Destination Spin: Content Marketing for Increased Visitation
DOMESTIC MARKETING ExplorersEdge.ca
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING TheGreatCanadianWilderness.com
Algonquin Park * Almaguin Highlands * Loring-Restoule * Muskoka * Parry Sound
RTO12 in a nutshell. • Build new audiences for the entire region • Increase visitation and spend
• Primary business objective - promote the destination • Secondary – referrals to tourism operators
“Do More With Less” (a.k.a. we ain’t got no money)
“Dispersion”
What is Content Marketing? “Content Marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.� Content Marketing Institute definition
‘Create stuff that people like to read or watch, and the sales will follow.’
Inspire. Educate. Entertain.
• • • • •
Copy/text Photos Video Mapping Info-graphs
Image from Elbowpoint.com (via FB)
RTO12’s Early Approach (Jan. 2012 – Fall 2013)
January 2012
Fall 2012/2013
•
Stop and go campaigns
•
Not possible to sustain
•
Not possible to compete
•
Not great results (measurement)
RTO12’s Early-Adopter Approach (Jan. 2014 – present)
Leveling The Playing Field • Cost-effective / any budget will do (from wealthy DMOs to B&Bs) • Always in-market • Highly trackable / highly targetable / learnings as you go / flexible
• Achieves multiple objectives (destination building, referrals, lead nurturing) • Anyone can do it
• Helps to optimize “search”
RTO12 Social Content Marketing Blog Content Is The Advert, Facebook Is The (Social) Medium of Choice • Get travelers or “discoverers” to our website (brochure) • Get travelers off our site to tourism operators and stakeholders (referrals) • Emails into our lead nurturing database
THE AD
THE MEDIUM
• Measurable / HIGHLY Targeted • Increases emails in database (for lead nurturing) • Increases FB following • RTO12 rewarded by FB with more organic reach • Leads to more page views
• Eyes on 2-6 mins (they read it) • Conversions to booking widgets, packages and special offers / referrals
Upselling / Engagement Opportunities
Comparison Website Trafffic - Content vs Campaigns 250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
-
2014
2013
www.explorersedge.ca website analytics 1,400 1,200 1,000
000s
800 600
400 200
2011
MARKETING
2012
2013
2014
2016
2017
At peak w/ domestic budget: • 100 million Facebook impressions in 2016 • 50 million individual FB users reached • 2.7 million engagements (!)
• $190 Million Increase in Visitor Spending • 2014 – 2016 • Lead all RTOs in 2015 – second to Tourism Toronto in 2016
• 460,000 Increase in Total Person Visits • 2014-2016 • Top three RTOs in 2015 & 2016
Loring-Restoule Business Association (Level The Playing Field)
• Total spend of $6,500 (partnership) • Delivered over 1.2 million Facebook impressions • Reached just over 900,000 Facebook users
• Just over 31,000 engagements / rate of 3.4% (about 50% over the typical rate we achieve) • 12,010 clicks to read the LR content on either EE.ca or LR.com
Turning the Ship: International Social Content Marketing for Dispersion
Testing the Theory • www.shareyourcanada150.com • 1300 user-generated pieces of content (story / photo) • 7,000 leads into the international database in 5 weeks
• $80K CDN in-market spend IN THE USA & U.K. (lol!)
Tweaking the Content Approach
119,114 People Reached
RTO12’s Self-Guided Mobile Tour Strategy (dispersion) www.thegroupofsevenoutdoorgallery.com
www.bikecottagecountry.ca www.cottagecountrybeertrail.ca
Early Learnings • Overall the cost per link click (CPLC) is $0.76 which is almost 4X higher than domestic content performance (avg. about $0.20) • The engagement rate is 0.8% versus 2.0% for our general content • The more specific we get, the more we can expect to pay • Males respond slightly better • 3+ page views per user • 80% on mobile devices
• Watch the “algorithm” • Facebook groups for niche • Conversion to accommodations/ package specific • Search strategy for product
Quick Tips for Content Blogs • Mobile responsive site • ALWAYS QUALITY OVER QUANTITY • 700 to 1200 words • Use great photos – high res
• Always have a call(s) to action • Find the resident storyteller • For product – pay the experts
Ontario By Bike Content Webinar: Courtesy of RTO12 kate@explorersedge.ca