The Background
As per all businesses, a Queensland-based tourism business was seeking ways to stimulate additional new business after ‘COVID-19 2020 lockdowns’ were lifted.
Our Solution
The business spoke with us about their needs. We then suggested a digital advertising campaign because we knew this was THE best solution, and it would offer the best results.
It is very well known that digital advertising can be very, very effective when done correctly. We also know:
- It can be much cheaper than traditional marketing or advertising
- By using Facebook Ads a business can effectively reach a LOT more people than a TV commercial or radio advert can.
- A Facebook ads campaign also ‘builds customer leads’ if created correctly.
The tourism business knew that we have a lot of experience creating online marketing campaigns, running Facebook ads, building ‘online lead generation systems’ and ‘holistic marketing growth’.
Firstly we asked about their specific goals and when they wanted the campaign to run. Just some of the information they shared included:
- They wanted more business awareness leading up to the 2021 ‘Easter School Holiday’ period.
- They were seeking more bookings from late February 2021 onward.
As you would remember, people in Australia (and the rest of the world) were hurting during and after ‘COVID 19 lockdowns’, so we suggested a campaign that involved ‘sharing some love’ leading up to ‘Valentine’s Day’ 2021. We knew this would also give us enough lead-time to create the campaign effectively. Our client loved the whole idea! They also loved our idea of the campaign being a ‘competition’ with a great ‘giving’/ ‘loving’ prize.
So they commissioned us to provide a strategic online marketing/ advertising campaign. We then got to work:
- We prepared the Campaign Written Plan (the specifics)
- Then we presented the plan and the costing, along with a statement of work.
Everything was agreed to, so in January 2021 we started work on the campaign.
Just like any project, the first job was the ‘action plan’, followed by the project schedule. We then created all the materials (digital assets) needed for this campaign to work. Some of these items included:
- Collaboration with our client on what the best competition prize should be
- Creation of a short video (to be used as part of the Facebook Ads campaign)
- A landing page. You can visit the landing page here. A screenshot of it is below in this blog post.
- Content for the landing page
- Competition Terms and Conditions
- The design of the Facebook ads using ‘native content style‘ method. A screenshot of one of the adverts is below.
We also made sure the competition complied with Facebook’s terms of service.
We designed everything to ensure the campaign would be highly appealing to ALL customer types (and age groups).
We then launched the campaign and the Facebook Ads.
We made sure the Facebook Ads were targeted ONLY to people who would be ideal customers and within our client’s geographic customer market area.
The Results
We ran the campaign and as predicted, it did EXTREMELY well.
We only ran the campaign for 9 days leading up to Valentine’s Day. We did this to ensure it would not drag on too long, which could annoy people using Facebook.
We tested 3 different variations of the advert during the first day. We then used the one that was performing the best for the following 8 days, plus a few other variations to ‘keep it fresh’. This again prevents Facebook users from getting annoyed…. AND further increases participation in the competition.
Our client was extremely happy with the results of the ads and the entire campaign. Some of the results included:
- All up over 69,000 people saw the advert.
- Many people also shared the advert on Facebook
- Many people clicked the advert and visited the landing page
- Many people entered the competition
The competition winner was announced shortly after the competition closed. The winner has since let our client know how much they enjoyed the prize! 🙂
The whole campaign was a great success!
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Side note: Digital marketing and digital advertising campaigns are excellent when carefully planned and correctly implemented. They also cost WAY less than traditional advertising methods. PLUS they provide you with accurate data – eg:
- How many people were exposed to the advert
- How many people interacted with the advert
- How many people shared the advert
- How many people opted into whatever the advert/ ‘the marketing campaign offer’ actually was. in this case, entrants were automatically added into a database when they entered the competition.
Below are some screenshots from the campaign:
Above: This is the mobile phone view of one of the Facebook Ads.
The desktop computer view of one of the Facebook Ads.
The Valentine’s Day competition landing page
Jay Daniells has been doing advanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) work for clients since 2010. He is an SEO specialist. He first started doing SEO work in 2005. He has also been creating websites full-time since 2003. Amongst things Jay is also a graphic designer, digital marketing consultant and creative person. His focus is helping businesses, community groups, clubs, charities, organisations and other entities achieve their goals. He is the owner of Green Valley Digital.