Marketing Happy Hour - Getting Innovative: Pitching and Launching New Content Strategies | Michelle Westfall of Universal Parks & Resorts

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

Brace yourselves. We're going on a ride. 🎢 This week, Erica and Cassie sit down with Michelle Westfall, Senior Content Strategist at Universal Parks & Resorts.  Michelle peels back the curtain on her career journey of starting in broadcasting and landing ultimately in content strategy. She shares this story to encourage listeners that "it's okay" to pivot in your marketing career. Aside from chatting about all things career, Michelle dives into Universal's content planning process for the Discover Universal Podcast, the parks' YouTube channel, and other digital marketing platforms.  It was actually Michelle's idea to launch a podcast for the brand and she walks us through that process -- from building the confidence to bring a new idea to the table, to crafting a pitch with relevant data, and collaborating with her team to make her idea a reality. We're excited for you to tune in to hear about Michelle's exciting career in broadcasting and hospitality - so without further ado, grab your favorite beverage and listen to this week's Marketing Happy Hour conversation.  ----- Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Michelle's episode: Creating Unforgettable Customer Experiences Online | Stephen Kubiak of Universal Parks & Resorts Why Every Brand Needs a Podcast, AND How to Build One | Rita Richa of Reignite Media ____ Say hi! DM us on Instagram and share your favorite moments from this episode - we can't wait to hear from you!  Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. NEW: Check out our website! NEW: Join our email list! Follow Michelle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrs_westfalling/ Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-w-464a9961/ Check out Mr. Westfall's Craft a Brew: https://craftabrew.com/ Listen to the Discover Universal Podcast: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/32NWYoq0LIGEDivT6DG53W Apple - https://apple.co/3ozK0Xh Watch Ride Guys on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ5aZfhnL-0&list=PLIjU8lNECAo9vDZe29TLRZ_8li3qhzuEW Follow MHH on Instagram: https://instagram.com/marketinghappyhr Follow MHH on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-happy-hour/ Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing Happy Hour Weekly: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/marketing-happy-hour-weekly-6950530577867427840/ Join our Marketing Happy Hour Insiders LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9238088/

Hey there, welcome to the Marketing Happy Hour podcast, where each week we're learning career-defining advice, powerful social media strategies, unique creative tips, groundbreaking influencer marketing tactics, and more from marketing experts that represent some of the world's leading brands. Let's dive in. Grab a drink and join your hosts hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners. We are thrilled to welcome Michelle Westfall to the show this week. Michelle is the Senior Content Strategist at Universal Parks and Resorts, working on audio and video content for the parks.

Cassie and I spoke with her co-worker Steven in season one and had a blast, so we knew going into this interview that we'd have even more fun, but we didn't realize just how much. It was so cool to hear a behind-the the scenes look at the Discover Universal podcast, how Michelle navigated the process of pitching this new idea to her team and her overall career journey from broadcasting to PR to social and ultimately landing in content strategy. If you're curious about dipping your toes into a new content area, grab your favorite drink and let's take a ride. Get it? Because universal. Okay, here we go. Hey, Michelle, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Doing well. We are so excited to chat with

you today. We had one of your coworkers on the podcast, gosh, I think back in season one to talk about all things, social, uh, universal content, everything that you guys are up to excited to dive into that conversation. But first we have a very important question for you as it is called marketing happy hour, Michelle, what is in your glass tonight? So tonight it's going to be craft beer. My husband's actually a home brewer, so we always be craft beer my husband's actually a home brewer so we always drink craft beer and I'm actually meeting him at a brewery after this so just pre-gaming with some craft beer oh my gosh that's so cool wait is it craft beer that he brewed at home then that you're doing oh my gosh that's incredible wow that awesome. Very on brand for marketing happy hour. I love that.

Cassie, we got to start our own line. I know, I know, I know. It's so cool too. We've had a lot of people on behalf of some bigger brands, but no one that actually brews at home. So that's so cool. But does he want to make it a bigger thing or is it just kind of a hobby that he has at home? So it's funny you asked, he actually not to make this about him but he has so he sells craft beer equipment it's called craft to brew it's really cute not a shameless plug oh my gosh that's amazing well you'll have to send us the info we can put it in the show notes for anyone out there looking for some brewing at home tools. Yeah. It's like a do it yourself craft beer kit. So like anyone can do it, but that's so cool. Cassie,

what's in your glass. I am drinking. So it's been a while since I've had a fun beverage, but I'm actually drinking a glass of Rose. I do not unfortunately know the brand, but it's quite good. And I have water as well. Always double fisting. So what about you, Erica? Well, it's actually kind of fun. I was hoping that you would ask because I'm very excited about it. I just was in Chicago visiting actually a friend and one of our past guests, Emma Wolgast. And I went to this grocery store there called Foxtrot. And I, I'm going to tell you guys,

I am obsessed with this grocery store. I went there probably like four times and I was only in Chicago for like three days. So that tells you something, but it's their brand of vodka. And it's a collaboration with like a Chicago based hard seltzer company. So it's Ruby red sea vodka with grapefruit, lemon, cardamom, and salt. And it's really good. Really, really good. Love it. Michelle, you've had an exciting career starting in broadcasting, and now you're the senior

content strategist for universal. Could you give us a brief overview of your journey and how you got to where you are today? Yeah, absolutely. So I actually went to University of Central Florida. I know. Go Knights. Go Knights. I went to school for broadcast journalism and I minored in film. So content was really always in my veins, I guess. You know, I was always looking to create something, whether it was TV or my dream was to work on a TV set, like a talk show or really to work on like a show like Ellen was kind of the goal. As I was going to school for broadcast journalism, I thought, okay, you know, kind of dip your toes and being a reporter, being a producer. I liked the producer side a little bit more. And so when I

graduated, I moved home. And as one does, you know, I started applying to jobs to be a reporter because you're like, okay, I graduated from broadcast journalism. That's what I have to do. And I noticed that most of the jobs were in small markets and I would have to move to a random state in the middle of nowhere. I'm from South Florida. So I was like, I don't know if I can make that leap. Like I'm from Miami. It's a pretty big city. And so I ended up, my dad, funny enough, knew somebody who was working for the Fox affiliate in Miami and landed me a job as a writer working for this Fox affiliate, which I thought was so cool. I just graduated. I'm a writer now. This is amazing. Come to find out it actually was an overnight job.

It was, oh gosh, hard time. I literally, I worked from two o'clock in the morning to 8 a.m. Wow. Friday, literally part time. Like they created our hours so they were part time hours. Literally, we would finish work and be like, do we go party or do we go to sleep? Right. You know, and I learned a lot from that job. Of course it was, it was writing for basically would have different news articles that we would rewrite to fit the voice

of the station. And so if I backtrack a little bit, when I was in school, I interned at a station in Orlando and because I, I became friends with them on, this is weird, but I became friends with them on Facebook and I was posting a lot about Miami and how crazy these stories were. And someone reached out to me and was like, Hey, I see that you're working in Miami as a writer. Are you interested in being a producer? And I was like, yeah, that sounds pretty cool. I'll come to Orlando. I interviewed, I did a writing test. They also asked me if I was interested in the assignment desk. And I was like, I think producing sounds pretty cool in theory. So long story short, got that job, started working as a producer in Orlando. My little sister moved

up with me as well. And as I started working in news, I really liked the aspect of creating content and putting out a show, but it was very, very taxing. It was very depressing. It just kind of, I say my little sister moves with me because I was very paranoid for her every day. I was like, where are you? What are you doing? I heard about this situation down the street. There was an accident that I just wrote about.

Were you driving? Are you okay? And so from there, I had some friends who were working in marketing at Universal and they were like, you know, we think you'd be really good if you wanted to come work on the public relations team. That's kind of what you're doing, but on the other side. And I was like, yeah, that's, that sounds cool. So I applied to the public relations team, got a job. It was actually a temporary position at the time, but I got to open the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter. So cool. Very cool.

But it's funny because the shift was very drastic. It was one of those things where I was like, oh, I'm like learning a whole new career that I literally didn't go to school for. You know, I kind of know what to do but I got to open this whole land we opened a new hotel and I met a lot of people through that so that's kind of part of what led me to where I am today which if you look at my LinkedIn I then moved over to work at SeaWorld for a little bit it was a hot minute only because I, to be transparent, you know, financially just needed some help. So moved over to SeaWorld. It was doing public relations, but I started working

in social media a little bit. So that's kind of where I started dipping my toes in social media. Kind of self-taught again, you know, I think there was a mix of the producing side of things. And then also, you know, working in public relations and learning that whole side of things. And then also, you know, working in public relations and learning that whole side of things, it was blending the two worlds into what social media is. Then I started working for Lowe's hotels. So someone that I had met through Universal, when we opened one of the hotels led me to that job. And I was a social media manager for Lowe's hotels. Did that for a little bit. And because I was working so closely with Universal, they ended up creating a spot. It was dedicated to content

for hotels and I moved back to Universal. So I've been there for about five years. Right before COVID happened, actually, they kind of took a look at the team. It's a big social media team, if Stephen may have mentioned. And they looked at everyone's strengths and said, okay, you know, these people are great at social media. These people are great at Instagram, for example. And me and my team now, we're a little more focused on content. So sitting on my team is the blog as well as video. And I recently started the podcast. So when they shifted us, that's kind of where my new role took place, which was a senior content strategist, really focusing on video and podcasts. I went a little longer, but that's my whole day. No, I love it. We love to hear that that we like to hear like every step of the way

and how that led to like your next step and everything and I think it's helpful helpful for listeners to hear that too because you know you might be in a position where you're like I don't know what my next step is and honestly none of us do so yeah I think that's huge too because I feel like in my career, I was like, okay, I went to school for this, so I have to do this. Right. And I think if anything I learned, you don't have to, you know, you can learn along the way and not to be cliche, but like everything happens for a reason, I think. Yeah, absolutely. And you sharing kind of the whole evolution of your career too, um, leads to this notion that within marketing and PR, there's so many different little nuances and

roles that you can get within that world. Like for me, I started in PR and I've slowly pivoted into social media and into marketing and then back into PR. And so it's good to hear that story and that journey that you've been through, because someone may be encouraged by that idea that it's okay to kind of move around and find your niche and something that you want to move into ultimately. And it's always evolving, which is good. So that's really great to, to hear from you. And that kind

of leads to my question that, um, through all of these shifts and these changes in your career, uh, going from broadcasting to PR to now social, do you have any words of encouragement or even tips for professionals looking to make slight industry shifts and kind of what, what would you say to them? If people are a little bit worried about making those shifts and kind of what, what would you say to them? If people are a little bit worried about making those shifts and jumping around a little bit and trying to find that piece where they really fit in the world of marketing. I would say it's okay to go with your gut. You know, I think a lot of times I even said it earlier where I was like, I went to school for this. So I have to do this. I think it's okay to really take a step back and find what your passion is. I mentioned early on,

my passion was creating content, whether it was news, whether it was a TV show, you know, eventually maybe who knows, but that's what I do now, you know? So it all kind of just came full circle to take a leap. Like it's okay to test out a few things to end up getting to where you are. And if it doesn't work out, it's okay. I think that's definitely something that I would tell everybody is, you know, it's okay to take risks.

So I think that's what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with that. And even if it doesn't work out, then you find the next thing that you're supposed to be doing. So I totally agree with that. Yeah. So shifting gears just a little bit, the hospitality industry offers a unique opportunity for content and community engagement. What strategies for content have worked well for your team at Universal? And how is that similar or different from some of your past experiences working with hotels and theme parks? So I think the approach we take here is really learning from insights and kind of, I mean, actually listening to what people are asking us. And, you know,

for a good example right now is one of the series that I'm working on is an attraction guide. So I took a look at the website and I thought, okay, if I put myself in the guest's shoes and I thought, I want to come to this park, but I don't really know anything about it. I see that there's rides, but what are these rides like? And I kind of took those insights and we worked with our marketing, the rest of the marketing team to say, okay, you know, what other things do we need to include in here? Pulling again from consumer insights, from things that we're seeing out in social media and saying, okay, let's put together something where we actually inform people of these rides

and attractions. So there came a series I'm working on right now called ride guys. It's out on YouTube shameless plug again, fun series. So it's these two guys that kind of give you all the information you need to know before coming to universal of the rides individually. So if you're maybe worried about a roller coaster, you can kind of watch this video and say, okay, my let's say I'm coming with my family, you know, my nephew can ride this ride because it's, you know, you have to be this tall or there's child swap available if you can't ride. So I can sit and wait. So it's just kind of like pulling all

those insights to say, okay, what do people really want to know? You know, we have some commercials out there that say come to universal, but why should they come to Universal? Are the rides good for them? Oh, that's awesome. How do you find that consumer insight? Is that something that you guys put out surveys around? Or is it just a wider effort from the whole Universal team? Like, how do you source that insight? That's a good question. It comes from a team that actually works on consumer insight.

So sometimes you'll see people in the park getting surveys. That will sometimes come back to our team. Sometimes they'll do small groups to just kind of see, OK, if you're an example is, one time they had people just kind of like sit in front of a computer and they recorded their actions and they were like, OK, book a trip to Universal. And so they kind of watched and they said, okay, we're coming to Orlando. And then they searched the competitor. Okay. Universal, I'm going to go here. And they were like, no, no, no, no, no. Like that's not the right place. So pulling things like that. We have a whole team dedicated to it. So we usually will go to the team and say, Hey, we're working on this thing. Can you help us with what we need?

So Michelle, you mentioned a lot about YouTube and those strategies that you've been implementing with the team recently. How has the impact of video kind of affected the brand overall and how you're connecting with consumers? It's been huge. I think that's one thing we really focus our efforts on is creating a series that's not only for the guests to search the website and find content, but also using YouTube as a place that people are just quickly consuming content. Like they finish a video, they move on to the next one. We put a lot of paid effort behind it so that it's also going to people who may not even be searching it, but it'll kind of pop up in their feed if they're interested in universal. So we've put a lot of effort into that. And then

honestly pulling, you know, we, we go back and we'll filter through the comments and say, okay, people are really asking about this, or, you know, maybe they have a negative comment. We're taking that into consideration to kind of shift and change things for the future. So just really putting a lot of effort into also rebranding YouTube. I know YouTube is constantly shifting and changing. So we're taking a look at, you know, what does the homepage look like? What, what are the thumbnails look like? You know, should we change that? Even, even today, you know, we've had a discussion just last week on, should we right now ride guys? The series is all kind of this blue color and we thought, okay, maybe we should change that. And should we make it all

colored again? So, you know, just constantly shifting and changing and seeing what's best for that platform. That's awesome. We had Angelica song. She works at YouTube on the podcast as well. And she was talking a lot also about YouTube shorts. So you guys should look into that as well. And she was talking a lot also about YouTube shorts. So you guys should look into that as well. It's kind of like TikTok. I think I haven't really explored that platform too much, but that might be a good idea too, for what you guys are doing on YouTube. So we love that you pioneered the creation of the discover universal podcast was creating a podcast and idea that your team welcomed? Yes. Yes. And also having to get buy off from the team. So this is a bit of advice I will also give to people. So the podcast actually

happened because we came home from COVID and we were like, oh no, video is very challenging right now. People are wearing masks and the park was closed for a long time. And it had actually been my director's dream to have a podcast. He came from radio. I also internet radio. So I was like, okay, we have something in common. And, you know, I think a podcast would be really cool for the future, but we also work for a corporation. So I thought this is probably going to be really challenging and, you know, will it ever happen? Who knows? So when we were home for COVID, I was, it was around the time when I was working on the attraction series as well. I was kind of going through the website. I was thinking about things that we could do to be innovative in the future. I said to any of my director one day, and I said,

Hey, I've been researching podcasts and I think we should maybe explore the space a little bit. And he was like, yes, let's do it. I was like, oh, okay. All right. We're doing this now. Cool. Okay. So then, you know, I put together a deck. I, it was, it was all this research that I had found about podcasts. It was my ideas for the podcast, which is some advice I would give to people to, you know, if you have an idea, speak your mind, you know, bring it up to your leadership, let them know you have this great idea. Even if I think imposter syndrome is a big thing right now. And I'm not going to lie. It happens to me sometimes where I'm like, should I be doing this? Am I qualified to do this? But I think just being strong and saying I can do this and it's going to be great. And I can shift and this? But I think just being strong and saying,

I can do this and it's going to be great. And I can shift and change just like I have in my career. So, you know, it was about six months worth of pitching and saying like, this is the reason we need this. This is why we need budget for this. I actually partnered with the entertainment team here at Universal. We hired two hosts.

So I don't speak on the podcast. I produce it. But these two great hosts, Carrie and David, here at Universal. We hired two hosts. So I don't speak on the podcast. I produce it, but these two great hosts, Carrie and David, who do a fantastic job. We, and honestly, when we look to hire them, we didn't just look for people who could speak really well or be performers. We really looked for people who loved Universal, loved the brand, could easily talk about it without me having to give them the script. So the whole podcast is unscripted. That was part of the pitch was it's going to be unscripted.

So, you know, it was a big undertaking. Leadership was on board. You know, of course, it's the first year of it. So just recently, actually, I would say a couple of weeks ago, we presented all of the metrics coming out of the podcast and, you know, we have a 70%, about 70, 75% retention rate, which is fantastic. You know, people are around if they're listening to the episodes. Our primary focus and our pitch for it was to be a planning podcast. So if you've never been to Universal, you can kind of pop on the episodes while you're busy doing something else and hopefully get a couple nuggets, you know, to plan your trip. And we're looking to shift that. So we're looking to actually move more into the niche, you know, audience or fans, give them a little more of what they want. Cause I know there's been some comments and of course they're like, I want to learn more about Universal and not just, you know, I already know this stuff. I don't need that.

So, um, yeah, but it's, it's been great so far. Um, like I said, there's learning curves, right? You know, there it's brand new for the business. It's brand new for corporation that goes through, you know, licensors and legal teams and stuff like that. So it's been interesting, but fun. Yeah. That's such a cool perspective to hear how an already established brand started their own podcast. How did you go about figuring out, okay, how am I recording this? What the content should

be each week? How do you source, I don't know if you have guests or content ideas, how do you kind of go about coming up and concepting every week of the podcast? That's a great question. So the host was the first thing that we wanted to tackle. So we worked with entertainment for that piece and actually in the process of it, I, the same team said, you know, we have some engineers. If you're looking for help, we can supply you with somebody who works part-time in the parks. They actually work on some of the events like Halloween Horror Nights and Mardi Gras, things like that. So he does some of the audio in park and came on. We actually are really lucky. We have a radio broadcast center in the park. So it's actually inside Universal Studios Florida. There's actually like a little

radio studio. So we utilize that. We record weekly in there. He sets up his equipment. I work with him on editing. So it's a really small team. It's just the four of us. It's me providing all the feedback. I think sometimes that's a big misconception too, where people are like, you have a huge team at Universal. Like you should be having, this podcast should be great. And I'm like, yeah, it's just me. But yeah, so we utilize that infrastructure. We utilize him to record and edit the podcast as well. Something we look at is kind of what's going on in the year. So for example, the first few episodes, they were all about planning. So we thought, okay, let's do a deep dive on Islands of Adventure. Let's do a deep

dive on Universal Studios Florida Universal's Volcano Bay and then from there we took a look at the calendar so coming up soon it's Halloween Horror Nights we started recording some episodes for Halloween Horror Nights having to do that way in advance so that's something that's planned when it comes to picking guests we look at who would be best suited to talk about that subject so for example we recently had an episode about the store that's inside of our park called the tribute store and for that we reached out to the creators of the store they came on to talk about their perspective on their they have a pretty small team that they work with for that for the island adventure episode we

recently launched the jurassic Velocicoaster. So we had a guest on who worked on that project. Basically looking for the expert in that subject matter or someone who can speak to that subject that we're looking for. Michelle, you mentioned how you're kind of the podcast manager within the team, helping with editing and the production side of things, seeing that podcasting, although it's been around for a very long time, it still seems to be something that brands are adopting now more and more. And we're seeing positions within companies pop up for podcast manager or someone on the marketing team who's going to assist with podcast

management. So for you and your role, helping to manage the podcast that you all created, what do some of the tasks look like for you in that specific position? Yeah. So some of the tasks are looking at the schedule. So looking at schedules for when we want to record a certain episode, making sure that the hosts are scheduled to record that day. They actually don't work full-time for us. They come in as needed. Looking at what guests we want to be on the episode. So making sure that they have a calendar invite to come to the recording at a certain time, making sure that we have mapped out the flow of the day. So, you know, what are we going to record

first and foremost? Do we have what we call pickups for them to re-record something? Do we have an interview coming in? Is there a certain time of day, you know, factoring lunch into all of that? And after we record the episode, working with the engineer to send us a cut of the episode, I'll work with him very closely to edit the episode down quite a bit. And then from there, we take the episode and start to submit it for approvals. So we do work for a corporation. It does take a little bit longer. We recently had somebody on an episode that's coming out in a couple of months and they were like, really? It takes that long? I'm like, yeah.

Approvals, man. Yeah. It's not just me saying, yeah, that sounds great. Let's publish it. It's a little more involved. I have my managers involved in it. So I'll listen to something, I'll make a first pass and then I'll send it to my leadership team to take a listen to. From there, it goes to our internal team. So our internal brand teams will take a lesson to it and make some comments usually those are pretty minimal and then from there it goes to a legal team that we have I will say nothing but nice things about our legal team yes I will say that sometimes things take a little longer due to that and depending on the episode if we have some license words in the episode it'll go to the licensor teams so something i'll do is

once it's kind of in that final stage i transcribe the whole episode and i'll have to highlight where the licensors are within the episode so that they can quickly go and glance and say okay this is where you mentioned me you know and and if they want to listen to the whole episode, they can, but usually they'll kind of skip to that part that mentions them in the episode. Then from there, get it back. We'll write show notes for the episode as well. And if it has license or inclusion, that'll go as well. But typically we'll try to keep them pretty generic and just include links that's needed. And then I will also schedule the episodes to go live at, you know, as they become available. A lot of the times it's really working through the comments that come through. So, you know, setting up time to rerecord a couple of things or edit out things. So that process just takes a

little bit of time, but then the episode is published and we kind of move on to the next one. I will say sometimes like right now I'm working on four at. My day job is also in podcast management. And so I completely sympathize with you and totally understand where you're coming from with everything. I'm sure we could talk for a long time about all the fun things around podcasting. What are you using right now? If you're able to say to schedule the podcast to go live, are you using a software? Yeah, I'm using a software called art 19. Okay. I'm not familiar with that one. It's the reason we're using it is because I was actually looking to see if NBC already used a podcast platform. And when I searched them, it came up. So that's how we ended up using them. Got it. That's awesome. Which was also an undertaking to make sure they're in the system

and vetted. Yeah. Yeah. Craziness. How are you marketing the podcast right now and bringing awareness to the brand through it? Yeah. So we're using social media, of course, first and foremost. So when an episode goes live, I'll let the social media side of our team know that we have an episode coming up and they'll market that on, you know, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. We also post it on YouTube right now. We're not doing video, but we will soon right now. It just kind of has a thumbnail up top and has a little bit of the, you know, lines that move, but publishing it through there, working with our CRM team so they'll take episodes as they come and probably depending on where when they're going out they'll have them come out like they'll do the email maybe like a month or two later so sometimes it doesn't correlate with each

other it just depends on the timing of the email going out and the timing of our episode going out we are working with our email team to also have a bug underneath so that anytime an email does go out, you'll see that Discover Universal podcast. And then we're also publishing to the blog. So anytime there's a new episode that comes out, let it go out as a blog post as well. What have been some of your favorite and most memorable episodes to work on so far? So I mentioned earlier, the tribute store was a pretty cool episode. I think because that one was so niche and so interesting, I knew we had a store. I knew that they were decorated and they looked really cool, but hearing the team talk about their passion behind the store was really, really cool. And they gave us a tour

right before we went and recorded. So it was just a really cool, you know, environment to be with a team that was so passionate to talk about it. That's so awesome. I still need to listen to the podcast, but you're selling it to me. So I can't wait to listen. And also I've never been to Halloween horror nights and I really want to go. So if there is a good planning one about that, I'll have to tune in for that one as well. Yeah. We should be having one that comes out talking about like what's coming for this year. So that will be really cool. We've announced quite a bit, but this will be a little more in depth, which is cool. That is awesome. I can't wait to listen to that one. Do you have any tips? I know you touched on this just a little bit and kind of being,

you know, bold and putting your ideas out there, but do you have any specific tips for professionals that are looking to pitch and present some new ideas to their team, whether that's a podcast or maybe a new influencer, or maybe just a whole new social platform or something along those lines? Do you have any tips for anyone looking to present new ideas? Yeah, I think have a lot of data to support you. So creating a deck to really talk to the reason you want to pitch it. That's what really helped me with the podcast, especially was not only coming and saying, we need a podcast. We don't have a podcast, but saying, this is why we need a podcast. These are't have a podcast, but saying this is why we need a podcast. These are some numbers behind it. These are some things that are going on in market right now that are

really interesting and why we should get into this space. You know, also just letting them know we don't have this right now was a big thing. And they said, why don't, why don't we have this right now? Go with your gut on the idea. You know, I think having the metrics to support you, but also being strong and presenting it in a way where you sound confident and passionate about this thing and why you need to have it to your point, whether it's an influencer that you feel really strongly would benefit the company, or you feel a podcast would benefit the company because it's a new idea that we've never done before and having all that support behind you. Yeah, absolutely. I actually was thinking on it too. Data is really important. I would totally recommend everybody back up their ideas with data.

Cassie and I recently went to USF and spoke with some marketing students in one of the classes. And we talked about the podcasting industry and how it's on track to be a $4 billion industry in two years. So jumping on that and like understanding what's out there, the buzz around whatever industry you're trying to break into or whatever idea that you have is definitely a great idea. Yeah. Even for the podcast, you know, we, we have a blog and the blog is fantastic, like absolutely wonderful, but you know, people sometimes will skim the blog quickly and kind of look for a couple of points that they need. Whereas for podcasts I mentioned earlier, people are really sticking around. If you're listening to this thing, maybe they're taking a walk, maybe they're downloading before their trip. They're actually listening to most of the

30 to 45 minute episode because they have the time. They set aside the time to do it. That's awesome. And Michelle, we could talk podcasting literally all day. I have so many questions that are probably, but I want to circle back to just social media and content in general or campaigns. Let's just say you have a need or a new ride that's opening or something happening within the business. How do you identify the needs of the business and then create content around them? What is kind of that strategy process look like for your team when coming up with ideas for promoting something internally that's going on to an external audience? Yeah. So for the most part, when we have something new coming in,

the teams will all kind of get together throughout marketing. So it won't just be social media alone. We'll kind of ideate on the side, but it'll be the whole marketing team to say, this is what we're doing. These are the needs coming out of that. And then we'll take those insights and say, okay, from this, what can we create? I have a good example from a couple of years ago when I was a little more focused on social media, I was focused specifically on hotels and they said, okay, we have this new product for the Jurassic world kids suites, um, at Lowe's world Pacific resort, which was really cool. And I love Jurassic park. So it was like Jurassic world. So I was like, this is really cool. But they kind of gave me a couple insights and said, okay, we want to promote this thing. This is why these are the reasons. And then we

went to the side and said, okay, how can we brainstorm a social media tactic to bring this to life in a really cool and impactful way? So we came up with a video, which is kind of why I am where I am today. And the video was basically this little boy so we said okay kids will want to stay in this suite and kids also they play with little toy dinosaurs so what we did is had this video where this little boy is playing with these toy dinosaurs and as the camera starts to pan around it turns into our actual in-park raptor and And so he's kind of like in there, you know, he trains the little three raptors and then he starts to train the really big raptor.

And as the camera comes back around, he's back in the room, you know, kind of selling the room as this really cool experience. That's also something you can experience when you go in the park. So blending the two together and using, again, those insights

from not only the needs of the park, but also the needs of the parents, you know, and what the little boy does, you know, in his house with those little toy dinosaurs. The funny thing is actually with this video, when we hired the kid to come, he, he came with a backpack full of dinosaurs. That's just what he does. Wow. What a perfect fit. No. Yeah. I was like, he's been carrying around this backpack all day and his mom's like, yeah, it's all his toy dinosaurs. I'm like, wow. Okay. This was perfect. Yeah. It was awesome. Oh my goodness. And so you mentioned to earlier that there's a

lot of different departments within the marketing team at universal, as we can imagine. I mean, you guys have so many different entities and projects going on and events and things like that. So let's just say, for example, for new upcoming ride openings, let's say your team presents it to you. They come to you and they say, we're opening Velocicoaster.

How do all of the departments internally at Universal increase communication to ensure all the messaging is consistent? Everyone's aligned within the marketing team and that all of those projects and campaigns around those launches are really consistent. So meetings, I will say we have a lot of meetings here. We have weekly meetings to kind of say, okay, this is what's coming, whether it's Halloween hornets or a new offering.

For example, there's something coming to CityWalk in a couple months that we've already announced, but it's this new offering at CityWalk. And they'll say, okay, we're all kind of tracking towards an opening date. So we actually use a system called Workfront and we'll kind of project manage in there to say, okay, this is what social is doing for the opening of this new thing coming. This is what we're doing for video, for podcasts, you know, I'll create a podcast for it as well. And so we kind of work in the system through the meetings. So we'll say, you know, these are, these are all what all the teams are doing and everyone will kind of track

towards that. So long story short, it's a lot of meetings here at Universal. It's definitely pretty meeting heavy. Yeah, I can imagine that, but it all ends up working out well and you would never know how much work goes into every project. I'm sure. Do you guys utilize any creators or influencers on your side of things for content or is everything pretty much created in house? So for the most part, it's created in house. We have worked with influencers. I actually had a great privilege to work with Zach King before he, it was actually literally like the month before COVID happened, we worked with him. We have a whole team dedicated to influencer marketing as well. So it's not me, but I, on my team, there is someone who focuses on that. So

he'll work with anything from creators that are a little smaller and just more super fans to a little bigger, you know, larger influencers. That's awesome. So we do love to ask this on the podcast and we are approaching the end of your interview here, even though I feel like we still have so many things that we could talk to you about. But what do you know now that you wish you knew early on in your career? I think I would want to know it's okay to make changes. It's okay to not do what you think you have to do. And it's okay to change your career to better yourself. I think a lot of times too, you're so focused on, I mean, I said this earlier, but you think I want to go to school to do this thing. When I first went to college, I was like, I'm going to be a journalist. I want to work in

newspaper. And I had a professor who was like, no, that's dying. Don't do that. So I said, okay, I'll go into broadcast journalism. I'm going to be a reporter. And then I, I'm not doing that either, but you know, it all kind of full circles back into content, which is really cool. And I think that's a big piece of advice is just follow your gut, follow, you know, it's okay to make changes. It's okay to leave and come back. I actually was at universal on the PR team. Like I said, I left for a couple of years and I came back and I'm doing what I love doing now. So definitely follow your gut. I love that. And I love that that circles back to the beginning of the episode. It's just a whole great synergy here and very consistent.

So that's awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah. And I'm glad you mentioned too, about leaving and coming back. You know, if you leave on the right foot, there's no reason that that door still remains open. And so I think a lot of times we don't think about that as an opportunity that, you know, you never know. If that option's available to you and you feel like that's the right fit later on in your career, then why not? And so I'm glad you mentioned that as well. Yeah, absolutely.

Michelle, thank you so much for sharing everything with us today. It was so fun to catch up on everything you're up to as well as your team at universal, but where can everyone continue to follow along in your journey and everything exciting happening in your career? So I would say LinkedIn is probably the best place to follow me for work updates. So Michelle Westfall on LinkedIn. And I use Twitter sparingly for work things really not too often, but it's Michelle UOR. So M-I R. So M I C H L U O R. And then I'm on Instagram as Mrs. Underscore West falling. Love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Michelle. We're excited to get this out there and to all of our listeners. And thanks again for just sharing

your story and everything you have going on with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you. This has been fun. Thank you. Welcome back, riders. How was your ride? I've always wanted to say that. So thanks so much to Michelle for providing me with a super cheesy but so fun opportunity to do so. We stayed on for a while after this recording to chat about all things podcasting and universal. And we're super excited to meet Michelle for a Marketing Happy Hour in real life pretty soon. If you enjoyed this episode,

please remember to rate us and leave a review. And as always, follow us on social media at Marketing Happy Hour. That's at Marketing Happy HR.