Meet Denise Arencibia of Spotlight Marketing & Public Relations in Coral Gables

Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Arencibia.

Denise, please share your story with us.
I’m a native Floridian from Miami. My parents were Cuban immigrates that fled Cuba just before the revolution as my father was in the military during Batista. I always knew that my passion was travel but I wasn’t sure how to use it for business, so I just end up studying Business at Florida International University. I always loved languages and so my first year in college I was taking Russian and Italian. I was determined to do an exchange program to Russia until I mentioned it to my father who nearly disowned me for wanting to study in a communist country, at the time, when he had been forced to leave Cuba because of communism. So, I opted for my second option which was to study in Italy. Having lived abroad in Italy, I realized that my calling was in the tourism business, so I ventured into this field to broaden her horizons.

In 1993, I opened and operated a travel agency in the Miami area. In 1997, I sold the travel business and entered the corporate world at the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau as Director for Latin America were my overall responsibilities included business development, sales & marketing, identifying business trends, market research & analysis, product placement and media relations. My work for Miami caught the attention of the state’s official marketing organization which landed me a role at VISIT FLORIDA. In 2011, I felt I could grow my efforts and therefore decides to open my own agency, with my business partner Paula Lewis. Visit Florida stayed with me as our first client. Spotlight Marketing & Public Relations is a boutique tourism sales and marketing firm that works with amazing tourism products that need promoting in Latin America and the U.S.

Throughout the years, I have fostered thriving relationships with international media, retailers, wholesalers, tour operators and airline carriers, as well as National tourism partners which allows me to achieve successful marketing and promotional strategies.

My love and enthusiasm for the tourism industry is clearly apparent when I speak to my peers or clients and reflected in the number of recognition I have been honored with throughout the years.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Owning your own business always has its challenges. I can honestly say that in seven years of business, we have never lost a client due to dissatisfaction with our work. However, the tourism industry is very much influenced by external circumstances such as market economies and politics. This can cause clients to change their marketing strategies. We have also encountered new management that takes over a company and brings in their own preferred marketing team.

When you have been doing the same thing for a while, you see new trends and innovations that impact the way you do business. You must be able to adapt and continue to learn. If you stay stuck in the old ways of doing business, you will be like a dinosaur and become extinct. We are always learning and growing with our client’s needs while maintaining the roots and the basics of our business.

In every case, we have managed to stay positive and clear on our objective which is to offer the clients that we have the best service possible. We understand that we are part of a team with our clients and their success is our success.

Please tell us about Spotlight Marketing & Public Relations.
We describe ourselves as a boutique firm. This is because we are very specialized. We only cater to clients that offer a tourism product such as a destination, hotel, attraction or tourism service. Our contacts are in the tourism industry in Latin America and the U.S. with special emphasis on the Hispanic market. We conduct all marketing for these products from public relations to activations, special events, sales presentations, digital and social media; you name it, we have done it.

Reminds me of a super fun activation that we did once for a destination client in the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil where we had a street mob break into a dance and then give promotional gifts. We got great coverage and everyone in Sao Paulo was talking about it.

What sets us apart from other agencies is our personal contact and dedication. We are very involved in the day to day activities of the company. A client can call us at any time to discuss a project and we will be able to discuss with them the progress or future development.

I am most proud of the fact that we have always conducted our business with passion, professionalism, and integrity. I have no doubt that when asked about our company or us as individuals, people would have something positive to say.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Like the typical Cuban family in Miami, we use to go to the beach every weekend with a troop of friends and family. And in accordance with the culture, they would bring copious amounts of food, including a pressure cooker with the freshly made black beans, rice, mojo pork, yuca, avocado salad and of course, adult beverages. To that, you can add the tables, beach chairs, hammocks, extra clothes, tablecloths, paper plates, napkins, disposable eating utensils, trash bags, charcoal, and the list goes on and on. The first 10 years of my life, I only remember having beach birthday parties. These were terrific memories, but it may also explain why I only go to the beach, nowadays, with just a towel and a beach hat.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1390 South Dixie Highway, Suite 1110
  Coral Gables, FL 33146
• Website: www.spotlight-marketingpr.com
• Phone: 786-953-5856
• Email: denise@spotlight-marketingpr.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpotlightMarketingPR/
• Other: Spotlight

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