Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Marketing Metrics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advanced Travel report: ExploreClay campaigns drive strong engagement and year-over-year website growth
Summary
Advanced Travel & Tourism told the TDC that digital campaigns, social ticket giveaways and partnerships drove above-average engagement for ExploreClay.com, and the tourism team reported double- and triple-digit year-over-year growth on several web metrics.
Advanced Travel & Tourism presented the TDC with first-quarter marketing and analytics for the ExploreClay campaign, reporting higher-than-average engagement across video, audio, social and email channels.
Laura English, regional sales manager for Advanced Travel & Tourism, said the firm delivered about 5.3 million Explore Clay messages that drove more than 50,000 potential travelers to exploreclay.com during the quarter. English reported a 69.45% average video completion rate (industry benchmark ~50%) and a 96.47% audio-ad completion rate. She said targeted ad tracking has enabled the contractor to identify a portion of ad viewers who later visited Clay County: "we had 520 of the ads that were delivered, 520 people tracked back into Clay County," producing an approximate 0.64% tracked CTR and roughly 18,000 clicks to the website from select campaigns.
English highlighted social campaigns and two ticket-giveaway efforts tied to the Scottish Games and Clay County Fair. The Scottish Games giveaway produced 161,000 delivered impressions with 12,872 clicks (7.97% CTR) and 6,285 post engagements, while a Clay County Fair giveaway generated tens of thousands of entries. Advanced Travel reported total social ad engagements of about 181,000 and 87,000 clicks for a 4.9% CTR, well above the group's stated internal target of 2%.
In email marketing, English said the team targeted a 70,000-person audience with a roughly 45.8% average open rate across sends and about 954 direct clicks to ExploreClay.com from the campaign.
Website performance showed strong year-over-year changes: total site traffic rose 74%, new users increased 68%, page views were up 171%, and average time on site grew 27%. English credited updated business directories, improved content and a stronger events calendar for the gains.
Staff and council discussed outreach channels: the tourism office uses a Friday "Explore Clay" post on Clay County social platforms and a Visit Widget/app option that can deliver push alerts to users who download the Explore Clay app. Council members asked about text-based alerts and broad non-social distribution; staff said an app-based alert system exists and that pure SMS text-alert options would require further investigation.
Why it matters: the numbers underpin council decisions about marketing spend and grant awards. Members said the metrics help justify partnerships and ticket-giveaway tactics but asked staff to consider additional non-social channels to reach residents who are not on social media.
Next steps: staff and the contractor will continue seasonal campaigns, a visitor-guide photo shoot and influencer placements ("Take It Outside" project) slated for later in the year, and will refine event-targeted digital campaigns to convert ad clicks into overnight stays when possible.
