The marketing team will continue to provide members with monthly marketing highlights and digital insights to keep you informed with planning your marketing activity throughout 2020. There has been a slight shuffle in the marketing team early this year, with Amanda Peterkin taking maternity leave. Sophie Mathewson will step into Amanda’s shoes in the interim, and we welcome Caron Reynolds, who will step into the role of Marketing Coordinator and lead on the YMRR Magazine and Event Partnerships.
If you have any questions or would like to share your feedback, please email [email protected]
A quick snapshot of January’s marketing highlights:
Mumbrella Finalists
MRBTA were successful in being shortlisted in the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Awards for Breakthrough Destination of the Year. The Awards will be held on March 12th at the Four Seasons in Sydney.
Event Partnerships
MRBTA were successful in Access Asia Grant Funding of $7178.40 k to allow Ahoy Management to market Cabin Fever in Singapore and encourage visitation to the Margaret River region during winter.
Throughout January we provided event support to the following events:
- Karridale Circus Festival (Karnidale)
- Festival of Busselton
Autumn Magazine
Writers have completed their stories for the Autumn magazine. The draft magazine will be reviewed and published within the next month.
Members can put forward ideas for content at any time by emailing [email protected]
Bushfire Relief Auction
In response to the fires that impacted regional communities in South Australia and along the east coast of Australia, MRBTA and the Margaret River Wine Association worked on a collaborative campaign, allowing members to auction bespoke products and experiences to raise money for our friends across the country. A dedicated Member EDM was sent out to encourage auction participants, followed by a Consumer EDM, social media posts, blog on mr.com, and banner and pop-up alerting visitors to the campaign.
The auction closed on February 7th and raised over $42,000. Money raised will be divided between Australian Red Cross Bushfire Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund and regional causes recommended by Wine Australia and the Australian Grape & Wine.
As a reminder – Tourism WA are asking for feedback on the impact of bushfires on your tourism businesses. Information to take part in the survey is here.
New Map with Driving Distances for Download
Many new visitors to the region do not understand its size or where the towns of the region are located. In order to help visitors plan their movement through the region, MRBTA has created a regional map graphic which members are welcome to use in their channels. Please take full advantage of the resources below to help ensure that new visitors to the region have a full understanding of how to navigate during their stay.
Map Graphic can be downloaded here, and a distance calculator can be downloaded here.
Feel free to include these on your printed collateral or embedded on your websites.
Expedia Campaign
In Collaboration with the Margaret River Wine Association, South West Development Commission, and Australia’s South West, MRBTA have been working on a campaign with Expedia targeting Singaporean travellers to the region. The campaign will be 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 will feature inspirational winter experiences such as wine trails, whale watching, nature experiences and events.
Expedia are currently working on the landing page that will point to content on mr.com and hero nature, food and wine imagery of the region.
Summer Bucket List Campaign – Currently Running
MRBTA recently partnered with Private Properties in our Seasonal Content Plan campaign – The Ultimate Summer Bucket List. The campaign has 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. We will report on these results next month.
Other Media
- 26 Wildly Beautiful Places in Margaret River
- 7 Best Wine Travel Experiences of 2020
- Two of Australia’s Burgeoning Tourist Destinations Finally have Direct Flights from Melbourne
- Qantas Link Spirit Magazine. White Elephant listed as one of best places to eat with a view of the water.
Website
Analytics for the last month:
94.1K new users, up 1.78% from previous year
Top Countries:
Australia
USA
Singapore
Top Cities:
Perth
Melbourne
Sydney
Chicago
Social Media
Margaret River Region’s Facebook followers are sitting at 50.7k with Instagram at 51.5k. Margaret River recently secured an account with TikTok as this is a trending platform. We will not be active in this space but securing the name if there is growth in that area. Popular images on Facebook and Instagram over January included coastlines, beaches, and animal encounters.
7 New Blogs Published
- Busselton Takes Centre Stage for the New Feature Film GO!
- Bid On Holidays, Wine, and Amazing Experiences
- A Brand New Craft Beer Trail Launches in Margaret River
- Captured: Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse in Images
- What’s Happening in January
- Through the Lens: Secret Swimming Spots
- Eight Secret Swimming Spots in Your Margaret River Region
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
EDM’s – Sent to over 25,000 recipients
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
- A landing page on margaretriver.com will be promoted by Jetstar in 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 are curating further content for the site including a ‘Live Like a Local’ series, and three targeted packages.