VisitWiltshire Marketing Strategy and Plan 2015 marketing strategy.pdf · • Brand Positioning • Product Values • Personality Values • Products and Experiences • Key Actions

VisitWiltshire Marketing

Strategy and Plan 2015

Contents • Strategic Objectives

• Target Markets

• International Markets

• Brand Positioning

• Product Values

• Personality Values

• Products and Experiences

• Key Actions

• Objectives and Tactical Overview

• Choice of Marketing Channels

• Planned Schedule of Media / Activity

• Evaluation and Measurement

• Creative and Messaging

Strategic Objectives 2015 - 2016

Implement effective marketing programs that

communicate the destination attributes with clearly

defined targets, tactics and measurable results, that will

result in increasing visits and additional £12.5 million

spend to the county.

Key areas :-

• Consumer marketing

• Website, digital and social media marketing

• Collateral, publications and fulfilment

• Travel trade & B2B marketing

• Research, evaluation and monitoring

Strategic Objectives 2015 - 2016

• Activity is split 50% brand awareness and 50% tactical – this is

split via core marketing activity and campaign activity

• Activity is split 70% staying visitor and 30% day visitor

• Continue to increase online activity - split 53% online and 47%

offline

• To achieve over £12.5 million spend in tourism through marketing

activity

• To increase overnight visits and extend stay

• To work in collaboration with partners, generating income for

additional leverage on campaigns

• To use new positioning strategy in all communications to

encourage longer stays

Target Markets • During 2014 we commissioned Blue Sail to produce a 5 year

destination management plan. As a result of this work we have

widened our consumer segments to include Mature Mainstreams and

Experience Seekers.

Mature Mainstreams

• Mature Mainstreams are part of the baby boom generation (born

1946-64), a large and relatively prosperous cohort that is 20% of the

UK population and has 80% of the wealth. Baby boomers take 40% of

all UK short breaks. Numbers of people in the UK aged 55+ will grow

by 10% over the next 10 years.

• This is a key life stage among Britain’s largest overseas markets.

Mature Mainstream are most likely to be repeat visitors, looking to

explore further afield beyond the honeypots, and seeking

quintessentially English countryside, small towns and villages plus

heritage. Therefore they present an opportunity to grow the number of

visitors.

Target Markets Experience Seekers

• Experience Seekers are high consumers of leisure trips. They are free

to travel year round and are always looking for or planning their next

break. They are relatively high spending adults aged 35-54 without

children and have the highest spend per trip (by life stage) for

domestic holidays. As such, they offer good growth potential.

• We will continue to target our existing Experian types: Hardworking

families, Yesterday’s captains, Garden suburbia, Innate conservatives

Hardworking families:

• Stay in Wiltshire. With focus on beautiful countryside for walking,

highlight the short drive time. This group are interested in driving,

good price and service, possibly not history or food). They are

mainstream and risk averse, preferring trusted products. Couples.

Both short breaks and 7 nights are relevant to them.

Target Markets

• Yesterday’s captains: Stay in Wiltshire. They enjoy gardening,

nature, cultural events and visiting National Trust places, so focus on

history and heritage mainly, although countryside still relevant; also

Salisbury. Quality and service are important to them. They tend to do

short breaks out of season to mid range hotels in the country. They

are conservative, with active minds, older, enjoy eating out and

classical music.

• Innate conservatives: Stay in Wiltshire. They tend to be older and

often widowed. Are well organised, like pre-planned experiences,

enjoy lots of hobbies, including golf and classical music. Feel they owe

themselves a treat with their partner. Trusted products and quality of

service are important to them. All 3 brand values relevant, plus the

range of things to do. They have a preference for 4-6 night breaks.

Target Markets

• Garden suburbia: Stay in Wiltshire. As they enjoy family holidays

(with older, non-dependent children), gardening, hobbies, eating out,

plus music, theatre and cinema, all 3 brand values are relevant. The

best abundance of history and beauty, within easy reach of home.

Both Salisbury and Stonehenge would be attractive. Quality of service,

a quiet life and comfort are important to them. They are car

dependent.

• Families will remain an important sector, in particular for visitor

attractions and for day trips throughout the year. New patterns of

visiting include the growing numbers of active boomer grandparents

treating families – with or without parents – to leisure trips (there is

some cross-over here with the Mature Mainstreams) and “vertical

families” where several generations are on trips together. Other trends

are increases in families with one child, single-parent families, same-

sex parents, step families (often resulting in a family group needing to

meet the needs of a very wide age range of children).

• From East and West Midlands; Greater and Central London; and M4

corridor.

International Target Markets

• 18m day visitors

• 240,000 overseas visitors (18% of all staying visitors)

• Target international markets, in line with South West group targeting to

include Germany, France, Benelux, Italy, Ireland, Spain, North

America and Australia/New Zealand and Canada, travelling both

independently and in groups.

• It is important that we continue to invest in relevant national marketing

activity and campaigns, to retain profile in priority countries and exploit

opportunities to attract visitors from other countries including emerging

international markets.

Brand Positioning

• In 2014 we commissioned Heavenly to carry out research for our

brand positioning. The brand positioning covers all sectors of the

industry and sits alongside the Wiltshire Futures work covering:

• Destination Management Plan

• Accommodation Study

• Industry Training Programme

Brand Positioning

Timeless

Timeless builds on powerful truth about Wiltshire. No other place in

England can make such a strong case. Timeless is about history and

provenance – time and place. And literally, it’s time free, a place which

calms, revives and is full of magic and wonder.

Brand Positioning

International Proposition - Welcome to Timeless

Wander through time in Wiltshire. Wonder at England’s fascinating

history. Enjoy timeless places. No visit to England is complete without

experiencing the magic of this ancient county.

UK Proposition - It’s Wiltshire Time

Escape to Wiltshire, press pause and let time stand still. Immerse yourself

in timeless pleasures. Feel calm soothed and refreshed. If you’re tired of

the everyday then it’s time for Wiltshire. You’ll be here in no time.

The Narrative

Somehow time has more meaning in Wiltshire. It’s a magical place where

you feel close to the land and the sky. Here you can touch the past. Sit on

the downs at sunrise or sunset. See how the light changes the mood of the

land. Wonder at the ever changing big sky and imagine others admiring this

same spectacle for thousands of years. It’s easy to understand why the

ancient Britons believed this place was special and still today Stonehenge is

a magnet to people from all over the world.

History in Wiltshire is not just ancient. Here you can wander through time.

The Romans, Normans and Saxons have all left their mark. You can touch

manor houses, castles, churches and Salisbury Cathedral is home to the

charter which helped to shape the law in England and beyond, the Magna

Carta.

The Narrative

Perhaps it’s this connection with the past which helps us appreciate time in

the present. So when you visit just press pause and let time stand still. You’ll

feel unhurried. Wiltshire is calming, comforting, refreshing. It puts back what

the everyday takes out.

The Wiltshire countryside alters with the changing seasons and that’s what

makes you feel so connected not just to nature but to time itself. Wiltshire is

timeless wonders, timeless pleasures and timeless places.

Wiltshire. Welcome to timeless.

Product Values

Elemental Wiltshire is atmospheric. Here you feel closer to the land, the sky and

the forces of nature.

Original Images and stories that have helped

shape England. Authentic and individual experiences

Personality Values

Engaging Human and humorous. Open and

welcoming.

Imaginative Creative and resourceful. We

stimulate ideas and take people away from the everyday.

Products and Experiences

• Products and experiences in Wiltshire can be grouped in 4 areas:-

• Timeless Wonders

• Timeless Pleasures

• Timeless Places

• Timeless Nature

Attack Brands

• Stonehenge – use of imagery and World Heritage Status

• Salisbury – use of imagery and VisitSalisbury URL throughout

campaigns to hook people in

• Highlight key icons across the county – White Horses, Avebury,

• Kennet and Avon Canal, AONBs and the picturesque market towns

• And dispersal from Bath and London attack brands (mainly for day

visits)

Key Actions Our strategy and actions are split between raising brand awareness with long

term legacy and tactical promotions through activity taking more of a customer

focused approach and highlighting experiences.

Digital & Website

VisitWiltshire.co.uk will undergo a refresh, making the site fully responsive and

incorporating the new brand positioning within the design and content. Areas such

as user generated content and pushing content out via digital channels will be

considered for development. Work will continue with paid for and organic

optimisation for the site to ensure we reach our KPIs. We will develop a new

Salisbury channel site in partnership with Salisbury.

Our two Apps – VisitWiltshire and VisitSalisbury will continue to be developed with

a design refresh and the addition of geo fenced notifications keeping them up to

date with the latest technology.

Social media will continue to be a priority integrating with our campaigns, brand

positioning and digital content. We will continue to use #timeforWiltshire. We will

continue to research new channels.

Key Actions Publications & Fulfilment

For 2016 we will amalgamate our Accommodation and Great Days Out brochures

to produce one Time for Wiltshire Destination Visitor Guide – in line with our brand

positioning. Alongside this we will also produce a foldout Time for Wiltshire visitor

map highlighting the county’s timeless pleasures. The Group Visits and Travel

Trade Guide will continue. These will integrate with all online and digital work,

promoting the website, social media and APPs. The brochures will continue to be

distributed to potential visitors through a clear distribution strategy via key outlets

and online as a digital media rich brochure.

PR

PR activity will integrate with the overall marketing as well as developing new

media channels such as bloggers and vloggers. A new photo library aimed at

press and national/international operators is to be developed to help promote the

county.

Evaluation

We will continue to evaluate our marketing activity using South West Research

Company.

Key Actions Partnership Working

Work with all key partners and stakeholders as identified in the business plan and

continue to build new partnerships. Work in partnership with other DMOs in the

South West region on opportunities for international marketing with the South

West fund.

Salisbury Cathedral and VisitWiltshire currently work in strategic partnership.

Salisbury Cathedral are platinum partners of VisitWiltshire which includes access

to a wide range of offline and online activity via VisitWiltshire marketing channels.

This relationship also extends into travel trade activity and they are a key travel

trade partner. 2015 sees the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. We will work

collaboratively on the national Magna Carta campaign, run a joint Magna Carta

promotion and also use this as a theme for our main Salisbury campaign at the

start of the year.

Key Actions

Partnership work will continue with the local tourism industry, on specific

partnership marketing campaigns, which will be jointly funded. (e.g. town branding

projects, BID marketing campaigns). Projects include Christmas in Salisbury,

Saints and Sinners trail with Churches Conservation Trust, Calne and Visit

Salisbury channel site with Salisbury BID.

Development of our marketing partnerships with transport rail providers – First

Great Western, South West Trains, National Express working jointly online with

content, offers and E-CRM.

We will also continue to offer partners additional opportunities for joint activity.

Travel Trade

Development of our travel trade strategy, our groups and travel trade package,

building itineraries and increasing group travel familiarisation visits to Wiltshire,

working with VisitEngland and VisitBritain on overseas travel trade.

Objectives and Tactical Overview Core Marketing

Objectives Target Audience Channels/ Activities Timeline KPI / Measurement

To generate additional

£12.5m spend and visits to

Wiltshire

Reach new

audiences

Encourage repeat

visits

Drive visitors to

website

Build email database

Increase awareness

of Wiltshire as a

destination

Mature Mainstream,

Experience Seekers,

Hardworking Families,

Yesterdays' Captains, Garden

Suburbia and Innate

Conservatives.

Geographic Areas

East and West Midlands

Greater and Central London

M4 corridor

Production and Distribution of a new Time

for Wiltshire Visitor Destination Guide

Produce a new Time for Wiltshire map

Refresh of website including integrating brand

positioning, making the site fully responsive ,

SEO, Search and Display advertising

Development of Visit Salisbury channel site

Development of both Apps

Social media

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube – new aspirational films / Pre-roll

Advertising

Instagram

Database marketing

Monthly e-newsletters supporting events and

themed activity including competitions

PR

Research - marketing evaluation

January 2016

January 2016

Refresh to go live

Summer 2015

Summer 2015

On-going

On-going

On-going

Monthly

On-going

October 2015

To develop the guide into an

inspirational lifestyle piece for print for

2016.

To reach 95,000 average unique visits

per month, increase desktop dwell times

to over 3 minutes and increase page

views to average of 4. On site goal

tracking. Mobile and tablet stats.

15,000 downloads

To achieve over 15,000 followers on

Twitter and over 8,000 likes on Facebook

Over 15,000 views on YouTube

To focus messaging on events, festivals and arts.

Increase database to 65,000. To

achieve open rates of 20%

Increase value to £1m in 2015, achieving

reach figures of over 200 million people

20 press releases

20 visits attracting in excess of 50 journalists

& 10 bloggers

Objectives and Tactical Overview

Late Spring Campaign – Time for Wiltshire - Press Pause



spend and visits to Wiltshire

Reach new

audiences

To increase profile of

Wiltshire as a short

break destination

Encourage repeat

visits

Drive visitors to

website


To build awareness

of high quality and

wide offering of

products

Mature Mainstream,

Experience Seekers,



Suburbia and Innate

Conservatives.

Geographic Areas


Partnership work with partners

National Media – The Daily Mail and

Telegraph

120,000 A4 insert

Digital display adverts on Daily Mail

and Telegraph sites

Digital display adverts

VisitEngland website

Social media

E-newsletter

Landing page on visitwiltshire.co.uk

Pre-roll advertising

New Press Pause video distributed

via YouTube, social media, website

Themed blog

Competitions

PR campaign

June 2015

June 2015

Referrals and click through

Open rate of 18%

Traffic to webpages 15,000 page views

YouTube views 3,000

ROI of additional spend of £714,000

ROI of 3,000 additional visits


Autumn Campaign Time for Wiltshire- Made of England



spend and visits to

Wiltshire

Reach new

audiences

Encourage repeat

visits

Drive visitors to

website


Mature Mainstream,

Experience Seekers,



Suburbia and Innate

Conservatives.

Geographic Areas



M4 corridor

Partnership work with partners

VisitWiltshire themed campaign activity

E-newsletter

Specific web pages and URL

Social media

E-newsletters

Campaign print

Display adverts

Pre-roll

New video

Engagement adverts

Sep/Oct 2015

20,000 page views to campaign web

pages

Open rates of e-newsletters 18%

over 1500 entrants

3,000 views on YouTube

ROI of additional spend of £1million


Objectives and Tactical Overview City Campaign



spend and visits to

Wiltshire

Reach new

audiences

Encourage repeat

visits

Drive visitors to

website


Mature Mainstream,

Experience Seekers,



Suburbia and Innate

Conservatives.

Geographic Areas



M4 corridor

Partnership work with Salisbury and

surrounding area partners and Salisbury BID

VisitWiltshire themed campaign activity

E-newsletter

Specific web pages and URL

Social media

E-newsletter

Campaign print

Outdoor advertising

Jan/ Feb 2016

20,000 Unique visits to campaign web

pages

Open rates of e-newsletters 18%

over 1,500 entrants

Number of views

ROI of additional spend of £1.3 million



Increase the number of day visitors to over 18 million

Day Visitors

Locals

Encourage engagement through

social media. Develop themes and

topics Develop new Time for Wiltshire

foldout map with 200,00 distribution

plan

Position what's on and events

calendar on home page of website

Produce downloadable special offer

vouchers for consumers

Wiltshire and Salisbury apps – push

notifications and offers to drive

awareness

Social Media

Blogs

Ongoing January 2015 Ongoing

Drive data capture by running

competitions to build database.

To maximise page views of What's on

Number of downloads

Day Visitors


Objectives and Tactical Overview Travel Trade and Groups


To increase volume and

value of group visits and

travel trade to Wiltshire

Raise awareness of

Wiltshire as a destination

Build a database of group

travel organisers

Geographic

Up to 2 – 3 hour drive time

London

Surrounding counties

Demographic

Groups, social clubs and

associations, 50 + age

bracket

Coach and tour operators

To include Germany, France,

Benelux, Italy, Ireland, Spain,

North America and Australia/

New Zealand and Canada

Continue to develop the Group Travel Trade

Guide print

Develop group information on website

Quarterly e-newsletter

Trade Exhibitions (partnership activity as

per travel trade package)

World Travel Market November 2015 (TBC)

Excursions January 2016

South West Travel Show February 2016

BOBI March 2016

Advertising and editorial in Travel Trade

press

Direct mail of Group Travel Trade print

Educational and Fam Trips

PR generated in trade press

Host fam trips

Attend national trade events

Sales meetings with operators communicate

the product offering – delivering leads to

partners where possible

Work alongside Visit Britain / Visit England

with International Strategies

November 2015

Ongoing

May onwards

Autumn / Winter

Year round

Increase our group database by 10%

Page views on website

Open rate of 25% and click through rate

of over 2.5%

To increase awareness of Wiltshire

Follow up and deliver leads accordingly.

Aim to increase databases

Number of requests for information

2 fam group visitors

AVE

Choice of Marketing Channels

• Continue using a media buying agency

• Ratio of spend is 53% online to 47% offline

• Support for these campaigns with brochures for 2015/16 season,

include online and offline promotion and fulfilment

• PR resource behind campaigns

• Social media behind campaigns

• Partnership marketing activity

• On-going website and social media development

• Targeted travel trade & B2B activity including exhibitions

Online Media

• Digital campaign with a mix of search optimisation, display

advertising, bidding (geo-targeted) and search

• In App display with call to action to download Apps

• Seasonal themed monthly e-newsletters

• Social media engagement all year round

• TV on Demand

• YouTube films, pre-roll adverts, engagement adverts

• Online competitions

Social Media

• Twitter / Facebook - Target specific Wiltshire audiences and relevant

partners, run competitions, engage with followers

• Engage with existing and new partners – form solid relationships

• Blogs – engagement work with bloggers

• LinkedIn

• Instagram - provide appealing Wiltshire imagery, run Wiltshire

Instameets and Instagram photo competitions

• YouTube - provide aspirational pan Wiltshire films

• Google Plus

Offline Media

• Outdoor advertising

• Direct mail inserts in magazines for thematic campaigns (National

newspapers and regional magazines, geo-targeted)

• Specific print advertising

• Lead generation campaigns

Print Advertising Collateral Fulfilment

• Fulfilment of brochure requests by Catalink

• Distribution of publications by Take One Media and Places To Go

• Lead generation advertising to promote Time for Wiltshire Visitor

Destination Guide through Catalink

Travel Trade

• Advertising features in key travel trade magazines and websites - Travel

GBI, The Pass, Group Travel Organiser, Group Leisure magazine, Group

Travel world, Coach Monthly

• Direct mailing of brochure to specific target groups

• International trade events – (FITUR, ITB Berlin)

• Travel trade exhibitions

• Overseas market with VisitBritain and VisitEngland and with South West

group

Online Media Schedule

Online

Media Target

AudienceFormat CPM Imp.

Est.

CTR

Total

Est.

Clicks

Inserts

Total

Est.

Imp.

Total

Est.

Click

s

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Targeted Networks45+ Geo-

targeted

Online Display -

Data Capture

Banner

£2.50 2,000,000 1.52% - 3 6,000,000 -

Real Time Bidding

Display

GS, YC, HF,

IC and Day

Visitors

Online Display £0.92 10,828,877 0.07% 7134 3 ######### 21,402

TravelSupermarket.com Geo- targetedOnline Display £8.50 300,000 0.08% 240 1 300,000 240

TripAdvisor.comGeo - Ldn,

Mids & M4Online Display £24.50 142,000 - - 1 142,000 -

LastMinute.comGeo - Ldn,

Mids & M4

Online Display -

Banners & MPUs£7.50 600,000 0.08% 480 1 600,000 480

Google Adwords GS, HF, IC, YCPaid for Search - - - - 4 - -

Email Marketing GS, HF, IC, YCe-shot

distribution for -

66,000

records- - 1 - -

OctoberApril May June July August September

Media Area April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Search Things

to do

UK

excluding

Wiltshire

Search – Accommodation

UK

excluding

Wiltshire

Display UK Geo and

lifestyle

targeted

Engagement

Adverts UK

Pre Roll UK

Twitter

Facebook

Digital Activity May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

E-newsletters

Blogs

Social Media

Lead

generation

PR

Thematic

Campaigns

Apps – Push

notifications

Optimisation

Offline Activity Schedule Media Reach April May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

Lead

generation

19,000

PR Over 2

million

Campaign

direct mail

insert

240,000

City campaign

direct mail

insert

200,000

Publications

250,000

Outdoor

Advertising

Evaluation and Measurement

• Number of unique views of website (currently 1 million unique visits to

website KPI 1.3 million)

• Dwell times on website to 3.5 minutes, page views to 4

• Click through rates on display advertising

• Conversion rates on social media

• Audience growth rates on social media

• Engagement on social media

• Call to action on all campaigns

• Brochure distribution analysis

• Volume & Value survey

• Marketing evaluation / ROI

• Growth of Wiltshire economy and creation of jobs

Creative and Messaging

• Inspire immediacy for visitors to come now and to stay longer

• Aspirational and engaging

• Inspiring images

• Focus on brand positioning with thematic messaging

• Focus on target segments

• Brand values and propositions

• Clear call to action as well as raising awareness

Documents

VisitWiltshire Marketing Strategy and Plan 2015 marketing strategy.pdf · • Brand Positioning • Product Values • Personality Values • Products and Experiences • Key Actions