The MRBTA February Marketing Snapshot is available below. If you missed last month’s, you can catch up here.
If you have any questions or would like to share your feedback, please email [email protected]
A quick snapshot of February’s marketing highlights:
Melbs to Margs Landing Page
We have been busy building a landing page on margaretriver.com which will be promoted by Jetstar through all their domestic flights. The landing page will be referred to in 34k inflight magazines in seat pockets of all Jetstar domestic passengers during the month of March to encourage them to visit, plus an over run of 2k for promotional use in trade events in Melbourne. MRBTA curated a ‘Local Favourites’ blog series for the landing page, and will continue to evolve the content to keep it seasonally relevant. You can view the page here.
Event Partnerships
Throughout February we provided event support to the following events:
- South West Craft Beer Festival
- Busselton Jetty Swim
- Geographe Bay Race Week
- Busselton Fringe Festival
Autumn Magazine
The Your Margaret River Region magazine will be printed and delivered by approximately March 9th. Keep an eye on the corporate site to place your order.
Expedia Campaign
In collaboration with the Margaret River Wine Association, South West Development Commission, and Australia’s South West, MRBTA have worked on a campaign with Expedia encouraging Singaporean travellers to book a holiday to the region in winter. The campaign is live on Expedia SG, and is supported through an interactive trip discovery experience, a dedicated landing page, flight, accommodation and vacation packages bookings paths and display banners. The interactive trip discovery and dedicated landing page features inspirational winter experiences such as wine trails, whale watching, nature experiences and events.
Previews to the landing page and advertisements here.
Summer Bucket List Campaign Results
MRBTA recently partnered with Private Properties in our Seasonal Content Plan campaign – The Ultimate Summer Bucket List. The campaign had enormous value to consumers – not only with a hugely generous and valuable prize, but with 50 bucket-list worthy tips from a local on how to enjoy a stay in the region. This generated excitement among our audience, with many tagging their friends and generating interest in a Private Properties trip down south on their next holiday. Content was delivered via four digital channels, reaching a total audience of more than 146,000 people and securing 2,724 new subscribers for Private Properties.
Other Media
- Qantas partnership opportunity that showcased the wine regions within the south west of Western Australia. The project went live for the month of February 2020 both inflight in Qantas Magazine and digitally in Travel Insider. This project was an MRBTA collaboration with Australia’s South West, The Margaret River Wine Association, and the South West Development Commission as part of the International Wine Tourism Grant. Link to editorial here.
- The Weekend Australian featured a stunning piece by John Lethlean sharing the delights of the region. If you missed it you can read here.
- Zigzag Films were in the region in February shooting at Glenarty Road and other locations. The film crew were producing a series called ‘We Bought a Vineyard’ which will have international distribution on Disney and Netflix. Thank you to participating wineries who took up the opportunity at the last minute.
Web
We are in the process of working on a new consumer website. To retain our position as an industry leader and the number one destination authority, margaretriver.com requires a significant upgrade to improve performance and user experience. With a mobile-first approach to design, the new site will focus on:
- Simplified site architecture
- Contemporary design
- Pre-determined templates for content types (articles, itineraries, landing pages)
The project will provide the opportunity to remain competitive in the digital space, improve brand reputation and;
- Increase audience engagement
- Increase time on site on mobiles
- Improve overall web performance (decrease page load times etc)
- Optimise site for consumer conversions (increase member page views, increase newsletter subscriptions/podcast & app downloads – syndicated efficiency)
Analytics from February:
62k new users, down from 66k from the same time period last year. A decrease in new users over February supports our efforts to work on the redevelopment.
Top Countries:
Australia
USA
United Kingdom
Top Cities:
Perth
Melbourne
Sydney
Social Media
The social media team released their second Saltwater Stories video on Paul Sofilas at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in January and have gone on to film short share-able videos of Gene Hardy and Bruce Dukes. Stay tuned for those instalments.
Popular images on Facebook and Instagram over February included crystal clear waters, animal encounters, and iconic landmarks. Instagram had a 53.2% increase in reach compared to the same time last year, but a 3.2% decrease in engagement rate per post. Facebook experienced a 100% increase in reach compared to the same time last year, and a 100% increase in page engagement. A Facebook post of a paddle-boarder and yacht on Geographe Bay had a reach of 27,404, engagement of 3,360, as well as 74 comments and 105 shares.
8 New Blogs Published
- 2 Must-Do New Experiences at the Busselton Jetty
- 14 Ways to Get Your Seafood Fix in The Margaret River Region
- 6 new Local Favourites articles
A few ideas to help you share these stories with your audience:
- Share via social media
- Add a link on your booking confirmations
- Include in your EDM’s
Consumer EDM’s – Sent to over 25,000 recipients
Campaign – Ultimate Summer Bucket List
What’s Coming Up?
- The marketing team are busily working behind the scenes on a new look website which will launch later in the year
- Autumn campaign targeting an intrastate audience to ‘Win An Ultimate Food Lover’s Giveaway’ will be published and promoted in March
- Welcoming media for the inaugural Jetstar flights on March 25th will involve on-ground marketing assistance from MRBTA in collaboration with Tourism WA and Australia’s South West