![\"Click](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/bcbe2652-03f9-49fe-b517-acedc47b6f27.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/h2>\n![\"Ashley](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\")
<\/h2>\nAshley Judge<\/h2>\nExecutive director, Destination Salem<\/a><\/h3>\n\n- Fun fact: <\/strong>Ashley lives on the same street as the iconic Ropes Mansion (aka Allison\u2019s house in Hocus Pocus<\/em>) and gives away 1,500 pieces of candy <\/em>every Halloween!<\/li>\n
- Claim to fame:<\/strong> Before Destination Salem, she bootstrapped an ecommerce gift shop called Always Fits to $10m in annual sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/h2>\nLesson 1: Nobody\u2019s offended by \u201cRemember us?\u201d<\/h2>\n
As things start to look spoOoOoky in SEO and social marketing, Ashley Judge is finding scary good success with owned media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich doesn\u2019t feel sexy in 2025, but it is,\u201d Judge says. (Note to self: Sexy Marketing Channel costume?) \u201cAlgorithms change, but emails let us tell our stories and connect to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key, she says, is finding the right mindset. \u201cIt\u2019s not <\/em>a hard sell pitch. It\u2019s just, \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nTo illustrate her point, imagine being on the email list for a local arcade. If your inbox is constantly full of ads, you\u2019re gonna send them straight to spam hell. But if they just send a little hello and maybe some free tokens\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s on a day when you don\u2019t want to go to an arcade, you just won\u2019t go to an arcade. But you\u2019re not likely to be offended by a \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019 campaign.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cAnd then, one day, it\u2019s a Tuesday and you\u2019re bored and you get an email from the arcade, so you go in. But that can\u2019t happen if you\u2019re not emailing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
To find that mindset, Judge recommends imagining you\u2019re sending the message to a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would the accompanying text be if I screenshot this and sent it to one of my friends? It would be very weird if they got a text from Ashley that said \u2018THIS JUST IN!\u2019 But my friends aren\u2019t going to block me if I say \u2018Wouldn\u2019t this be fun?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesson 2: Marketing is removing barriers.<\/h2>\n
What would you do if you were expecting over 1 million visitors, but only had 3,000 parking spots available?<\/p>\n
Personally, I\u2019d curl into a ball and cry. But Judge had a better idea: Convince them to take the train. So she scooped up a dozen of Salem\u2019s many colorful street performers and whipped up a campaign around riding Salem\u2019s public transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every facet of marketing, there\u2019s always an opportunity to remove barriers. We\u2019re answering business and customer service challenges.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Photo credit: Jessica Shada<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\nAnalyzing the problems that exist along your customer journey is a great way to inspire useful marketing content and boost your metrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have millions of eyeballs, any small barrier to conversion could be the loss of thousands of orders.<\/strong> A really small example: a pamphlet that\u2019s been distributed to motor coaches for years, that was meant to be a trifold, that got uploaded as a PDF. Who wants to read an upside-down PDF?\u201d<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re not sure what haunts your audience, I bet your Sales and CS teams have a clue. And you\u2019ll be their new best friend if you ask them.<\/p>\n
Lesson 3: Let your audience tell you who they are.<\/h2>\n
\u201cWhen I worked in ecommerce, we focused on personas like \u2018The Bestie,\u2019 or \u2018The Bird Lover,\u2019 or \u2018The Sweary Friend.\u2019 These hyper-specific profiles made our marketing feel like you were talking to one person at a time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, specific personas as a concept may not be new, but Destination Salem raises it to an artform. Faced with the challenge of a very broad audience with very diverse interests, Judge and her team needed a way to very quickly talk to many different people.<\/p>\n
![\"Ashley](\"http:\/\/blissfulyogaandmassage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ashley-judge-mim-blog.jpg\")
<\/h2>\nAshley Judge<\/h2>\nExecutive director, Destination Salem<\/a><\/h3>\n\n- Fun fact: <\/strong>Ashley lives on the same street as the iconic Ropes Mansion (aka Allison\u2019s house in Hocus Pocus<\/em>) and gives away 1,500 pieces of candy <\/em>every Halloween!<\/li>\n
- Claim to fame:<\/strong> Before Destination Salem, she bootstrapped an ecommerce gift shop called Always Fits to $10m in annual sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/h2>\nLesson 1: Nobody\u2019s offended by \u201cRemember us?\u201d<\/h2>\n
As things start to look spoOoOoky in SEO and social marketing, Ashley Judge is finding scary good success with owned media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich doesn\u2019t feel sexy in 2025, but it is,\u201d Judge says. (Note to self: Sexy Marketing Channel costume?) \u201cAlgorithms change, but emails let us tell our stories and connect to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key, she says, is finding the right mindset. \u201cIt\u2019s not <\/em>a hard sell pitch. It\u2019s just, \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\nTo illustrate her point, imagine being on the email list for a local arcade. If your inbox is constantly full of ads, you\u2019re gonna send them straight to spam hell. But if they just send a little hello and maybe some free tokens\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s on a day when you don\u2019t want to go to an arcade, you just won\u2019t go to an arcade. But you\u2019re not likely to be offended by a \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019 campaign.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cAnd then, one day, it\u2019s a Tuesday and you\u2019re bored and you get an email from the arcade, so you go in. But that can\u2019t happen if you\u2019re not emailing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
To find that mindset, Judge recommends imagining you\u2019re sending the message to a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would the accompanying text be if I screenshot this and sent it to one of my friends? It would be very weird if they got a text from Ashley that said \u2018THIS JUST IN!\u2019 But my friends aren\u2019t going to block me if I say \u2018Wouldn\u2019t this be fun?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesson 2: Marketing is removing barriers.<\/h2>\n
What would you do if you were expecting over 1 million visitors, but only had 3,000 parking spots available?<\/p>\n
Personally, I\u2019d curl into a ball and cry. But Judge had a better idea: Convince them to take the train. So she scooped up a dozen of Salem\u2019s many colorful street performers and whipped up a campaign around riding Salem\u2019s public transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every facet of marketing, there\u2019s always an opportunity to remove barriers. We\u2019re answering business and customer service challenges.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Photo credit: Jessica Shada<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\nAnalyzing the problems that exist along your customer journey is a great way to inspire useful marketing content and boost your metrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have millions of eyeballs, any small barrier to conversion could be the loss of thousands of orders.<\/strong> A really small example: a pamphlet that\u2019s been distributed to motor coaches for years, that was meant to be a trifold, that got uploaded as a PDF. Who wants to read an upside-down PDF?\u201d<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re not sure what haunts your audience, I bet your Sales and CS teams have a clue. And you\u2019ll be their new best friend if you ask them.<\/p>\n
Lesson 3: Let your audience tell you who they are.<\/h2>\n
\u201cWhen I worked in ecommerce, we focused on personas like \u2018The Bestie,\u2019 or \u2018The Bird Lover,\u2019 or \u2018The Sweary Friend.\u2019 These hyper-specific profiles made our marketing feel like you were talking to one person at a time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, specific personas as a concept may not be new, but Destination Salem raises it to an artform. Faced with the challenge of a very broad audience with very diverse interests, Judge and her team needed a way to very quickly talk to many different people.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Fun fact: <\/strong>Ashley lives on the same street as the iconic Ropes Mansion (aka Allison\u2019s house in Hocus Pocus<\/em>) and gives away 1,500 pieces of candy <\/em>every Halloween!<\/li>\n
- Claim to fame:<\/strong> Before Destination Salem, she bootstrapped an ecommerce gift shop called Always Fits to $10m in annual sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Lesson 1: Nobody\u2019s offended by \u201cRemember us?\u201d<\/h2>\n
As things start to look spoOoOoky in SEO and social marketing, Ashley Judge is finding scary good success with owned media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich doesn\u2019t feel sexy in 2025, but it is,\u201d Judge says. (Note to self: Sexy Marketing Channel costume?) \u201cAlgorithms change, but emails let us tell our stories and connect to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key, she says, is finding the right mindset. \u201cIt\u2019s not <\/em>a hard sell pitch. It\u2019s just, \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
To illustrate her point, imagine being on the email list for a local arcade. If your inbox is constantly full of ads, you\u2019re gonna send them straight to spam hell. But if they just send a little hello and maybe some free tokens\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s on a day when you don\u2019t want to go to an arcade, you just won\u2019t go to an arcade. But you\u2019re not likely to be offended by a \u2018Hi! Remember us?\u2019 campaign.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, one day, it\u2019s a Tuesday and you\u2019re bored and you get an email from the arcade, so you go in. But that can\u2019t happen if you\u2019re not emailing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
To find that mindset, Judge recommends imagining you\u2019re sending the message to a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would the accompanying text be if I screenshot this and sent it to one of my friends? It would be very weird if they got a text from Ashley that said \u2018THIS JUST IN!\u2019 But my friends aren\u2019t going to block me if I say \u2018Wouldn\u2019t this be fun?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesson 2: Marketing is removing barriers.<\/h2>\n
What would you do if you were expecting over 1 million visitors, but only had 3,000 parking spots available?<\/p>\n
Personally, I\u2019d curl into a ball and cry. But Judge had a better idea: Convince them to take the train. So she scooped up a dozen of Salem\u2019s many colorful street performers and whipped up a campaign around riding Salem\u2019s public transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every facet of marketing, there\u2019s always an opportunity to remove barriers. We\u2019re answering business and customer service challenges.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nPhoto credit: Jessica Shada<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
Analyzing the problems that exist along your customer journey is a great way to inspire useful marketing content and boost your metrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have millions of eyeballs, any small barrier to conversion could be the loss of thousands of orders.<\/strong> A really small example: a pamphlet that\u2019s been distributed to motor coaches for years, that was meant to be a trifold, that got uploaded as a PDF. Who wants to read an upside-down PDF?\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not sure what haunts your audience, I bet your Sales and CS teams have a clue. And you\u2019ll be their new best friend if you ask them.<\/p>\n
Lesson 3: Let your audience tell you who they are.<\/h2>\n
\u201cWhen I worked in ecommerce, we focused on personas like \u2018The Bestie,\u2019 or \u2018The Bird Lover,\u2019 or \u2018The Sweary Friend.\u2019 These hyper-specific profiles made our marketing feel like you were talking to one person at a time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, specific personas as a concept may not be new, but Destination Salem raises it to an artform. Faced with the challenge of a very broad audience with very diverse interests, Judge and her team needed a way to very quickly talk to many different people.<\/p>\n
- Claim to fame:<\/strong> Before Destination Salem, she bootstrapped an ecommerce gift shop called Always Fits to $10m in annual sales.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"salem-train-mim\"](\"http:\/\/blissfulyogaandmassage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/salem-train-mim.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Click](\"http:\/\/blissfulyogaandmassage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/e1f0958d-1b15-418e-b4db-45ee531f71af.png\")
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&k=14&r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fmarketing%2Fmarketing-is-removing-barriers-lessons-from-a-destination-marketing-expert&bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fmarketing&bvt=rss\")
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