The document describes the Digital Destinations project run by Bournemouth University. The project aims to help tourism businesses improve their use of digital technologies through workshops. One participating business, New Forest Activities, received help analyzing their digital marketing and developing a new plan. The plan focuses on improving their website, email marketing, social media, and analytics to better engage customers and grow key areas of their business.

1. DIGITAL DESTINATIONS
Dr Philip Alford
Bournemouth University
www.digitalhub.co.uk
www.pinterest.com/digitaldest
www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub
ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk
@schooloftourism | @philipalford
#DDBU

2. Digital Destinations project is an ESRC funded research project,
delivered by Bournemouth University,
with an overarching aim to:
‘capture change in the adoption and use of digital technologies
and to develop a strong, competitive local tourism economy.
Through increased understanding and use of emerging digital
technologies, visitor economy businesses will be in a position to
increase their marketing and management effectiveness, and
develop new products and services that will provide an
enhanced experience for visitors to their destinations’

3. The businesses benefited from 4 workshops which covered:
 Background to on line marketing
 Individual Business objectives
 Developing the strategy
 Measuring impact
 Reporting outcomes via case studies
All course material can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalHub
All business outcomes and blogs can be found at http://www.budigitalhub.co.uk/

4. The following presentation is the case study provided by New Forest
Activities
New Forest Activities were active in all elements of on-line marketing, but felt that
their approach was too general with no real targeting of certain demographics or
groups. The main areas they wanted improvement were around the children's
parties and team building sectors. They wanted to experiment with some story
based testimonials, using social media and blogs to produce content and give depth
to each area of the site. Alongside this it was important to ensure that potential
clients were able to quickly find the information they needed, whilst develop trust in
our brand. Measurement would be way of tracking our contact page conversions
(leads) from the specific contact forms within these sections of the website.

5. Digital Destinations
Digital marketing analysis and plan
for New Forest Activities

6. Introduction
• At New Forest Activities we were active in all elements of
on-line marketing, but felt that our approach was too
general with no real targeting of certain demographics or
groups. The main areas we wanted improvement were
around the children's parties and team building sectors.
We wanted to experiment with some story based
testimonials, using social media and blogs to produce
content and give depth to each area of the site. Alongside
this it was important to ensure that potential clients were
able to quickly find the information they needed, whilst
developing trust in our brand. Measurement would be way
of tracking our contact page conversions (leads) from the
specific contact forms within these sections of the website.

7. • This digital marketing analysis and
plan focuses on) New Forest
Activities ; an outdoor activities
centre based within the New
Forest, Hampshire. The company
was set up when its sister company
(Liquid Logistics) found there was a
demand for other outdoor
activities.
• See the website. Things to do in
The New Forest
• NFA offers a variety of fun outdoor
services such as:
• Archery
• Battlefield Simulation
• Canoeing
• Cycling
• Guided Walks
• Kayaking/Sea Kayaking

8. New forest activities current missions
• To enjoy sustainable and profitable
growth of the company, delivering
and packaging quality experiences to
the New Forest National Park and the
surrounding area, with enthusiasm
and interest in customers and their
experience , creating valuable and
long lasting relationships with
customers , producers and
associates.
• New forest activities is also looking to
grow and build engagement in the
children's party and team building
sector.
• See the web page for Team Building
Hampshire
• See the web page for Children's
Parties Hampshire

9. What we learned from the project
• The SWOT analysis shows us that NFA has many strengths surrounding
both its online and offline presence. However weaknesses revealed that
its organic hits come predominantly from its domain name search, and
SEO is weak within its key target groups. Also it was discovered that whilst
there was a significant email database to target, email campaigns were
ineffective with low open and click through rates. SWOT analysis also takes
external factors into account through opportunities and threats. These are
used in conjunction with the strengths and weaknesses to develop
potential strategies that could be adopted by NFA.
• The following sections will analyse the situation of NFA in more detail,
drawing on some elements of the SWOT analysis in addition to parts of
the macro and microenvironment.

10. It is important for businesses to
ascertain certain behaviours and
characteristics of its targeted
audiences; this is known as customer
insight and has become a crucial
element in the search for
competitive advantage across many
industries in recent years
When looking to understand more
about your customers, it is
recommended that business owners
create customer personas. New
forest Activities target six different
groups of people via their website
the following personas have been
created in alignment with this.

11. (Social Groups) 18-21. College/University
students. Decision maker within
friendship group
aligns with keen interests in
outdoors activities.
Regular customers.
Predominantly information
seeking motives.
season.
School Teacher
(School Groups)
Aged 25-40.
Male or female
Graduate usually with a senior
position in the school.
Persona 2 purchases to offer the
children new experiences in a
different environment
Popular throughout the season
April –
Sept
Best Man/Maid of Honour
(Stag & Hen)
Aged 25-35, predominantly male
but hen parties also engage.
Likely to earn a good salary.
Persona 1 is looking to host a
unique stag/hen party, one that
will challenge participants.
Seeking visual examples of
activities.
Make up a strong percentage of
early season bookings.
Youth Group Leader
(Youth Groups)
Male, aged 18-25. Purchase to build relationships
within youth groups with fun
activities.
Book sporadically throughout.
Parent of Child
(Kids Parties)
Female (Childs Mother).
25-35 years old.
Wealthy parent usually not
working or working part time.
Purchase to offer a unique party
for their child.
Small market at the moment
needs growth.
Office Event Organiser
(Team Building)
Young female, postgraduate
acting as office PA.
Constructive team Building
initiatives in the work place.
Small market at the moment,
potential to grow.

12. • The main issue was a
clarity of objectives for
example, generally using
Facebook instead of
using Facebook with a
purpose that was
measureable.
• For more info visit our
facebook page for New
Forest Activities,
Battlefield Live and
Liquid Logistics

13. • Ongoing issues were time
and resource allocation as
well as too much
knowledge and not
enough action.
• Other issues are
maintaining momentum,
maintaining focus on key
growth areas, how to
present key information
on a busy website for
example Sopley Lake.

14. • Objectives have to be
business orientated
instead of online
orientated.
• Also learnt about SEO
and benefits of on and
offsite SEO Tactics.
• From Student Learnt
about a good structure
to plan the ‘SOSTAC’
framwork.

15. New Forest Activities Email marketing, using Mail
Chimp.
•Quality of the database is high with a 93% delivery
rate.
• Open rate is poor at less than 14%.
•Of those that open the email just 1.5% are clicking
through the relevant links.
NFA database is made up of past consumers and
those who have opted in online. The biggest
weakness to NFA’s email campaigns is that the
database is not segmented into different target
groups, best practice email guides suggest emails
must address specific target groups and be
personalised if they are to be successful
Another weakness is that there are too many words
and not enough images.

16. NFA Facebook
Strengths:
•Almost 1400 likes on the Facebook page
• Integrated booking system
• Integrated YouTube Channel
• Integrated booking system
Weaknesses:
•No engagement with followers, where
followers comment, no conversation is
started
• Not optimising the cover photo
•needs a colourful bright image showing
product
• Content predominantly pictures not
targeted to specific customer profiles and
don’t encourage traffic

17. Analytics
• Hubspot report 68%-82%
• Facebook insights
• Twitter Klout score 53

18. NFA Google analytics
With Google analytics we are able to check data related
to our website for example on the dashboard page
we are able to check, the new visits, unique visits,
visits, visits by browser, average duration, bounce
rate, goal completions and revenue.
With the audience overview page we are able
to collect the data, of the demographics,
languages, system and mobile.

19. Google analytics also allows us to collect data with the intelligence events overview
which shows us the change either daily or weekly of, average visitor duration,
newsletter sign up, average visitor duration of the exit page, revenue, visits email,
visits source new forest booking centre, visits homepage and the contact us page.

20. Website Tactics
• Incorporate a blogging format
• Share content to social media channels
• Review Children’s Party offer page
• Review Team Building Page

21. Changes made
Online Value Proposition clearly
displayed on the page
Advertising in the USP
Clearly identifies the
different product
offering

22. Companies with strong brands who have been
consumers are clearly identified along with positive
comments regarding experience

23. Email Tactics
• Segment the database into target categories
• Personalise the target group with appropriate
language.
• Pictures and relevant content
• Incentivise
• Sharing
• Follow up emails

24. Examples of revised email marketing
campaign

25. Social Media Tactics
• Share the Stories / consumer blogs from website onto
Facebook with short punchy subject lines.
• Implement the Facebook competition:
Blog posts will be shared across to the Facebook page,
users will be encouraged to share their stories and the
one with the most likes and shares each month will win
a free trip for 6 people.
• Encourage advocates to post their own stories (via click
through link).
• Engage in conversation with consumers.
• Post regularly but at the correct time with engaging
content

26. Examples of social media tactic
changes

27. LinkedIn Tactics
• Share the blog posts created from website onto Linked In as Case
Studies.
• Implement the LinkedIn competition.
The converted case study with the highest click through rate to the
relevant landing page will win the monthly prize.
• Get Active in appropriate linked in groups
• Post regular status updates based on LinkedIn best practice
guidelines.

28. Team building on LinkedIn

29. Tactics Summary
• The tactics proposed will add value to New
Forest Activities by making the online
presence more about the customer. The ability
to share experiences and interact with each
other is making the whole thing an experience
rather than personal. Further value is added
by consumers feeling part of the company,
actively engaging and being part of the
website.

30. For more information on DIGITAL DESTINATIONS contact:
Dr Philip Alford, Bournemouth University
ddp@bournemouth.ac.uk
@schooloftourism | @philipalford
#DDBU