Both around six to eight years old. Their father was standing on the beach watching them, perfectly calm, with no idea they were in danger. He didn't know what the flags meant, or that he should even look for them. He didn't speak a word of English and wasn't familiar with beaches, so the small beach safety signs at the access were useless to him.
We got the little girls out of the water. After trying to talk with their father, we understood right away that there is a serious disconnect between our beach safety system and the millions of people who visit here every year. We knew we had to do something. That afternoon is why this program exists.
We need your help to keep it running.
We worked with the local Rotary Club and the city to put our beach safety information at all the public access points, and we had the city's go-ahead. A few months later it was all removed, abruptly. The city decided it did not want signage on the beaches that it did not run itself.
So we found another way to reach beach guests. Visitors don't plan their day at the access point. They plan it in the room — at night and in the morning, on a phone, working out what to do while they're here. So that's where we went: on the counter in the room, in the elevators, in the lobby, and at the front desk at check-in.
It works. And it's paid for by local businesses, who get in front of those same visitors in return. That's the entire model.
Decals for your door, lobby and register, each carrying a QR code that belongs only to you. Someone scans it and gets today's flag, the water and the surf — with your business in the spot right underneath.
Everywhere else you advertise, you're paying for a click. A click is one person, and you don't know if they're local, a thousand miles away, or eating out at all. The people who find you through us are visitors sitting in a hotel room with no kitchen, deciding where to eat tonight.
| How you'd normally get one new customer | Cost per person |
|---|---|
| Delivery apps | 15–30% of every order |
| Google Ads | $20–$45 |
| Facebook & Instagram | $25–$52 |
| Print & coupon mailers | no way to tell |
| Beach Safety Sponsor | $29 a month, however many come in |
Typical published cost to bring in one new restaurant customer, by channel.
One table walks in because they scanned a code, and the month is paid for. Everything after that is yours, and the price doesn't change no matter how well it works.
The first job is coverage — more rooms, more lobbies, more front desks, more places a family can check the water before they walk down to it. Every sponsor decal is one more of those places, so sponsors aren't only paying for this. They're how it spreads.
The second is equipment. We're raising money for rescue gear for the crews already working these beaches. We're not replacing anyone and we don't run our own patrols. We fund and we inform. The lifeguards do the rescuing.
Two red flags flying together means the water is closed. Not "be careful" — closed. That flag is on a pole at every public access point. To a family that was never taught what it means, in a language they may not read, it is just a colored flag.
That father wasn't careless. He watched his daughters the entire time, standing where he could see them. He had no way to know the beach had already told him not to let them in.
Florida has about a third of all rip current deaths in the United States. Not because the water here is more dangerous, but because millions of people who don't live here come to swim in it. The county tourism council counts 7.8 million visitors to Destin-Fort Walton Beach in a year, most of them staying a week, many from places with no ocean.
Our job is to put the information where those families already are, in something they'll actually look at, before they get in the water. If a visitor's phone is set to Spanish, the page comes up in Spanish on its own. Nobody has to find a button. The father in that story would have been able to read it.
Pick a time and one of us will call you. It takes about five minutes. You'll be on What's Good Local the same day, in front of new customers — and you'll be helping keep people safe on our beaches.
Thanks. One of us will reach out at the time you picked. If you'd rather not wait, call 850.860.5733 and we'll take care of it now.
Thank you for reading this far. Every business on that page is one more reason a family gets the information before they get in the water.