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10 Years of Local Wonders: Celebrating a Decade of Only In Your State
171 Plays1 month ago
In this special 10th birthday episode of our podcast, Sara and Marisa take a nostalgic look back at a decade of Only In Your State. From humble beginnings to becoming one of the largest travel brands dedicated to uncovering America’s hidden gems, we’re reflecting on where we started, what we’ve learned, and where we’re going next.
Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or just discovered your state’s page last week, this is an episode made to celebrate YOU—our readers, travelers, and local lovers.
What We Cover in This Episode:
- The origin story of Only In Your State
- Behind the scenes of how we write and curate articles
- The most unforgettable moments from the past 10 years
- What’s coming next for OIYS (spoiler: we’re just getting started!)
Shoutouts:
- A huge thank-you to our incredible writers and editors across all 50 states
- Special mention to readers who’ve shared feedback and travel tips with us over the years
- Our OIYS community for helping us build a local travel brand like no other
📌 Links & Resources:
Recommended
Transcript
Midwest State Pride
00:00:06
Speaker
But they were tapping into that Midwest state pride. it's It's just something you want to bottle because people are so passionate about where they're from, whether that's the state or the college they went to or the small town that they grew up in or the piddly campground that they worked at. Not to say that my campground is piddly, TLP forever, ah but you know.
Podcast Introduction & Anniversary Celebration
00:00:33
Speaker
Hey everyone, and welcome to States of Discovery. We have a very, very special episode for you today. I'm here with Marissa. Hey, Marissa. Hi, Sarah. How are you doing? Doing great. And why don't you tell us what we're going to talk about today?
00:00:51
Speaker
So today we have a special episode celebrating only in your state turning 10 years old. A decade of only in your state, officially a middle schooler.
00:01:04
Speaker
How do you free angst?
00:01:08
Speaker
So it's a it's a it's a big deal. And um for two people, you and I, who have been with the brand for such a long time. I think is especially fun that we are celebrating on the podcast, we're celebrating on the website. We are just celebrating. I should have worn my swag. Why didn't I wear my hat?
00:01:29
Speaker
My only year's date hat. Well, it is what it is. That's right. And nobody can see in the hat. You can describe yourself in the hat. Actually, rewind that, cut it.
00:01:41
Speaker
Hey, look at that hat you're wearing. It's so cool. You love it, right? It's only in your state swag. Celebrating 10 years. Wow.
Appreciation for Team & Audience
00:01:50
Speaker
Schooled it right here.
00:01:52
Speaker
open Yeah, no it is it is wild that our brand and publication has been around for this long. And it just felt like such a... wild ride, but also a really fun one that got, you know, it just let us tap into our passions. But also, I'm just so happy that we were able to tap into the passions of others.
00:02:15
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. i think, yes, we definitely have to shout out to everyone that has been a listener on the podcast, a reader of Only in Your State, a subscriber to the newsletter, following along on social media,
00:02:30
Speaker
our writers, our team of writers representing all the regions of the United States. It's everyone makes this possible that we've been around for a decade and hopefully another 10 years to come.
00:02:45
Speaker
A hundred percent. Yeah. the the people, the audience, the readers, it has been so important to have them along for the ride because without them, we're not only in your state because it's their state we're talking about. um And when the brand launched, you know, it's over 10 years or not over, well, technically over 10, but it's just been such a long journey.
00:03:07
Speaker
And along the way, in addition to the audiences, I've had the pleasure of working along some of the most talented and creative and inspirational people along the way.
00:03:18
Speaker
We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for those OGs just toiling and coming up with ideas and You know, even though folks have moved on in our different spots in life, only in your state is what it is today because of their contributions um along with the current contributions of the team today.
00:03:36
Speaker
It has been an amazing tapestry of creativity, journalistic talent, you know, I don't know, business acumen. Like it's just been a fabulous journey that we're on.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I agree
Origin Story of Only in Your State
00:03:51
Speaker
with you. And with that said, do you want to talk a little bit about how it all started for Only in Your State? The origin story, which I think is very important. And maybe what a lot of people don't realize is how far the brand has come over the past 10 years.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, let's let's peek behind the curtain, shall we? ah So Only in Your State, this travel brand was such a large audience that covers every single state that has social media presences, email presences, onsite editorial, all of these amazing things that you and the other editorial staff are doing.
00:04:28
Speaker
It started out as a very simple Facebook page. um I'm from the Midwest, i'm I'm from Ohio, and that was the first Facebook page that was launched because i think you know the ah the OGs realized that tapping into original gangsters, if you're not hip like me, you guys, and you don't know what I mean.
00:04:49
Speaker
um But they were tapping into that Midwest state pride. it's It's just something you want to bottle because people are so passionate about where they're from, whether that's the state or the college they went to or the small town that they grew up in or the piddly campground that they worked at.
00:05:08
Speaker
Not to say that my campground is piddly, TLP forever. ah But, you know, it was um it was something that was magnetic. So it started as a Facebook page. And then once we saw how successful that was, or they saw, you know, it was multiplied.
00:05:24
Speaker
And then we were celebrating on the focusing on those unique things, like the small towns, the small businesses, the small unique things to do, the delightful things to do that make your state amazing.
00:05:35
Speaker
And we just grew from there.
Content Expansion & Unique Offerings
00:05:37
Speaker
um By celebrating the small dots on the map, I know, Marissa, you're probably familiar with all of the like really unique titles that we were writing since the original days. um And throughout the history, i wrote over, what, 150,000 articles, which is, it's so great to to talk to people in the industry and just see their jaw drop when we talk about how many pieces of content we were putting out.
00:06:04
Speaker
Right. And I think like just the fact alone that people are always amazed that we're doing this across all states that this and we're putting out new content and we have for 10 years put out new content for every state every week.
00:06:20
Speaker
And to me, when I joined only interstate, I haven't I didn't see anything like it online. the roundups, the listicles of small towns, the listicles of state pride.
00:06:34
Speaker
I hadn't seen anything like that. And then fast forward to today, I feel like I still don't, know of anything comparable the internet that does what we do in terms of content, which I think is really crazy.
00:06:50
Speaker
And the coolest thing is, is that we have real people behind each and every article, like yourself. We aren't just you know making things up, which I think some people believe. But over the years, that has been our focus on having you know tapping into people all across the country to tell their stories.
00:07:08
Speaker
Yeah. And it's a big country. And even within the same state, you get different kinds of people. So, you know, I'm a Northeast Ohioan. Maybe I don't know what Cincinnati folk do. And I've never tried Skyline Chili and other Cincinnati things.
00:07:22
Speaker
See? That's an example. Who knows what those Cincinnati people do? the They're the bangles and stuff, right? We have a better sports team. That's all I know.
00:07:33
Speaker
um who but But truly, it has been a unique experience being able to... ah to uncover so many unique stories and featuring over 160,000 locations individually in our articles.
00:07:48
Speaker
um So we've really been a you know, we started as this grassroots operation that was very, you know, small and earnest and, you know, we're going to do our best. And now it's to this, you know, fabulous travel brand that I'm so proud of the current team and what we're doing and where we're going next.
00:08:08
Speaker
It's fabulous. Yeah. Agreed. Sometimes it's nice to like take the time like for this birthday, for example, to look back on everything that we've built, everything we've gone through, the whole team, you know, like you said, people that are no longer a part of their brand, but their contributions remain.
00:08:28
Speaker
And it's to see how far we've come, to see what the future looks like, because really travel is something that right now travel in the United States is is very popular.
00:08:39
Speaker
gaining momentum. People want to get out and explore. They have time off. They have a weekend. They want to see what's around them. And I think that that's really special. And that's not something that's going to be going away anytime soon.
00:08:52
Speaker
And especially for our team that we're all so passionate about travel. This isn't just like a job or a career for a lot of us. It's Part of who like this hobby that we have or this lifeline of traveling that we're able to share with other people and it's allowed us to have, you know, a career. I think that's really special because we all really do love to travel and share our experiences
Team's Diverse Travel Experiences
00:09:18
Speaker
with people.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yes. And what I think is so interesting is that we all have such unique travel backgrounds. We have people who are foodies, who are former van lifers, who are thrill seekers, who are going abroad, who are going to Comic-Cons, who are camping, who love urban exploration. Like we just truly run the gambit here of like our POV on travel.
00:09:45
Speaker
So it's not just one. It's not just the hey, we're gonna hike the Pacific Crest Trail. It's no, I'm gonna go to this art installation and it's gonna be interactive and it's gonna be geeky and nerdy. But then on the other hand, we have writers going to these beautiful hikes and things maybe you have to enter a lottery to do. And it's just an incredible feat. So I think we're really covering all aspects of travel. Well, not all, it's impossible, but we're doing our very best to cover as many facets as we can.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. Because even just looking at one of our senior editors, Sarah McCosham, her series that she launched as a mom traveling with one of her kids at a time and, you know, having that perspective of being a mom and traveling with kids. We have other writers on the team who are parents and what it's like to have family road trips, what it's like to have solo travel.
00:10:39
Speaker
um You know, yeah, we really do cover it all. And I think that's what makes this brand really special is the people behind the team. Because like you said, you know, sometimes you have to say things out loud where you're like, whoa, I didn't even think about it like that. When you're like, yeah, we have every article is written by a human being.
00:10:56
Speaker
And it's true. Like we're not just churning out articles for the sake of hitting goals. We really are looking at travel and aspects of travel that we want to highlight and we want to share and then who on our team can best represent that article. And there's a lot that goes into it.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, there really is. And speaking of behind the scenes, to me, it's so funny to see how we've transformed over the years because sure we had our facebook page in ohio and ohio was the very first state covered so we have the biggest library for that state maybe i'm biased but you know whatever it's pretty cool uh but also there was a time where we were selling merch making t-shirts and selling necklaces and then there was also times when we sold booked waterfall road trips like we've tried some different things it's been interesting we're trying to tap into like
00:11:48
Speaker
how people want to express their love for their state. But I feel like we still come back to that mission of wanting to uncover these incredible hidden and gem destinations. I know it's trite and like we use that ah phrase all the time, but it's true.
00:12:05
Speaker
Like these delightful places that we think people should visit. Yeah, it
Discovering Hidden Gems
00:12:09
Speaker
it is really. i still to this day, if I'm going to, if I'm traveling to a place, I will look at the surrounding area and see the the lesser known or the unknown features in that area, whether it's a hiking trail, food, a little boutique shop, a dive bar.
00:12:28
Speaker
I mean, all of those things factor into my travel based on being covered with Only in Your State. And ah that is very, that's always been very fascinating to me is, well, yes, I do love the the more touristy spots.
00:12:44
Speaker
You know, there are so many places in the United States that don't get any recognition. Maybe they don't have a marketing budget. Maybe, you know, who knows? But these beautiful places that really, once you get to explore it and experience it, it only helps you grow as a human being. And then when you share that with other people, it helps them grow too, which I think is really important.
00:13:05
Speaker
Absolutely. And that reminds us, or reminds us, what am I even talking about? It reminds me of something I wanted to talk about as well is what we've kind of learned from this entire experience.
00:13:17
Speaker
So to your point about discovering hidden gems everywhere you go, and maybe not knowing how to discover them, that is something we are trying to find ah solution to every day, because we want to, you know, really highlight these small dots on the map,
00:13:34
Speaker
But sometimes if there is a amazing taco truck that everyone knows about, but it's not listed online and you have to ask this dive bar bartender where you should get food after you're done for the night and you discover that taco truck, that's only because of happenstance.
00:13:51
Speaker
And sure, then you can write about it. But I feel like that's something I'm discovering more and more is if you, so many people search for the same things online.
00:14:03
Speaker
And you have to find that X factor to really suggest something different. Like, how did you stumble across this? Did you hear it was a word of mouth? Did someone write in and say like, hey, please cover me because, you know, I make cowboy hats for cats and I love my business.
00:14:19
Speaker
yeah If you make cowboy hats for cats, please email podcast.com. No reason. no reason Next episode sponsored by Haps for Cats.
00:14:33
Speaker
ah Perfect. It'll be with my kitten mittens. the It'll be great. No, I think that's such a great point because like I feel like the perfect example of what we're talking about is when you and I went to miss Wisconsin for the Wisconsin State Fair.
00:14:50
Speaker
And after we got back from the fair one day, we were um downtown Milwaukee and we were like, hey, let's go to let's see what's in the area. Let's walk. We ended up walking to this very, very old bar, dive bar.
00:15:07
Speaker
And just like what unfolded from just popping in to grab a drink, you ended up trying a pickle beer. We ended up finding out that this bar, one of the oldest bars ah in the area, I think, yeah had a one minute happy hour.
00:15:23
Speaker
What was it? Every day from nine to nine. Yeah. And when what was it? Everything was like a dollar. Ninety nine cents. Everything. Ninety nine cents. The whole shebang. And then on top of that, the bartender and everyone at the bar taught us a game of bar dice.
00:15:40
Speaker
I'm still convinced that was a fever dream. and it didn't We did quiz other bars after this. Yeah. is bar And they said, yeah, bar dice is a thing. i don't know. if Was it just Wisconsin specific thing or Milwaukee specific?
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, Stella's, you showed us a good time. That was. But just like, you know, we have on this bar and all of these new experiences you and I had in one place that I think we we were just looking what's in walking distance from our hotel. or and even It wasn't even anything that we knew that we had preplanned.
00:16:14
Speaker
And that was like one of my favorite memories of that trip. So it's like stuff like that, moments like that. And then it's like you get to a point where you experience that and you say, i want to share this with other people because I had such a good time and I think that they might have a good time too.
00:16:29
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think that is part of why there's such appetite for the content.
Authenticity in Travel Content
00:16:38
Speaker
It's that I think there's an appetite for authenticity insincerity and in our experiences. So that visit to a dive bar that just...
00:16:47
Speaker
will always remember and we discovered something just because it happened to be in walking distance. I think that's what really is it makes the X factor for our content. So thinking about some of the trends we've seen in our in the editorial that we publish in the social pieces that we put together, there are things that rise to the top time and time again, which is really interesting.
00:17:08
Speaker
and So in addition to road trips and off the beaten path spots and mom and pop restaurants and um You know, everyone loves a good themed road trip, like a waterfall road trip or a margarita road trip.
00:17:24
Speaker
It's wild, but I mean, hey, why not? Are you going to get 10 donuts in a day? Maybe. Maybe you will on this donut trail or maybe not. um But then again, that at that often authentic experience too.
00:17:37
Speaker
of like, I went into this dive bar and learned a game that changed my life forever. I mean, I'll be thinking about bar dice until I'm 80. And one thing- The fact that I think we won also, which was- think it was a scam.
00:17:51
Speaker
They were making up rules as we went. They're like, oh, you touched the dice with two hands. Now you got to roll again. I'm like, what? What do you mean? Like, you looked at the clock. That means you got to turn around twice, take a shot, and then you have to roll again.
00:18:04
Speaker
it was... Yeah. Running up the power tab. ah Yeah, but no, it's true. We do, we definitely have seen certain stories and certain um trends within...
00:18:17
Speaker
ah haunted places is huge. I know a season on local lore and legends because our haunted, abandoned, all those articles that we have really do so well all throughout the year, not just around spooky season.
00:18:32
Speaker
Also, we might be biased, but that's okay. Yeah. No, it's true. um But nature trails also do really well. Being outside, hiking, state parks, love our national parks.
00:18:45
Speaker
Absolutely. And yeah, these are some of my personal favorites too. And I love also, because I'm a huge foodie, you know this, I love featuring restaurants that don't get the recognition they deserve.
00:18:57
Speaker
There are so many restaurants throughout the country that maybe don't have a website, maybe don't have a marketing budget, and they are local favorites that yeah have been around and they don't need the notoriety, but they just want people to come in and
Impact on Local Communities
00:19:12
Speaker
enjoy their food. And I love when we can highlight that.
00:19:15
Speaker
Absolutely. I feel like the coverage of restaurants is a romantic tragedy to me. Here's why. Because I'm so passionate as well about highlighting these businesses.
00:19:26
Speaker
But because it's such a challenging business to run, the margins are thin. a lot of people go under, especially, you know, whenever there's a global pandemic or, you know, um natural disasters or just changing the economy, they can shut down. And I know that it's really hard to keep up to date with some of these things. But I'm I'm glad for the inconsistency sometimes. Like if we say something is open and we don't update it right away, we have to get someone to tell us, hey, we shut down.
00:19:55
Speaker
That's sad to me that we weren't able to do it right away, but also I'm glad that we were, we at least featured them. And even if we were wrong, we had, we spent our time trying to get some light on this business.
00:20:07
Speaker
And even though they're no longer around, I'm happy that we had a chance to showcase them. Yeah, that's a really like good point. Yes. Do you have you come across like some listener ah comments or quotes or anything that you would like to share in this medium about how great we are?
00:20:29
Speaker
Well, I mean, if we're going to just keep talking about it, I mean, truly, though, on that note, I think it's so important that we're highlighting small businesses. We have an editorial series called Small Business Spotlight spearheaded by the great Sarah McCosham and supported by, you know, the rest of the editorial staff, you and Ashley Fallon.
00:20:49
Speaker
um But is so beautiful that we're making a point to highlight small businesses in the United States and knowing that whenever we do, we see real impacts.
00:21:01
Speaker
We've had many people reach out to us saying, you know, Our site went down. we We're overbooked. Please stop featuring us. we were We're booked for the season. um So I was going through some some emails and there's one from Scotty Brandenburg from Scotty's Bait and Tackle.
00:21:17
Speaker
I am Scotty's Bait and Tackle in Three Lakes Cheese House in Three Lakes, Wisconsin. Thank you so much for the wonderful article Ben wrote for Only in Wisconsin. And then another one said, I want to say thank you for the beautiful article you wrote about our small business. It means the world to us to have your support.
00:21:32
Speaker
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And that was from Amber and Jer Welsh from Amber Marie and Co. And just having those kinds of notes come to us, I feel like keeps us going, knowing that we can truly support small businesses like these.
00:21:46
Speaker
um And even, you know, if you read if we cover your business or maybe something you support or you're passionate about, and you want to give us more information, you want to give us photos, you want to correct something, please reach out to us. You know, we are here to really support the communities and in a way. So I feel like knowing that we're doing such good, like really, really gets us going.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yeah, it really does. And especially because leading to the point of just local storytelling, because i do feel like predominantly the news that we get in this everyday news cycle that we have now is very much on a national level, global level.
00:22:29
Speaker
um I personally don't see too many local stories coming my way about my area. about, you know, within a certain radius of where I live. It's all because I'm in Florida, so everything's about Florida as the entire state, which is not really representative of like where I am in particular.
00:22:47
Speaker
But I feel like so we sometimes really drill down on these small towns, very localized content. You know, we also do USA pieces, but it's the local storytelling that I think becomes very important for our brand as well as for the readers.
00:23:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it does. Sometimes whenever I go down to my, um you know, in my local downtown area and I see some businesses that I love, sometimes I feel like I just wish I knew how to crack into their community and say, like, what I think you're doing is really special and people are going to love it.
00:23:21
Speaker
How can we, you know, tell your story? Because I wish there were 20 more of me to, like, go across the state and do that same exact thing. Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:32
Speaker
Or Sarah Hedleston's. Actually, you're right. Nope. but Oh, scratch that. the limit. oh What a cluster that would be.
00:23:45
Speaker
so let me ask, because we are celebrating 10 years and we're stopping and pausing and taking a look back on where we've come from. But looking at the next 10 years for you personally, as though one of the leaders of this brand, what does the next 10 years look like?
00:24:08
Speaker
What do the next 10 years look like? Well, I'm going to grow five inches. ah Kidding. um Wow, that's a great question. I would love to see a world where we have even more first person experiential content of the things that we're writing about.
Future Goals & Community Engagement
00:24:28
Speaker
We already do it, but sometimes we do have to reach out to, you know, um people who have visited, get firsthand accounts, get accounts from businesses.
00:24:36
Speaker
I want to be able to, if we see some mom and pop diner in a state, be able to coordinate and make sure that we're getting the good info by going there um ourselves and not just, you know, conducting interviews. Interviews are great.
00:24:52
Speaker
I think that's fabulous and it's a great way to get the information across. But expanding our first person perspective, I think would be incredibly powerful. I think also interacting with the community in more ways.
00:25:06
Speaker
I want to hear even more from only in your state readers, what they're passionate about. I want to see their their comments, their experiences, if they would be able to interact with us you know, on the site and be able to share what they've done.
00:25:19
Speaker
i think that that is something we're truly missing because it's all coming from our perspective and not necessarily theirs. And I would love to to hear what people have to say. Yeah, that's great. Definitely.
00:25:31
Speaker
No, same. I think especially the last point you touched on that, getting more people involved um on our website in more of a collaborative way where we can hear their stories,
00:25:45
Speaker
hear their recommendations, you know, they can almost like, uh, like old school Tumblr, you know, where you're posting your thoughts. Like, you know, like if, what if they had a community page that's just like travel related on the website, like a forum that people could just share their favorite,
00:26:04
Speaker
travel memories, share their favorite travel spots, favorite, um you know, just creating that sense of community that i feel wholeheartedly we have as a team that I want to just like keep expanding that to our readers and also like bring them into the fold of.
00:26:21
Speaker
So you're saying we should relaunch forums ah society. i Yeah. yeah i like i I love that ah that notion, though, because I know, let's say we're talking about ghost stories. If we were all sitting around a fire, everyone at Only in Your State, we don't have this one ghost story we'd love to tell because maybe our parents told it to us or a childhood friend or an aunt or an uncle.
00:26:48
Speaker
everyone's going to have something different. and Just imagine if you expand that to the United States and everyone who wants to share their ghost story or their local cryptid or something we've never heard of. It's just, it's so much more interesting to have more voices.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah. It's almost like a, an AOL chat room with a theme. Like you pop into it. I'll be a moderator. Sure. And you can tell don't work that upon yourself, Marissa. Just signed up.
00:27:15
Speaker
Everyone heard it. Yeah. Right. No, but yeah, I think that could be really cool. Just like, you know, I know that we have our we have a nomination form that we've had and we're going to be expanding that a little bit and in different ways and try to get the community involved. But um I think that could be really cool to like collaborate for them.
00:27:36
Speaker
And also to really speak to the people who care about tourism in their states. Like all of the cities, all of the counties, all of the state organizations that want to encourage people to discover the beauty of their area.
00:27:50
Speaker
We want that too. And I think it's so important to to communicate with those people and finding a way to do that, I think is really gonna be important um going forward just because we don't know what we don't know.
00:28:04
Speaker
And I would love to and love to seek out some more information. Speaking of the timeline though, for you being OG yourself, what do you remember the first project that you created for Owning Your State and what it was?
Personal Beginnings & Brand Development
00:28:21
Speaker
Like article wise? yeah Yeah, I, yes, I remember this was almost 10 years ago that I started as the Georgia writer because I was traveling full time, having spent time in Florida and Georgia and I became the Georgia writer and just started as a freelance writer.
00:28:43
Speaker
and so do you know what topic you wrote about? Was it like? Oh my gosh, it was ah a listicle, probably a state pride listicle. Yeah. think Yeah. That sounds about right. I'm sure it's terrible and I probably never want to see it again, but, uh, yeah. 15 things you shouldn't do if you're going to be in Georgia. Right. Yeah.
00:29:06
Speaker
Yeah, everyone. But no. Yeah, I just ah for anybody that wants to sign up for our new Wish You Were Here bucket ah newsletter, we I put out a my version of the Wish You Were Here newsletter today. And and I calculated 4000 articles I've written for only in your state over 1000 in the past 10 years, which is wild when you think. yeah Yeah.
00:29:34
Speaker
But what about you? What was your first project article? i and I think it was a lot of it's got not going to be nearly as exciting. It was um helping ah set up the site, do some design work, set up pages like More like on the marketing side of things. Exciting, but probably the most important.
00:29:57
Speaker
Well, no, I was, I'm just, I'm just a little helper. You know what I mean? the I'm a facilitator, Marissa. I love that.
00:30:08
Speaker
Not as exciting, but basically just the whole website. No, no, no, no. No, let me make that entirely clear. no i was I was a facilitator. Yeah. um No, it's but I do remember, like sometimes I'll look back through just past emails and communications. I'm like, oh yeah, I was like putting necklaces into boxes and walking them to the post office and like designing those shirts.
00:30:36
Speaker
I kind of miss those shirts, those rich shirts and then the yeah one with the smiley face. I don't even know what it said. I do remember. Yes. No, those were fun days. I mean, the swag is pretty cool now that we have in-house.
00:30:52
Speaker
It's a little more chic, I think. It is, yeah. It's definitely, ah yeah. so Mine was on par with the ah the TikTok account that makes, that redesigns corporate logos. Have you seen that? Yes.
00:31:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Anywho. So let's talk more about behind
Creative Article Creation Process
00:31:12
Speaker
the scenes. This is fun. So, yeah. Seriously, let's talk about actually creating the articles.
00:31:19
Speaker
Yes. Like what goes into it? Like we we know that the philosophy for why we do it and what we're hoping to accomplish. But why don't you talk, you know, as being a representative from the editorial team, why don't you talk about your process?
00:31:35
Speaker
Yeah, so our team, we meet very, very often and ah we have a variety of ways that we come up with different titles, different article topics, um whether it's you know, trending topics right now, seasonal things we've covered before, but we want to pivot and then maybe cover something new.
00:31:59
Speaker
ah So our editorial team, we come out with ah topics and titles that we assign out to our writing team and ah writers will go and visit, do their research, whatever their process may be.
00:32:13
Speaker
and create articles around these places. And it's it's really just we're supplying as the editorial team, we're supplying the concept for the article. And then our writers are choosing where they want to write about, who they want to write about, what they want to cover.
00:32:29
Speaker
So we're not assigning out like necessarily every time, hey, go write about this business, like we would do for Small Business Spotlight. This is more of like, hey, if you know of something in your area that will fit into this bracket, please cover it.
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah. um That's what we do on like a monthly cadence. Yeah. I think it's beautiful that we like, obviously, as ah as a, you know, essentially an online travel magazine, we want to feature all of these different places. But to know that there are so many passionate travelers on the team that come up with their own ideas, pitch their own ideas.
00:33:05
Speaker
We give them some like brainstorming prompts and they're like, actually, you know what? I did go to an interactive exhibit where I, you know, swam with sharks. Like, oh, okay.
00:33:17
Speaker
Good for you. I'm so happy for you. um Yeah, it's it's um it's really interesting. And I'm so thankful to be able to focus on something I love so much, which is truly travel, um you know, and in learning new things and having new experiences.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And I think what's really neat, too, is that during this process of when our writers are writing around a particular title to see how different the end result for each article for each state is.
00:33:49
Speaker
which is really cool because some people are interpreting, you know, this the concept for the title one way, other people are interpreting it a different way. And I think what's cool about our brand is we allow both to exist.
00:34:00
Speaker
We're not just like creating a box for this article and you have to live within the box. yeah But we do allow a lot of creative expression and room for ideas, which is neat.
Audience Interaction & Engagement
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah. And speaking of ideas, you know, I would love to hear our listeners. I know we say it all the time, but if you have an idea for something that should be featured or I don't know, just what we should talk about. You can either email podcast at onlyinyourstate.com or you can go to onlyinyourstate.com slash nominate where we have our nomination form. So it's really, you know, there's so many ways to get in touch with us. And as you visit our website, you'll see even more as the weeks and months go on because we we do want to hear more from you.
00:34:45
Speaker
um So i know there's a lot of pages. I know there's a lot of emails. So sometimes it might feel overwhelming to reach out and speak up. But hey, if you have that Western cowboy hat for cat business, we want to hear you.
00:35:00
Speaker
Once again, email us at podcast at onlyinmustate.com. yeah Hard push there. Oh, no, i I echo your sentiment. It's it's definitely it's easy to just hop on Instagram or Facebook and follow your only in state page. That would be a great way to start. If you want to sign up for the newsletter I mentioned, the Wish You Were Here newsletter, um that's also got some really great content coming out.
00:35:28
Speaker
Uh, so i would also start there and then, yeah, contribute, submit some places that you love. Let us know. Maybe we haven't covered it yet. Maybe it deserves to be seen uh, you're the person to make us aware that it, it exists.
00:35:43
Speaker
Absolutely. And if you're on Instagram tag at only in your state and show us your adventures. Do you want to share photos with us, videos with us, whatever it is, we'd love to see it. And we'll even share it out. Like we think,
00:35:57
Speaker
We'd love to celebrate what people are doing as well, even if you're not, you know, on staff or anything like that. Yeah, 100%. And also, ah while I was going to end this with me
Conclusion & Brand Mission
00:36:09
Speaker
singing happy birthday to only in your state,
00:36:11
Speaker
do ever yeah ah I will save you from that experience. But I do want to say, again, a huge thank you to our listeners, a huge thank you to our core team.
00:36:25
Speaker
um Thank you to the readers. Thank you to everybody that has helped make this brand what it is over the past 10 years. And we really are looking forward to the next 10. We absolutely are. um And thank you, Marissa, for launching this podcast and being a solid team member all these years.
00:36:44
Speaker
I feel like are we the one of the two longest holdouts maybe? I think so. yeah um And thank you to the the current All In Your State team They are so talented and creative and lovely.
00:36:58
Speaker
And honestly, you know, thank you to, again, to all the communities that we publish to and speak to. um but yeah, make sure you follow us at Only In Your State on Instagram. Find, like Marissa said, find your state on Facebook, Instagram. We're posting content there every single day.
00:37:16
Speaker
Or go to onlyinyourstate.com and go to our newsletter signup page and figure out what newsletter is best for you. so yeah, this has been great. And we're going to keep doing it.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yes, we will. Until the wheels come off.
00:37:32
Speaker
Fingies crossed. Yeah. ah Until next time, everyone.
00:37:49
Speaker
Only in Your State is an award-winning travel publisher that uncovers hidden gems and local favorites across the U.S. We have a presence in all 50 states with a passionate following of fellow travelers looking to get out and explore.
00:38:02
Speaker
Head on over to onlyinyourstate.com to find the best attractions in your backyard and beyond.