Generating leads for a Vancouver Island Indigenous tour operator
We have been working with Homalco Tours on lead generation for one year. The purpose of our lead generation is to fill spots on their Campbell River-based grizzly bear and whale watching tours. Our promotions also showcase their new boats and adventure center location.
Considerations
In a typical year, Homalco Tours welcomes international visitors to their world-class trips and in previous lead generation, strategies for the company focused on a mostly international, European and American audience. This strategy was not going to work in 2021.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to rethink our advertising strategy to focus on a hyper-local (island-wide) audience. As the year progressed our strategy continued to evolve, keeping pace with provincial, national, and international travel restrictions.
What we did
We used a combination of highly targeted paid advertising, including Google, Facebook, Instagram. In addition, we ran a successful social media contest, drawing attention to Homalco as a locally owned and operated business and celebrating its 20th year in business.
In support of local health care workers, we also created custom landing pages and a targeted ad campaign to recognize local health workers and offer them a discount on tours.
Tools and Techniques
- Google Ads – search and display
- Facebook and Instagram Video and Display ads
- Unique landing pages for each ad campaign
Conclusion
We’ve been able to fill spots on the Homalco tour boats even during the low season when travel was only permitted in a small health region. As the year unfolded we grew our advertising to include the rest of Canada and the USA. Click rate and conversion rates have grown steadily over the year as we were able to hone in on keywords and audiences with the highest conversion rates.