MRBTA Members recently attended a Destination Marketing Update at Margaret River HEART with Carolyn Turnbull (Executive Director – Industry, Aviation & Markets, Tourism WA), Catrin Allsop (CEO, Australia’s South West) and Sharna Kearney (Joint CEO, MRBTA) providing an overview of the organisations’ consumer marketing activity over the next six months.
The update covered:
- A market overview and insights including visitation and spend, and profiles of intra/interstate high value travellers.
- A marketing snapshot including a calendar of TWA, ASW and MRBTA activity.
- Tourism WA’s action plans and activities.
- An update on ‘The South West Edge Campaign’ by Australia’s South West
- Update from MRBTA on marketing activity including the Margaret River Region brand launch, margaretriver.com redevelopment, content marketing and the upcoming ‘Iconic Drives’ project.
The recording of the presentation is now available below:
OPPORTUNITIES
Expressions of Interest for May Content
Expressions of Interest for blogs can be registered with the marketing team. Blogs are free for Primary members and $99 per inclusion for Secondary members.
- What’s On May – The guide receives over 2,000 hits per month, is promoted on our social channels and included in our monthly consumer email marketing with 30,000+ subscribers. For consideration, your event must be submitted and published on margaretriver.com no later than the 15th of each month to appear in the following month.
- X Best Romantic Getaways: seeking accommodation options offering something unique that is particularly appealing for couples e.g outdoor baths, breathtaking views, adults only, LGBTQ friendly, seclusion.
EOI’s must include a brief pitch explaining why your business suits the brief and a high-quality image. Send your EOI to [email protected]
Paid Advertising
Please get in touch for paid opportunities such as web ads, TV advertising in the Visitors Centres, or a top 3 listing on margaretriver.com.
March Insights
MRBTA Marketing & Visitor Servicing Channels
Margaretriver.com
March saw a 15% increase in website visitation compared to 2019 with over 97,000 users. We are comparing with 2019 data as March 2020 figures are skewed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
80% of domestic users are from WA. The number of interstate users have increased from all states for the first time since travel restrictions eased. NSW & VIC remain our top markets and we are seeing the strongest growth from Tasmania, Northern Territory and NSW.
Top landing pages included ‘Accommodation’; ‘Margaret River Pro’ ‘Things To Do’ ‘Events Calendar’ ‘Wineries’ and the town pages for Margaret River, Busselton, Dunsborough and Augusta.
Continuing trending topics are camping, nature, luxury retreats, pet-friendly & spa/wellness.
New Blog Stories
87 members and 9 event partners were featured across 12 blogs curated by the MRBTA in March.
Visitation to blog stories increased by 70% in March with 36k page views compared to 21k in 2019.
- 10 Great Country Style B&B’s
- Explore Bustling Busselton
- The Ultimate Wellness Weekend (sponsored)
- Insider Tips: A Guide to Hiking the Cape to Cape Track
- Easter Trading Hours in the Margaret River Region
- Margaret River Wine’s Connection to the Coast
- 10 Reasons to Elope Eight Willows Retreat (sponsored)
- Local Favourites: Lucy Kollman
- Margaret River’s Ultimate Yoga and Wellness Adventure
- Local Favourites: Cruz Uros
- What’s Happening in April
- 10 Family-Friendly Experiences Under $100
Hot tip: Sharing stories on the region is a great way to enhance your engagement with visitors. We encourage you to share via social media, email and your own website.
Social Media
@margaretriver social channels continue to see steady growth. People are really engaging with aspirational User Generated Content (UGC) of member businesses as well as scenic spots, tagging their friends about upcoming trips. Sharing mr.com content through Stories is working really well, with plenty of click-throughs (up to 100 per blog. Video continues to outperform photos on stories.
- Instagram: Followers grew by 596. Reach increased by 7% and impressions are up 10%.
- Facebook: Gained 266 new followers. Engagement and impressions have increased by 27% & 16% respectively.
- The majority of followers on our platforms are Perth-based and female, between 25-44 years of age.
Reach is the number of people who may have seen your content, while impressions are the total number of times your content was displayed to people.
Hot tip: Instagram has recently launched a new sticker feature that automatically generates captions. The new sticker, simply called ‘Captions’, can be added to any story with a video and once added, the sticker will transcribe the audio and generate captions. A game-changer for posting great Behind The Scenes Instagram stories eliminating the need to spend time adding the captions yourself.
Email Direct Marketing (EDM’s)
Monthly newsletters to consumers and media have maintained high engagement. The industry benchmark for Travel & Leisure is an open rate of 15.7%.
- Consumer Newsletter Sent to over 28k subscribers. 28% open rate and 16% click-through rate (CTR).
- The Monthly What’s On Blaster is back with events ramping up and continues to perform well with an open rate of 40% and a CTR of 20%.
Hot tip: We noticed over March that members held events that were not listed on our event calendar. This is a great way to drive extra visitation to your business and as one of our most popular pages you are missing out on reaching this eager audience. Find out more about how to leverage your event here.
- Jetstar $20 flights Sent to our VIC subscribers. 37% open rate and 15% click-through rate (CTR).
- Consumer Easter Special Sent to over 28k subscribers. 30% open rate and 10% click-through rate (CTR).
Media Newsletter Sent to 264 subscribers. 31% open rate and 37% click through rate.
Media Coverage
Media coverage featuring the Margaret River Region across March included:
- Five New Margaret River Dining Options To Try This Summer
- Refreshing Wellness Experiences For Your Next Business Event – Tourism Australia
- A mini-guide to a Margaret River getaway – 9Travel
- Settlers Tavern #1 in 13 Best Country Pubs in Western Australia – Boss Hunting
- Five Camping Spots Worthy of Adventuring With a Group
- Jetstar launches massive members-only sale with $20 flights
- Margaret River Gourmet Getaway – APT Touring
Event Support
The MRBTA annually supports over 30 major events to drive off-peak visitation to our region.
March & April are typically quiet months for major events. Support was provided to Busselton Fringe Festival, Undalup Bunuru Festival and upcoming events including the Margaret River Pro, Margaret River Ultra Marathon and Readers and Writers Festival in May.
Marketing Resources
- Autumn Image Library: Members can access our summer image library and share inspirational visuals of The Margaret River Region. Please always credit the photographers when using images. View here.
- How to Leverage Your Events: The MRBTA regularly support major events in the region and have noticed a growing demand from members hosting smaller events wanting to gain leverage and build their audience.In response to this, we have put together a guide with useful tips on promoting your event. View here.
- Rediscover Videos: The regional Rediscover compilation video shares inspirational messaging for a domestic and intrastate market. Members are welcome to share the video across their channels. View here.