I recently took my first trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the first things I saw was that Las Vegas does marketing right.

The lights, the casinos, the beautiful marketing and advertising, the vibe in the streets. Vegas is a wonderful place to be. Now, I will have to admit that I’m not much of a casino gambler, as I like to roll my dice building businesses. But I did find myself negotiating a few hands at the Blackjack table. Hey, when in Vegas, right?

On my return, I quickly found that it is a place that people generally feel strongly about, one way or the other. That means they’ve done a great job building the brand. It’s a place you either love, or love to hate.

It’s hard not to know a thing or two about Vegas, given the prominence it has taken in the media landscape. We’ve all grown up watching movies featuring crazy plots taking place on the strip. The Gangsters, the nightlife, the gambling, etc.

Before hitting the strip, Vegas was just another tourist trap. Sure, I was well aware of it’s reputation for excitement and entertainment, but I never paid much attention to it. It was one of the many sunny spots reaching out in the dead of winter. Sun, sand, bright lights, you know, the usual.

Until you see it for yourself, you don’t really understand the sheer magnitude of the place. The expansive resorts, one after another lining the length of the strip. Each resort could easily take a week to explore every nook and cranny. An almost endless supply of incredible restaurants, luring bars, and shops to peruse. Including the delicious Gordon Ramsay Burger joint, among many.

First impressions: A marketer’s dream

Once I stepped foot off the plane, as a professional marketer, my senses immediately started to tingle. I was walking through the airport, unknowingly singing “Vivaaaaa Las Vegas” to myself. Visions of George Clooney and Brad Pitt scheming in a casino lobby. Without realizing it, the Vegas marketing machine had been hard at work training me my whole life to step off that plane and hit the strip.

As I immersed myself in the city, my mind naturally went to work analyzing and dissecting. Asking how this far flung place in the middle of the desert turned itself into one of the hottest destinations on the globe. Seeing the constant traffic in and out of the McCarran International Airport. The dizzying amounts of cash that has to churn to keep the city’s endless lights beaming is staggering. How do they do it? How do they keep people coming and the cash flowing?

An incredibly elaborate influencer strategy going back 70 years. That’s how.

The Godfather, Casino, the original Ocean’s 11, the new Ocean’s Eleven, Last Vegas, Rainman, The Hangover, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, What Happens In Vegas, Fools Rush In, Vegas Vacation, Honey I Blew Up the Kid…and these are just some of the movies. Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Katy Perry, Faith Hill, Barry Manilow, Sheryl Crow, AC/DC, B-52s have all had their turn putting Las Vegas on the charts and on radio stations the world over. Within just a few minutes, I’ve been able to count 120 movies that were shot in Las Vegas.

I can literally (figuratively…) hear “Vivaaaaa Laaas Vegaaas” playing on a loop in your head as I type this.

Now, I won’t pretend to know all that goes on behind the scenes. How Vegas has been marketing itself as a destination since the 1940s is certainly a well guarded secret. However, I do know the major media focus on Vegas hasn’t been an accident. This takes a lot of very intentional work and planning. Marketing and PR teams working around the clock providing screenwriters, songwriters, and just about anyone with any sort of media influence whatever they need to ensure that Vegas is staying top of mind.

Interestingly enough, there is very little information available about the tactics Vegas has employed to stay top of mind. But as they say, what happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas.

Now, you may be wondering why I sat down to share all of this? Well, two reasons. First off, the sheer magnitude of marketing excellence from one end of the strip to the other is incredibly inspiring.

If you call yourself a marketer, I highly recommend you spend some time in the Nevada desert.

But more importantly, as a reminder that, just like Vegas, it takes a lot of consistent and intentional work to build the necessary top of mind and brand strategy to keep your customers coming through that door, clicking on your search results and keeping your business flowing.

Vegas knows exactly what it stands for. It knows it’s brand through and through. It knows it’s purpose and it knows how to share that purpose in a way that adds value to the world.

What we can learn from this

While your business may not rely on 42 million visitors spending over $35 billion USD annually, it does rely on customers finding you when they need you.

One of the best ways of doing this is to ensure that people who need you today are finding you when they go searching online for the solution to their problem. Whether that problem is lack a beautiful pair of shoes, or whatever it is that you excel at. Putting in the hard work to make sure your brand shows up first will pay dividends.

In the case of this article, this is part of our SEO strategy at Ginger. This article was intentionally written with a certain ratio of keywords that form part of our digital marketing strategy. We have done the research to know what our next customers are going to be searching for. While it may appear as an entertaining and informative piece of content, it also supports our business objectives in a very real, meaningful and measurable way.

Just like the team of marketers out there showing the next big Hollywood writer a great time poolside at the MGM Grand, The Bellagio or the Mirage. We also have to take the time to make sure that we show up where we need to in order to keep the wheels of our business turning.

The Golden Rule of Content Marketing

The golden rule of content marketing is that providing value to your customers always comes first. But by doing that, you are showing them your value, your experience and your expertise. If we also happen to be dropping some finely tuned keywords to ensure that this article is coming up when you go searching for the answer to your next marketing question, well thats ok too.

If you’d like to learn more about how our team at Ginger can help build your brand, find your next customer or solve real and measurable problems for your business, feel free to reach out and contact us.

We’d love to chat.