Director – Strategic Initiatives, Military Heritage Museum
“Partnering with Sojern is one of the best things I've ever been able to bring to the bureau in my role. I'm very pleased with our partnership with Sojern, from the marketing that we do on our own, to the co-op plan which is priceless to us. Our partners love it, we love it. It's been a great relationship and we value it so much. Working with Sojern has made my life a lot easier. We'll continue working with the team for a long time,"
