Background
Columbus, GA blends artsy energy with local history and a thriving food scene. Visitors enjoy the outdoors, including the longest urban whitewater rafting course in the world, listen to local bands and taste finely brewed beer.
In the summer of 2021, the client applied for and received an Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant from the Georgia Department of Economic Development a stated goal of “expanding awareness of Columbus as a drive market destination that is safe for individuals, families, and small groups.”
Challenges
COVID-19 brought travel to a standstill. During 2021 travel began to pick back up, but due to budget cuts brought on by the COVID-related loss of bed tax revenue, the Columbus CVB had moved away from all paid advertising and was losing top-of-mind awareness of people who were looking to travel. The campaign launched in July 2021 as people were beginning to resume travel, but new COVID variants, emerging in the fall and winter, further impacted potential travel.
Solution
In collaboration with our digital media partner, we developed a strategy to drive trackable foot traffic to Columbus and specific points of interest within the city and increase website traffic to establish consideration for future visits. Stamp built a campaign using Display and Mobile Device ID tactics to reach the following two target audiences:
- Custom audience of visitors (non-resident) devices seen in Columbus from July - Dec 2020: Target individuals who visited Columbus in the same time period the year prior with messaging encouraging them to return
- Travel Intenders: Reach individuals with travel intent who have visited sites like AirBnB, VRBO, Expedia and serve ads in content related to drive market trips
This two-pronged approach ensured that the client’s message would reach the appropriate audience across various mediums and deliver the greatest impact. We focused on 17 specific locations within the area during the campaign which included select hotels, museums, River Walk areas, gardens, and learning centers. The campaign was launched in July 2021 and ran through December 2021.
Quick Facts (Across All Segments)
Impressions Ordered4,425,000 |
Impressions Delivered4,450,712 |
Clicks7,858 |
CTR0.18% |
Even with the introduction of two new COVID variants during the course of the campaign, it continued to resonate and bring visitors to Columbus.
A total of 18,296 unique visitors traveled to Columbus during the campaign resulting in a $0.61 Cost Per Visit. Of these, more than 450 visited the specific points of interest that were tracked to.
During the campaign, the client's website traffic increased by 119% (93k vs 42k) when compared with the previous timeframe. Total sessions increased by over 110% and organic and direct site visits both increased by over 40%.
Through a paid social advertising campaign, our goal with Visit Columbus GA is to showcase the many attractors that bring visitors to Columbus with a focus on four personas: Arts, Outdoors, Entertainment, and Food enthusiasts.
Linking to a specific blog on their website “Top 12 Things To Do In Columbus GA” that showcases local attractors that fall into these four personas, we’ve seen a 153% increase in page traffic from our social media ads alone in the past six months (compared to the six months prior), as well as a 70% increase in new users from Facebook and a 38% increase in new users from Twitter to the Visit Columbus GA website in general.
It also received a Gold Award in the category of Social Media Content—Facebook at the National Service Industry Advertising Awards and a Silver ADDY® Award in the Social Media category of the American Advertising Awards.