When Mo Sherifdeen joined Travel Oregon 19 years ago, he was the first person hired to work on the website.
His duties as a web manager included uploading documents and images via FTP sites. In other words, he was a glorified pixel pusher (the digital version of a pencil pusher).
As the digital landscape expanded, so did the importance of content in tourism. So in 2010, the Oregon Tourism Agency consolidated its content efforts into a cohesive, structured unit and put Mo in charge.
Travel to Oregon Mo Sherifdeen
Finalist for B2C Content Marketer of the Year
“As we grew in social media and added more channels to the mix, the one team made a lot of sense. Luckily we were ahead of the times,” he says.
The content team's editorial goal is to be the trusted source for travel inspiration and information. To support this mission, the team publishes content that inspires travelers' desire to experience Oregon.
And it does something (or a lot) right: In 2024, Travel Oregon took top honors for Best Content Strategy at the Content Marketing Awards, and Mo was named a finalist for B2C Content Marketer of the Year.
Grow as a united team
Today, the one-team approach includes Travel Oregon's marketing and sales staff. Now called the Brand Stewardship Team, it is tasked with increasing Oregon brand awareness globally and inspiring travel that uplifts Oregon communities.
About half of Travel Oregon works on the brand stewardship team. The other half works in the B2B sector and focuses on the individual destinations and companies that benefit from travel and tourism.
Together, the team balances Oregon's economic, environmental and social/cultural needs, working closely with the state's tourism industry and residents.
The brand stewardship team includes a brand services group focused on campaign execution, working with Travel Oregon's advertising, social, digital and publishing agencies. It also supports the global sales team and integrated marketing department, which Mo leads as director of global integrated marketing and publishing.
Integrated Marketing, also part of the brand stewardship team, includes the following roles:
- A senior editor who looks at what Travel Oregon is saying on its channels
- A production editor who oversees social media and website production
- A digital platform manager responsible for website innovation
- A listing manager who manages all listing-related content such as trails and events on TravelOregon.com and third party websites
- An information specialist who, among other things, manages Travel Oregon's listings on third party websites
- An analyst who closely monitors SEO, site speed, and UTMs to monitor performance versus ad spend
- A team coordinator to help organize work
“It’s a lot of collaboration,” Mo says.
Multiple agency partners support the team, and Mo emphasizes the importance of involving them at the concept stage, rather than handing over a final campaign for execution.
“If you feel like a concept isn’t working or that our community wouldn’t respond to it, then report it in advance,” he explains.
Travel Oregon also avoids being the gatekeeper for the agencies. It encourages its advertising, social, digital and publishing agencies to work directly with each other.
“They have the opportunity to pick up the phone, call each other and build a relationship,” says Mo. “They’re all singing from the same songbook and giving us the same idea.”
One reason this works well is that the agency partners have been working with Travel Oregon for so long: in one case over 30 years, in another six years.
Embark on a righteous journey
This leadership support is not just about empowering the teams behind the scenes. It also extends to Travel Oregon's strategic vision – promoting equitable economic impacts of tourism across the state and hospitality for all.
This means promoting lesser-known destinations rather than marketing the places everyone visits during peak travel seasons. It means attracting a diverse audience, such as the LGBTQ+ community or travelers with disabilities, and presenting previously untold stories about the region's first inhabitants.
“You can't welcome everyone if you're not an accessible place,” says Mo. “We have a huge network, but ultimately it's limited to the people who subscribe to us. That’s why we use influencers to expand our reach in these communities,” says Mo.
That's why they worked with Ravi Roth, the host of Ravi Around the World. Ravi, an influencer in the LGBTQ+ community, was thrilled when Travel Oregon invited him to visit in July, as he is inundated with invitations in June – Pride Month.
“This is just one example of trying to make sure people are here year-round. We can’t just think of them for Black History Month or Pride Month,” Mo says.
Ravi's adventure included this video posted to the Travel Oregon Instagram account.
“We try to make sure our content is represented fairly, so it’s not just lip service,” Mo explains.
Travel Oregon also worked with Kelcie Miller, the Chronic Explorer, a disabled environmental scientist and social entrepreneur who explores the world.
Accessible travel also includes tourism related to the first Oregonians – Oregon's federally recognized tribes.
Travel Oregon worked with a tribal editorial steering committee to guide the content work and recruit tribal writers and photographers to help with implementation. Two tribal guides have been published to help travelers learn about Indigenous culture in Oregon. Additionally, a “Tribal Nations” section has been created on the Travel Oregon website under “Places to Go,” highlighting the nine tribal nations in Oregon.
The travel guide for each country includes travel tips, short articles about attractions, and more in-depth in-depth content. For example, in “Keeping a Native Language and Culture Alive,” author Riley Rice, a member of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, tells the story of Warm Springs by sharing its cultural traditions, stories of its people, and places to visit. includes everything from museums to outdoor adventure locations.
Pictures and a video from Wahoo Films accompany the wonderfully written long text:
“When it comes to work, we want to do it mindfully and respectfully,” says Mo.
Millions use Travel Oregon and increase economic impact
The greeting strategy works, as Travel Oregon reported in its submission for the Content Marketing Awards:
- TravelOregon.com, the content hub for inspiration and in-depth logistics content, receives 9 million page views and 4 million sessions annually.
- Printed travel guides provide travelers with local information. About 500,000 copies will be printed and distributed. Digital versions are also available.
- The content of its social channels reached users' feeds 41 million times in one year.
Additionally, Travel Oregon's content has financial implications.
Visitors to the site are most likely to spend $1,000 or more per day on their trip. They are also more likely to have viewed an online travel guide, read a travel article on the website and used the printed guide.
A 12-month analysis (conducted using pre- and post-surveys of site visitors about the site's impact on their travel) found an economic impact of $48.9 million from the 25,255 additional trips made by site visitors from other countries States that had not committed to travel to Oregon until after the site visit.
The analysis also found an economic impact of $6.2 million from 16,190 new visitor days – the time that website visitors from other states extended their stay in Oregon. 73% of international visitors extended their stay by an average of 2.2 days, and 36% of domestic visitors stayed an average of 1.9 days longer.
What makes the content strategy work?
Many factors contribute to Travel Oregon's success (a small but great team, support for thinking outside the travel box, cooperating agencies, etc.).
But Mo and the team want more than just commitment. Liking an Instagram picture of a beautiful Oregon sunset is never the goal because inspiration without information is meaningless.
Yes, they want the photo to grab attention and spark curiosity so that Travel Oregon can share practical information about the place, the people who live there, the best time to visit, etc.
But Mo says success comes down to one thing.
“It is extremely important to build trust through inspiring educational content and to do this consistently,” he says.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
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