Field Notes2024-11-01

Integrating the Simpleview CRM with a Custom Open Source Website CMS

For anyone familiar with the world of destination marketing, Simpleview™ is practically a household name. Its specialized suite of CRM and CMS products has become a backbone for North American destination marketing organizations (DMOs), supporting over 1,000 destinations to streamline membership and visitor data with a complete toolkit built just for DMOs.

There is a common misconception in the marketplace: that the Simpleview CRM can only operate alongside Simpleview’s™ proprietary CMS. But VentureWeb has challenged this approach, offering an alternative by harnessing the Simpleview™ CRM API to integrate with open-source CMS platforms, providing DMOs the freedom to tailor their sites to their distinct brand voice and visitor experiences.

An Open Path Forward: VentureWeb’s Approach to Custom CMS with Simpleview

Leveraging Simpleview’s™ robust API, VentureWeb now enables DMOs to integrate their Simpleview™ CRM with an open-source CMS that facilitates dynamic, engaging member and event listings. This breakthrough has unlocked new potential for DMOs to build fully custom, design-forward sites that retain all the benefits of Simpleview’s™ powerful back-end CRM tools.

The recent Tourism Kamloops website exemplifies this custom CMS approach, designed and developed using a ProcessWire CMS. This website presents a visually immersive experience for visitors, blending powerful functionality with flexibility, enabling Tourism Kamloops to create a website that reflects the city’s distinctive character. The result? A digital experience that’s not only visually engaging but also fully integrated with Simpleview’s™ CRM data.

Customization and Control: Key Benefits of an Open Source CMS

Here’s how this integration benefits DMOs and provides new creative flexibility:

• Component-Based Customization: With ProcessWire’s flexible, component-based architecture, Tourism Kamloops can design and modify every feature and function of their website, creating a unique user journey that’s entirely their own.
• Extensibility: Needs change and sometimes you need to evolve and adapt quickly. A custom CMS enables you to quickly deploy new features and functionality.
• Enhanced Visual Design: The website is optimized for image-rich layouts, creating an immersive, visually-driven experience that captures Kamloops’s vibrant landscape and activities without compromising functionality.
• Integration-Friendly Design: This custom setup enables seamless integration with other third-party widgets, tools, and APIs beyond Simpleview™, making it possible to bring in feeds for weather, social media, and more.
• Data-Driven Insights: Robust Google Analytics 4 integration offers in-depth reporting on user behavior, providing data to refine user journeys and improve engagement based on real visitor interactions.
• Ownership of Data: With a transportable database, all website content is directly accessible, empowering Tourism Kamloops to leverage its content and member data across platforms if needs evolve in the future.

The Next Chapter in DMO Digital Strategy

With this integration, DMOs no longer have to choose between functionality and creativity. They can maintain their established CRM infrastructure while gaining the freedom to design unique, brand-driven digital experiences that differentiate their destinations. For DMOs like Tourism Kamloops, this approach represents the best of both worlds: the operational backbone of Simpleview™, combined with the creative potential of an open-source, custom-built CMS.

As digital landscapes become more competitive, DMOs now have the tools to not only stay relevant but to truly stand out, inviting visitors to experience destinations that are as unique online as they are in person.