NORTH CAROLINA’S BRUNSWICK ISLANDS
THE CLIENT
The Brunswick Islands are located in the southeastern corner of North Carolina. The popular tourism destination is comprised of a total of 10 barrier islands and coastal towns including, Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, Oak Island, Caswell Beach, and Bald Head Island, Southport, Calabash, Shallotte and Leland.
THE CHALLENGE
Brunswick Islands was generating too much paid traffic with non-vacation planning intent, which was negatively affecting click-through and conversion rates. Additionally, keyword bidding was not optimized based on conversion data, leading to inefficient spending and budget being applied to the wrong keywords.
THE STRATEGY
The search engine marketing campaigns were restructured to capture more top-of-funnel users in the process of researching vacation destinations and seeking information to guide them in the decision-making process. Additionally, new ad groups were developed to better connect ads to the specific asset or characteristic the user was most interested in. And keyword targeting was narrowed to focus on the most valuable (top converting) keywords and those aligned with planning intent.
This strategy led to a significant improvement in the traffic quality, engagement levels and conversion rates. The more relevant ads resulted in a 206% increase in CTR, improving keyword quality scores on the account, which subsequently reduced the amount paid per click by 80%.
THE RESULTS
The cost-per-conversion on the three core campaigns (Leisure, Wedding and Golf) improved 85%, 97% and 75% respectively and paid search evolved into one of Brunswick’s top-performing channels.
DIGITAL AUDIT
Step one entailed a deep data dive to understand existing campaign performance and identify gaps to create a more optimized, efficient campaign.
PAID SEARCH
Based on audit findings, the campaign architecture was restructured to eliminate underperforming keywords and adjust targeting to focus on reaching users with the proper intent.
ANALYTICS
Website data was analyzed at a granular level to understand which keywords and audience segments were most valuable and adjustments were made accordingly.