Where they were
Ocean House (by HaiCo) is a luxury resort on Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, which was entering its first year of operation in 2018. The destination provides travelers with an incredible mix of local culture, a sense of adventure and natural tranquility upon arrival.
Ocean House knew that their target market was affluent older travelers with an affinity for nature. Other than this core information, Ocean House wasn’t sure where to start when it came to marketing. They knew that pinning down the details of their audience and testing different digital marketing tactics was crucial, so they turned to Snaptech to help develop a strategic plan that could help them reach their first-year targets.
Where they are
In their first year, Ocean House experienced overwhelming results. By the end of their initial 2018 season, Ocean House surpassed their targeted occupancy goal by 10%. The guests booked through the digital marketing efforts of Snaptech were by far the most effective marketing channel, accounting for more than 60% of the total volume of guests. Through the marketing testing performed with Snaptech, Ocean House now understands the specific age, gender, income level, location and interests of their target market and can effectively reach them online.
With proof of concept for their business in hand, HaiCo is planning an expansion of Ocean House’s offering in the years to come. Using Snaptech as their digital partner, Ocean House knows that they can achieve optimal results through digital marketing campaigns that bring in bookings at an exceptional return on investment.
What was needed
After our kickoff meeting with Ocean House, we knew that setting up a series of tests was required to identify their optimal target market, campaign type, and messaging. We started by creating specific audiences in Facebook that used their predetermined demographic information and layered it in with psychographic and behavioral categories. We tested ads that used static images and videos to see which garnered higher engagement. One key moment was testing the call-to-action. By changing to a softer call-to-action, the number of conversions (counted as booking inquiry forms) increased by more than 1000%. Lastly, we used Unbounce to efficiently design multiple landing page variants and monitored which messages and designs resulted in higher conversions.
Additionally, because Ocean House was a new business and wasn’t yet ranking organically in the search results, we set them up with a branded Google Search campaign. This way, their business would be prevalent at the top of a search anytime a user was trying to find their brand.
As a result of these combined campaign efforts, we were able to see dramatic month-over-month improvements in the campaigns. After we began to drive a substantial amount of new traffic to the website, we were able to leverage Facebook’s lookalike audiences (users who are similar to previous website visitors) to create a consistent, predictable and scalable marketing presence for Ocean House.
advanced call tracking
creative ad design
facebook advertising
google search advertising