The Messy Middle: What Destination Marketers Can Learn from Real Estate's Long Buying Cycle

Today's buyers don't move in a straight line—and neither do meeting planners.

Long before an RFP is submitted, a site visit is scheduled, or a sales conversation begins, planners are researching destinations, comparing options, validating decisions internally, and building confidence in their final choice.

In this session, Go Fish Tourism + Business Events Founder Mya Surrency and SVP of Integrated Media Kelley Stauffer explore what destination marketers can learn from another high-consideration category: real estate.

Using the Terravalis master-planned community launch as a case study, they will examine how long buying cycles require more than awareness campaigns or lead generation tactics. Success depends on understanding the buyer journey, mapping the moments that matter, sequencing messages strategically, and building confidence throughout the decision process.

Attendees will learn:

• Why long buying cycles are becoming more complex across both real estate and B2B tourism

• How the "messy middle" shapes destination selection long before planners engage with sales teams

• What the Terravalis campaign reveals about journey-based marketing and confidence-building strategies 

• How media, content, and sales efforts can work together to influence decisions over time

• Practical ways to align awareness, consideration, and conversion tactics throughout the planner journey

Whether you're focused on meetings, conventions, sports events, or business travel, this session will provide a new framework for thinking about how destinations earn consideration in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Because in long-cycle categories, media isn't just a conversion engine. It's a confidence engine.