CENTRAL COUNTIES TOURISM
THE CLIENT
Central Counties Tourism is a regional tourism organization (RTO) that covers the regions of York, Durham and Headwaters regions in southern Ontario, Canada. With more than 800 courses in Ontario, golf is a significant tourism asset that needed to be better leveraged.
THE CHALLENGE
Competing in a crowded marketplace, the Central Counties area was often overshadowed by the multitude of golf options in the Northeast and other parts of Canada. The organization sought to raise its profile among U.S. golfers with a propensity to travel, become part of the consideration set and generate traffic to a new golf-specific website that featured specific golf vacation packages.
THE STRATEGY
A behavior-targeted, digital display campaign was launched to increase awareness among users with a demonstrated interest in golf travel who were located in key U.S. markets. The brand awareness campaign was run in conjunction with a search campaign that reached golfers who were actively searching for golf vacations and packages that aligned geographically and demographically with Central Counties targets.
By focusing the search campaign on users with buying intent who were at the bottom of the marketing funnel, we delivered highly engaged traffic that was more likely to take action.
THE RESULTS
The success of the search marketing campaign helped the organization become a finalist for the prestigious Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence in 2019.
With nearly 400 golf vacation inquiries and a $350,000 increase in direct revenue compared to 2018, the program far surpassed revenue projections. Paid search and display together accounted for nearly 65% of all traffic and 70% of conversions on the RTO’s website.
SEM
Search and display campaigns were engaged to deliver an immediate awareness and traffic boost in key markets. Keywords and ads were tested to maximize performance.
SEO
SEO activities included: a detailed audit & competitive analysis. Data was utilized to drive target keywords, content strategy, link building & site usability improvements.
ANALYTICS
Website data was analyzed at a granular level to understand which keywords and audience segments were most valuable and adjustments were made accordingly..