The Digital Destinations project, funded by the ESRC and delivered by Bournemouth University, aimed to help local tourism businesses adopt digital technologies to increase marketing effectiveness and develop new products. Highcliffe Castle participated in workshops covering online marketing strategy. This helped the castle develop a social media strategy and grow its Facebook page to nearly 1,000 likes, engaging more visitors. The project identified Highcliffe Castle's need to hire a marketing officer with digital expertise going forward.

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 Highcliffe Castle
Highcliffe Castle views social media as being critical to the future of business. We
saw the Digital Destinations project as a way of providing an insight which could
improve our marketing, assist in understanding the media and produce a manageable
e-marketing strategy. As a result in our participation we have provided information
and coaching sessions with other staff and volunteers, empowering and enabling
them to learn, contribute and support the marketing of Highcliffe Castle

5. Case Study – Highcliffe Castle
Highcliffe Castle, Rothesay Drive, Highcliffe, Dorset, BH23 4LE
Tel: 01425 278807
E: enquiries@highcliffecastle.co.uk
W: www.highcliffecastle.co.uk

6. A Grade 1 Listed Victorian Mansion
Highcliffe Castle

7. Owned and operated by Christchurch Borough
Council with principle business areas of;
◦ Heritage Centre
◦ Weddings and Functions
◦ Corporate Hire
◦ Retail
◦ Public Events and Exhibitions
◦ Tearooms (run under licence)

8. The Council’s website is www.dorsetforyou.com but this has
little profile for attractions and is more geared to statutory
service delivery (waste collection, roads, planning, Council
meetings)
Highcliffe Castle was allowed to publish its own website –
originally entirely managed by a 3rd party company, and more
recently in-house where all content is produced by castle staff.

9. The potential of the website as a marketing tool rather than an
information site has always been recognised, but needed to be
unlocked.
Digital Marketing had been identified as a powerful media but
we weren’t sure where to start…
Then the opportunity came to join Bournemouth University in
the Digital Destinations Project

10. Social Media was daunting – as a bit of a luddite (I still use an
OHP for some presentations!) I was presented with an Aladdin's
Cave of different applications, all of the marketing tools were
there, but which should we use, and how?
Instinct told us that we needed a Facebook (FB) profile but
access was restricted by the Council to two members of staff for
one hour every morning. This limited the use and effectiveness
of our FB page.
Involvement in this project helped persuade the Council to open
up access to the full team - 24/7. Over the life of this project,
the Council have opened a Corporate Facebook page and Twitter
account – good progress

11. Highcliffe Castle had no clear plan or objectives and little
appreciation of what was possible.
Digital Destinations opened up the potential and demonstrated
the many and varied media streams and applications available.
With the additional support of our student, Leah Gyngell, we
were able to begin an analysis of our current situation , and
define a way forward.
Leah gave a presentation to the team at the Castle which helped
to demystify and motivate them to get involved and engage with
digital media.

12. Leah was able to demonstrate that social media is;
◦ cost effective, when budgets are decreasing;
◦ Measurable;
◦ able to help us build a relationship with our audience;
◦ Fun! 
Leah helped us to set up a twitter account and populate it.

13. All of the team were motivated, engaged and enjoyed using this
media and could see the benefits. As the season has got busier
and pressures increase, this has waned as far as twitter is
concerned. Facebook continues to be our primary tool.
Our Facebook account was opened in 2010, and in the first 3
years we had passively achieved 711 ‘likes’. In January we set a
target to more than double that rate of growth. 1,000 likes by
July is on track with 971 to date (6/6/13).
 Posts are regularly being seen by 10,000+ people.
 User generated content, particularly photos are becoming
quite a feature.

14. The Digital Marketing Analysis & Plan for Highcliffe Castle,
written by Leah now forms the basis of our digital media
strategy and has been shared with senior managers at the
Council.
The Council has recently appointed an E-communications Officer
who will continue to support our development, and take over
where the student support ceased. It is hoped that we can help
lead other departments in this field.

15. Being in a cluster of 10 businesses of various sizes was very
valuable. To appreciate the business potential demonstrated by
larger companies as well as the creative developments of smaller
companies (like us).
A great benefit of engaging with digital media is that it is
scalable to the resources available, whether financial or human.

16. Unfortunately, early in this project we lost our Marketing Officer,
and the post is still vacant. Whilst this has been difficult, there
is a positive aspect. When we are in a position to advertise the
post, we know that we will be seeking a person that has
extensive knowledge of digital marketing, website content and
Google analytics.
If we hadn’t been involved with Digital Destinations our
appreciation of this need would not have been highlighted.

17. Bournemouth University and the Digital Destinations project
have helped identify the opportunities and clarify our needs.
Without this we wouldn’t be in a position to build a digital media
strategy which is sustainable across all areas of our business
and supported by a new marketing Officer.

18. Thank you
to Dr Phillip Alford, Maureen, Leah, Lisa & Jane and Bournemouth
University for the opportunity to be involved with the project, for
their patience, advice and support.
David Hopkins
Highcliffe Castle Manager

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