The Drum Recommends: Commended - Increasing online visibility and sales for The Real Mary's Kings Close

Earlier this year the Recommended Agency Register (RAR) was rebranded as The Drum Recommends to bring it in line with owner The Drum. It remains committed to partnering brands with the correct agency using data and unique industry expertise.

This case study and other interesting content can be found on Blue2's profile on The Drum Recommends.

Background & Objective

The Real Mary’s Kings Close is a small but unique visitor attraction in the heart of Edinburgh, offering visitors a glimpse into the city's past via Edinburgh's only preserved 17th century street. Although tourism figures in Edinburgh are high, the attraction is in a constant battle for share of both the local, national and international visitor market with a wide and varied range of attractions on their doorstep (including world famous attractions - Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood

Palace, Scottish Parliament, Dynamic Earth and the Royal Yacht Britannia). After a competitive pitch process in early 2018 we were appointed to deliver full digital marketing services.

The key objectives that we set out to achieve were as follows;

• Create a series of engaging adverts attracting users to click through to the website (Google Ads)
• Achieve a high impression and click through rate for as low a CPC spend as possible.
• Provide a highly optimised series of campaigns that deliver ROI by driving online ticket sales and hit set KPI’s for conversions (ticket sales) direct from the adverts.
• Improve the website content and provide engaging news and blog materials to increase interest and grab audiences attention.

Research, Planning & Strategy

Prior to our involvement, the attraction had run several campaigns. Results were varied and although impressions and CPC spend was consistent (and at a level the attraction was reasonably content with), conversion rates were low.

We spent four weeks working with the client to learn about the attraction (site visits and research) and their target audiences (via analysis of available data, random sampling of audience experiences and digital surveys). We analysed the local and national marketplace to determine how competing attractions were using CPC campaigns and how effective each were.

We reviewed all available content and discussed the resources and expertise available at the attraction to generate new and interesting content for the website and blogs (to provide a base of organic SEO and pages of interest for users to engage with).

We planned on an ongoing campaign (February-September) and identified three key periods to maximise campaigns, (Easter, summer and Fringe). Our overall aim was to continually monitor the results and tweak as required to maximise ROI.

Execution

We focused on increasing transactions (ticket sales) through Google Ads by using bidding strategies focused on maximising conversions. We constantly create new adverts which we launch on a weekly basis, providing a large variety for target consumers to engage with. We run A/B split testing on all adverts, continually dropping (usually within hours) those that are underperforming and boosting spend in favour of ads that look statistically likely to perform better, resulting in the best adverts being shown more frequently. We monitor performance daily and tweak campaigns to make the most of any trends measured or peak activity periods noted.

We created a content calendar and provided a series of suggested article titles and outlines (and on occasion full articles) for publish. Our work has resulted in a drastic increase in online visibility of the attraction and ultimately online ticket sales.

Effectiveness

Our campaigns have helped drive increased visibility and footfall to the attraction leading to record tourist numbers and them winning the award for the best attraction within their parent group’s portfolio of attractions. In addition, we have been appointed to handle one of the other group companies attractions and are discussing working with several more.

To find out more about Blue2 check out their profile on The Drum Recommends.