Marketing Channels
Site
Our mobile-first refresh of the VisitMediaPA site will create an exciting landing point for our target audience to tune in to – a place where they can learn about what’s going on in Media, peruse the upcoming calendar of events, and download them directly into their calendar. Carefully gathered and cultured web pages will provide itineraries for a specific type of trip our target will be looking to take (for example, a girl’s night out, etc.). These pages will have top to bottom everything our target visitors would need to plan and execute a trip to Media.
To create a discoverable and holistic experience, these pages will include calls to action for an email sign-up to bring people consistently back to the page for new updates, as well as have shareable, SEO-friendly blog articles. Our goal is not only to encourage new travelers to come to Media with our website but to also make it easier for repeat visitors to find out about upcoming promotions and events. This will create visitor loyalty that will benefit both our target market who is looking for more fun things to do while also benefiting the small businesses in the area when MBA spotlights them for their sales and discounts.
Having unique content like a downloadable calendar you can add to outlook or google that requires you to fill a form first is an example of gated content that will help build our audience, and where we can specifically cater to the needs of those that are interested, like including historical events and monuments as this is a surprisingly big source of travel inspiration. Shareable and attractive blog graphics and infographics can go a long way in getting people to share with friends and family.
SEO
Our updated site will be optimized for SEO. Our goal is to rank on Google when young professionals in the Philadelphia area are searching for places to go on a day trip. We hope to not only utilize relevant keywords but also partnerships with bloggers and influencers to create backlinks to our optimized site in order to raise our rank over time.
We will send emails to those who have opted-in to receive them through our site, as well as through sign-ups offered at events such as Dining Under the Stars and Media Restaurant Week. The purpose of the emails is to keep Media top-of-mind as a great place to visit again and again and will drive traffic back to our site.
Email is a chance to interact with a more engaged audience base that already opted in to hear our messages. This will be a great place to utilize surveys to ask what young professionals in the area want to hear more about in upcoming emails and digital experiences on the site as well as in-person experiences when they visit the town. It’s clear from our initial research that people are more likely to go somewhere because someone else raves about it on social media before they would go for sales and discounts, so for a monthly newsletter, we plan to include 60% stories about people enjoying the experiences we’ve curated and 10-20% sales and discounts (partnering with local businesses). Throw in a festival or event call out, and it is likely to land somewhere with everyone. The marketing team can also use survey results like these to tag visitors for more specific targeting. For example, if a visitor is consistently interested in our Girl’s Night Out options, we will send more personalized messages to them directly with more Girl’s Night Out in Media content.
Email campaigns are also a great place to feature seasonal changes and monthly spotlights to the website or the social experiences Media has created. Featuring experiences related to our Media Magic: Holiday Campaign will be a great way to get our email forwarded and hopefully inspire new sign-ups for our newsletter.
Finally, we also feature bloggers/vloggers with high engagement in our email newsletter as part of our influencer partnership program. These micro-influencers will be actively sharing the Media Business Authority’s posts and emails to family members and friends, helping increase our brand exposure.
Social Media
The content that we will post to our main social channels is intended to generate excitement and interest in Media’s fabulous restaurants, shops, and services, and drive traffic to our site as well as our YouTube channel. Then, we will encourage visitors to post about their experiences to help drive the interest out to their peer groups.
We will also pursue a paid social strategy, placing ads on each social to engage new visitors.
Media will sprinkle its magic through all its existing channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube) and will create a TikTok account (a new one for them) since more and more young professionals are joining the platform and using it to find travel recommendations.
Media has many niche restaurants and activities that can only be found there. Each social media channel will use its specific strengths to portray what makes Media so amazing. Instagram will be the main focus of our campaign because our target market uses this platform the most and the functionality works in Media’s favor. Not only can Media lovers tag their photos, but they can also be in the know about what’s up and coming in town. The social media will also be linked to the website to easily see trip options, prices, etc.
We will also partner with local bloggers/vloggers/influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube who will post short videos promoting visiting Media. This content will be focused on the restaurants and what food they should try, the stores with the best clothes, secret discounts, etc.
Unique Content Ideas:
- Media Mondays – 1 Tip from a local
- Feed Post – High-quality photos of real people enjoying activities of Media
- Media Magic: Holiday Edition
- Small Business Highlights
- Giveaways (Media Merch)
Here is a link to our example content calendar.
Sample Posts:
Events
We will leverage the crowds that attend Dining Under the Stars nights by promoting sign-ups for our email newsletter and reminding attendees to follow us on our social media pages. We’ll make this easy for them by using QR code signage at various spots up and down State Street that can double as Selfie Stations. As Covid-19 restrictions continue to loosen in the coming year and Media’s events kick off again in earnest, we will continue to use similar QR code signups to encourage even more visitors to subscribe up for our updates.