In this episode of Field Notes: Insights and Observations for the Travel Marketer, Sara Dyer challenges one of marketing's most commonly accepted success metrics: website traffic. While traffic remains useful, Sara argues that marketers may be giving it far more importance than it deserves in an era where discovery happens everywhere.

Drawing parallels between discovering a favorite musician and choosing a travel destination, Sara explores how modern audiences move through a web of recommendations, social content, AI conversations, playlists, reviews, and personal connections long before they ever land on a website. By the time someone arrives on your site, they may already be deep into their decision-making journey.

The discussion highlights a growing challenge for marketers: attribution. Consumers often remember the destination, brand, or artist they chose, but rarely remember the exact sequence of touchpoints that influenced their decision. As AI, social platforms, and recommendation engines continue to shape discovery, measuring influence becomes increasingly complex.

Rather than focusing exclusively on clicks and visits, Sara encourages marketers to think more broadly about creating memorable moments, meaningful experiences, and content that contributes to the journey—even when it doesn't receive direct attribution.

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