Northumberland Tourism. Marketing. Plan 2017/18

Transcription

1 Northumberland Tourism Marketing Plan 2017/18 1

2 2016 Performance Marketing Campaigns Love the North Oct 16 - Feb 17 Feb - Mar k VisitEngland budget 50,547 unique website visitors Apr-Aug 16 ROI: 35.83:1 Social Media Followers PR % 21% 194% 71(+2) Klout Score* Press trips organised Pieces of coverage generated Newsletters 18.1% Over 70, % open rate Unique Visitors click-through 0.5% contacts rate visitnorthumberland.com 1,106,939 * Klout score is a measure of overall on-line influence on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the most influential. Users with a klout score of 63 are in teh top 5% of all users. 2

3 Publications 2015 ROI: 80,000 distributed on request TICs & high footfall areas 15,000 delivered to 437 TICs, cafés, accommodation & Tourism Fairs DO Leaflet :1 H Guide :1 Bedroom Browser 93.23:1 250,000 distributed within a 3 hour drive-time Group Travel Partnership 67% of readers said they visited with their partner, 11.3% visited with children. 29% of respondents come from the North West, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. 65% are aged 55 and over and 61% are female. Average Party Size 2.69 people Average Length of Stay 4.64 nights 40.4% visited attractions or places they hadn t planned to. 17.3% visited more attractions or places than originally planned. 3

4 Who are we aiming at? In 2015 Arkenford re-assessed our database, to give us an up-to-date picture of the visitor types we are currently attracting. Questions were added to our visitnorthumberland. com survey, which is completed online, as is the Ark research, so we should bear in mind it doesn t cover non-internet users. Cosmopolitans are now our largest segment, which shows that the marketing activity we have undertaken previously to target this market has been successful. The markets that we will continue to target are: - Cosmopolitans - Discoverers - Traditionals Cosmopolitans 24.2% Traditionals 19.8% High Street 15% Functionals 11.3% Followers 9.8% Discoverers 9% Habituals 8.1% Style Hounds 2.8% Our marketing is also attracting the High Street market, which might indicate that awareness of Northumberland as a holiday destination is growing. <1% NI & Ireland 2% Outside the UK 8% Scotland 2% Wales 17% North East 29% North West and Yorkshire & Lincolnshire 41% Rest of England 15.5% visit with children 60% visit with just their spouse or partner 4

5 Cosmopolitans - 19% of GB population - High social segment - 64% in ABC1-11% are retired/not working - 59% are aged Highest concentrations in North East, North West, Northern Ireland and London areas Discoverers - Independent individualists - Little influenced by style or brand unless it represents their personal values - Value technology, new products and experiences - High spending but intolerant of substitutes or image based advertising - Value good service Peace & relaxation To have fun Time with friends & family To learn, be fascinated & absorbed To have fun Leisure Motivations Time with friends & family To learn, be fascinated & absorbed Leisure Motivations For the views & scenery To see awe-inspiring places Fresh air & exercise For the views & scenery Fresh air & exercise For the nature/ wildlife Traditionals - 11% of GB population - Lower social segment - 55% in C2DEF - 37% are retired/not working - 84% are aged Highest concentrations in South East, East Midlands, Northern Ireland and South West Peace & relaxation To have fun Time with friends & family To learn, be fascinated & absorbed Leisure Motivations For the views & scenery To experience life in the past Fresh air & exercise For the nature/ wildlife High Street Time with friends & family Fresh air & exercise - Source information from others rather than discovering for themselves - Follow when a fashion has been established - Brand and style more important than functionality - Active with moderate interest in arts & culture - Will spend on luxury To have fun To learn, be fascinated & absorbed Leisure Motivations For the views & scenery For the nature/ wildlife 5

6 Campaigns During 2017/18 we will run two campaigns, one in spring/summer to attract visitors to book during the season. And the second in autumn to encourage shoulder season bookings. Businesses can buy into these campaigns ensuring exposure to all potential visitors the campaign reaches. The concept of It s in our nature (see box below) was designed as part of Northumberland an Independent Spirit brand and we used this successfully during the 2016/17 spring/summer campaign. The vision is to continue to use the concept so that it becomes recognised along with #itsinournature. Our character is born from the contrasts of nature; our remote hills, our vast skies, our tranquil lakes and the rugged beauty of our coastline. Generations have lived as part of this landscape, creating strength, passion and wisdom, finding individual paths and protecting a way of life together. A journey through Northumberland reveals the warmth of our welcome and celebrates our character. Slow down and discover experiences. Challenge your senses and feel the thrill of adventure. You, like us, can go your own way. The campaign will run from April to August Activities will include: Microsite located on visitnorthumberland.com - featuring the campaign partners; will encourage visitors to discover more about the county s offer and enter the competition. The microsite will be live from April 2017 to August 2017 offering prolonged exposure for campaign partners. All marketing will direct to the microsite. Campaign featured on the visitnorthumberland.com home page Half page advert in the Guardian s Travel Guide (April) distributed within London, the South East, the Home Counties, Norfolk, Suffolk and the Welsh Borders External advertising - currently being negotiated PR supporting the campaign Advertisements in appropriate magazine(s)/paper(s) - currently being negotiated Social media promotion, including paid for promotion, via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #itsinournature Campaign marketing It s in our nature WIN! A two night Dinner, Bed and Breakfast stay for two people at Macdonald Linden Hall. visitnorthumberland.com/itsinournature 2016 The Grand Cascade, The Alnwick Garden Hidden away amongst 450 acres of fine park and woodland in mid-northumberland, Linden Hall is a superb Georgian house. An impressive 1/4 mile-long drive sweeps up to its main door where, upon entering, you will discover a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with beautiful rooms enhanced by gracious marble hearths, antiques and period pieces. Campaign Material Adverts & Advertorials Digital online Campaign Microsite 6

7 Photo credit: Sycamore Gap (Graeme Peacock) Northumberland offers stargazing heaven and you don t need to be an expert or have an expensive telescope to enjoy this natural beauty. Northumberland International Dark Sky Park covers 572 square miles and is the largest dark sky park in Europe, with pristine skies. You can enjoy dark skies throughout Northumberland; the Northumberland Coast is perfect for seeing the stunning Aurora Borealis. Our marketing & PR campaign, Northumberland the land that s just as good with the lights off, will run from October 2017 to February Our 2014, 2015 & 2016 campaigns with the same name were well received and as with the spring/summer campaign we will continue to build on the theme so it becomes recognised clearly as Northumberland. In addition further areas within the country are becoming aware of Dark Sky Status, so it is vital we continue to promote our offering to retain our competitive advantage. Following analysis of the 2016/17 campaign and the 2017 It s in our nature campaign we will plan the specifics of this campaign. 2016/17 Campaign Material The land that s just as goodwith thelights off Look up into the night sky of Northumberland s International Dark Sky Park and enjoy the marvel of up to 2000 stars at any one time. You don t need an expensive telescope to enjoy Northumberland s dark skies; just wrap up warm, pack a pair of binoculars, a hot drink and bite to eat and head off to enjoy a spine tingling, star-studded show. WIN!...an overnight stay in Northumberland at The Commissioners Quay Inn visitnorthumberland.com/nlandstars Other Marketing Activities Activity to leverage national tourism award winners Activity to encourage voting for Northumberland in the British Travel Awards Supporting key Active Northumberland/NCC events, such as The Tour of Britain in Northumberland Linking with VisitEngland s Year of the Literary Hero Promotion of additional anniversaries/key or new events relevant to Northumberland 30th Anniversary of Hadrian s Wall becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site Hadrian s Cavalry Opening of The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre 7

8 Publications Holiday Guide The Holiday Guide is distributed via high footfall areas, Tourist Information Centres and posted out on request, continuing to be popular with potential visitors. There was an 8% decline in advertising compared with the 2016 guide, however it still remains popular and some businesses use it as their only form of advertising. The 2017 guide is 92 pages, A4 and we printed 80,000. April to May: Initial planning meetings, deciding editorial content (The editorial plan is coordinated with campaign and other key messages. Editorial will be written in house), appoint a designer May to Oct: Sales of advertising space May to Nov: Design & proofing process Dec: Initial distribution of 2017 Holiday Guide and Bedroom Browser visitnorthumberl and.com Holiday & Short Breaks Guide 2017 Events Guide 201 WIN 7 an overnight stay with dinner & bubbly Vouchers inside 2015 ROI :1 Bedroom Browser visitnorthumberland.com Discover Northumberland 2017 The Bedroom Browser is the front section of the guide without any accommodation adverts and is supplied to accommodation providers across the county. We printed 15,000 copies of the Bedroom Browser to minimise costs this is produced in conjunction with the Holiday Guide. In 2017 we are also distributing the Bedroom Browser to places where people will sit and read, for example cafes. We will repeat this in In order to evaluate success of both the Holiday Guide and Bedroom Browser we run a competition with separate URLs for the two guides ROI Events Guide 2017 Please leave for others to enjoy WIN an overnight stay with dinner & bubbly Vouchers inside 93.23:1 Days Out and Attractions Leaflet A map guide of Northumberland which includes lists/adverts of attractions, activities and food & drink in Northumberland. Due to high demand we added an extra 6 panels to the leaflet for 2017 and all advertising space was sold. 250,000 were printed in 2017 and they are distributed within a three hour drive time of Northumberland and throughout the county ROI FREE 2017 Guide and Days Out and Map Attractions :1 April: appoint a designer May to Dec: Sales of advertising space Nov to Dec: Design & proofing process We plan to maintain the size, quantity and Return on Investment of our three printed publications for

9 Website Visitor numbers to the website visitnorthumberland.com continue to rise reaching over 1.1 million unique visitors in This was however, only a 0.5% increase compared with Work has been carried out on the website during 2016 to ensure that it is fully responsive, as well as functionality improvements. However, the website is now becoming a little outdated due to its age. Consideration of this will be made during and the feasibility of updating the website will be investigated. Businesses can advertise on the website in the form of listings (These can be basic or enhanced) and by box advertising (Pay per click). In addition businesses are actively encouraged to list their events free of charge on the website. During we will review all the content on the website, creating a development plan to ensure that all pages are updated. Where appropriate we will liase with specialists to improve the quality of the content. We will continue to use social media and competitions to drive traffic to the website. All other marketing activity drives traffic to the website, either to the homepage, to relevant information or for the campaign to the microsite. 9

10 CRM We have a consumer database of over 76,000 people and periodically cleanse the database to ensure it remains relevant and up to date. It can be detrimental to send out too many e-newsletters so we ensure we carefully plan our schedule. We have carried out work on segmenting the database and this is ongoing as it enables us to send more targeted s. Over 76,000 contacts 18.1% 24.5% Newsletters open rate click-through rate Social Media Throughout 2016/17 we have continued to grow our social media followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. During 2017/18 we will continue to focus on these as well as looking to begin to use Vine. As our follower numbers are increasing we have started on a small scale to charge for promoted posts. During 2017/18 we will have a larger sales focus on promoted posts. For businesses that advertise with us we will continue to do appropriate posts at no charge as they are beneficial to ourselves as well as to the advertiser. During 2016 we changed the CRM system we were using to offer us more flexibility. We now use Pure360 and are adapting our s based on their advice. We will continue to sell feature stories and bespoke newsletters whilst ensuring that we don t send out too many. For 2017/18 we will review the layout of our s including consideration of themed newsletters. Statistics including open rate, click through rate and the most popular features are monitored for each newsletter sent. We also send out a monthly e-newsletter, ViewpoiNT, to Northumberland Tourism businesses. Klout Score +3 to % to 14,209 likes +22% to 20,844 followers +169% to 2911 followers Business 2,858 followers 10

11 PR PR remains a powerful communication tool and an important focus of our marketing activity. PR Objectives To increase volume of coverage thereby increasing awareness of Northumberland and its appeal. To increase quality of coverage for the county as an attractive tourist destination. To provide content which marks Northumberland Tourism as the go-to organisation for all Northumberland information. Pro-active PR Our communications plan outlines key events in the Northumberland calendar and inhouse pro-active PR will focus on this. The communications plan will be regularly updated as businesses within the county publicise their events. Each month a round up press release will be issued by Northumberland Tourism to encourage press trips and stories. Target national and regional press with regular releases. Reactive PR Respond to Visit England and Visit Britain Opportunities. Respond to any direct enquiries, co-ordinating press visits. Press Desk Service for the county Supplying quotes, contents and images and arranging press trips for journalists. Where possible this will be provided at no cost utilising in kind contributions from businesses in return for press coverage. Databases and relationships Expand and build upon our current databases of journalists and bloggers. Further develop our relationships and communications with VisitEngland and VisitBritain to ensure they are aware of all our key stories to enable them to promote Northumberland on our behalf. Continue to develop relationships with businesses and partners willing to host press visits and provide competition prizes. Continue to build upon our relationships with the Northumberland County Councils PR team and PR teams of other DMOs. Monitoring A log will be maintained of all trips and coverage directly generated. At the start of 2017 we invested in Cision, a media monitoring service.this will allow us to track and report on media coverage. 11

12 Marketing Activity Research For all marketing activity that we undergo we will carry out reserach to enable us to continue to learn about our audience, including how long they stay, which demographic they fit into and the impact of marketing on aspects such as their decision to visit. Research will be carried out for: Days Out and Attractions Leaflet Holiday Guide/Bedroom Browser visitnorthumberland.com It s in our nature campaign Northumberland, the land that s just as good with the lights off campaign. Following the research a one page summary will be made available to view on the corporate website, Average Party Size 2.39 people Influence 2015 Days Out Leaflet Research & ROI Visitors Average Length of Stay 3.09 nights Average Total Spend % of respondents were on a short break. 5.4% were on a longer holiday and over 26% were on a day trip. 79% visit Northumberland often or occasionally and this 17.6% of users are from the North East region, with 69.5% was not their first visit. coming from the rest of England. Around 8% come from Scotland with just under 2% from outside the UK. 24% said they picked up the Days Out Leaflet because they were looking for something to do but had not decided what. 17% said they just saw it and hadn t been considering visiting any of the attractions before hand. Return on Investment 65% of respondents were influenced to change their plans. 22.4% of those said they spent more as a result of using the Days Out Leaflet Of those who visited % visited attractions or more attractions places they hadn t or places than planned to. originally planned. 5.7% said the 17.3% visited 1.7% said they leaflet influenced extended their trip them to return for as a result of using more than one the leaflet. visit. This equates to 32,791 parties influenced, after a 10% reduction in the 250,000 leaflets printed as per VisitEngland guidelines. The total cost of production was 22,336 Visitor Spend Generated 4,285, Return on Investment : 1 4,693 extra nights were spent in Northumberland as a result of using the leaflet, which does not include those who returned for another visit. 12