Lough Erne Digital Marketing Strategy

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Strategy 1
Lough Erne Resort
Digital Marketing Strategy
Presented by Shane Hickey

Digital Marketing Audit
Key Conclusions

Website:
Lough Erne Resort has a good functional website but it is quite static and lacks
engaging content. They have a good mobile website which is extremely important but
do not have an App which according to Net Affinity is increasingly important given the
trends in mobile bookings in hotel industry which are projected to reach 50% by 2017
(Net Affinity, 2014).
International Reach:
The customer base for Lough Erne Resort is only realistically from Ireland and the
UK and there is an International opportunity here. They have very few followers in
countries which have high visitor rates to Ireland such as America, Germany and
France and this can be facilitated by having the website translated into different
languages and marketed to these visitor groups. “Ireland receives 2.9 million visitors
from the UK but over 2 million from North America, Germany and France”. (Failte
Ireland, 2013).
The Resort has also seemingly failed to capitalise internationally on the fantastic
marketing opportunity created by the hosting of the G8 Summit again which is
reflected in their online fan follower base as documented in the audit. According to
Socialbakers 94.5% of their Facebook followers are from Ireland and the UK.
(Socialbakers, 2014)
Search:
Lough Erne Resort are already doing quite a good job in terms of their Search
marketing. They are listed very well in terms of organic search in both Ireland and
the UK and they spend heavily on PPC advertising particularly with Adwords in Google
UK.
Social Media:
Lough Erne Resort have a good presence on Social Media albeit with room for
improvement when compared to their competitors. One example being that Lough
Erne Resort have 8,407 Facebook likes whereas Fota Island have 32,065 likes. Social
Media can be used to widen the International reach of Lough Erne Resort.

Digital Marketing
Strategy Objective
& KPI’s

Sub Objective’s
 To continue the good work that Lough Erne Resort are already doing in terms of
their Search, Social Media and general digital marketing strategy that attracts
customers from Ireland and the UK.
 To target new markets such as America, Germany and France which are three of
the top four tourist markets to Ireland in terms of visitor numbers and translate
our digital media into these respective languages.
 To create a more content based website which will have blogs, video’s and an App
and have a greater focus on inbound marketing while adding to the user experi-
ence for the current and prospective customer.
 To tailor our online marketing strategy to reflect the explosion in mobile hotel
bookings and make sure that Lough Erne Resort is digitally in a good position to do
this and continue to use Social Media for branding and awareness and SEO.
 To more accurately measure the success or lack of in terms of digital marketing
strategies that are used and to use this information going forward when creating
digital marketing strategies for the hotel. Google Analytics will be central to this.
Strategy Objective
The objective is to launch a digital marketing campaign over a 6 month period that will
drive International visitors to the Lough Erne resort and increase online bookings by
25% in this period with a digital marketing budget of €60,000.

ROI:
1) Increase online bookings by 25%.
2) Increase conversions from America, Germany, France, by 7%.
Search:
3) Increase visitor sessions by 20% with improved website content.
4) Increase YouTube downloads by 30% by incorporating videos into the website.
Social Media:
5) To increase Facebook followers by 20% from 8,407 likes to over 10,000 likes.
6) To increase Twitter followers by 20% from 2,797 followers to over 3,355 followers.
Email:
7) Get 2,000 new users on Newsletter signups.
8) Get 10% CTR from emails to current guests with Facebook and Twitter specific
campaigns.
Content:
9) Increase average time on site to 5
minutes per session.

Target Buyer Personas

Bradley is a 50 year old golfer from New York. He is third generation Irish but considers
himself Irish. He is a realtor and employs over 20 staff in his office in Upstate New York.
He is an avid golf fan and plays and watches golf regularly.
He travels to Ireland every two years on golf trip’s with friends and
likes to play some of the best courses in the country including
Ballybunion, Portmarknock and Mount Juliet. He is a huge Rory
Mcllroy fan.
He is planning to visit in Ireland in with a group of six friends in
2015 for the Irish Open in Royal County Down and play some golf
courses in Northern Ireland.
He owns an Apple tablet and smartphone and makes regular purchases online. He has
invested heavily in digital marketing for his own business.
Justification:
 According to Failte Ireland Golf Tourism in Ireland is valued at over €200 million.
(Failte Ireland, 2013)
 According to Failte Ireland North Americans have the highest spend at €1,800 per
trip, which is nearly four times the spend of an average tourist. (Failte Ireland, 2013)
 “Golf Tourism has also been outperforming the general Tourism market in recent
years, averaging 6% growth per annum between 2009 and 2012”.
(Failte Ireland, 2013).
American Golfer

Hans and Brigitte are a retired couple from Munich in Germany.
Hans in his professional life was a Marketing Director for BMW.
Brigitte is still an active member of Germany’s largest political
party SDP.
They love visiting Ireland as they are huge Great Outdoors
enthusiast's. Hans is a keen angler and has incorporated fishing
into his holidays in Ireland, in the past having been to Lough
Corrib and Lough Allen.
They are a very wealthy couple and spend a large amount of
their disposable income on travel. They have a keen interest in
staying in five star accommodation and a fondness for fine
dining.
They are planning a trip to Ireland having recently seen an
advert for The Wild Atlantic Way and Hans hopes to include
some fishing in this trip.
They are very tech savvy and research all their travel choices
online before booking. They regularly use websites such as
Conde Nast and Patagonia.
Retired German Couple
Justification:
 According to Zoe Redmond of Tourism Ireland 2013 was a record year for German
visitors to Ireland and fishing is very popular in Germany. (Tourism Ireland, 2014)
 In the same article Zoe Redmond of Tourism Ireland notes that Germany has the
largest outbound travel market in the world. (Tourism Ireland, 2014)
 According to the Irish Tourist Confederation industry in an Irish Times article
written by Ronan McGreevy “450,000 German tourists visited Ireland in 2013 but
this only represents 0.5% of all trips taken by Germans so there are massive oppor-
tunities for growth”. (Irish Times, 2013)
 According to a new strategy unveiled by Tourism Ireland “Germany and France offer
significant potential for tourism to the island of Ireland”. (Tourism Ireland, 2014)

French Family
Claude and Marie are a middle aged couple with two teenage kids living in Paris where
Claude is the editor for the French travel publication Desirs de Voyages. He is a keen
travel blogger and likes to write about his own personal travel experiences online.
They love Ireland as a travel destination and regularly travel by car and Ferry from
Cherbourg to Rosslare. Travelling by car allows them to visit numerous places in Ireland
and also bring back Irish food and drink products which they love.
Justification:
 “France is the fourth largest market for visitors to Ireland”. (Tourism Ireland, 2011)
 “More than one fifth of French holidaymakers travelled to Ireland by sea (22%)”.
(Tourism Ireland, 2011)
 According to Tourism Ireland in 2013 439,000 French tourists visited Ireland and this
represented a value of €220 million. (Tourism Ireland, 2014)
 According to Tourism Ireland French holidaymakers to Ireland were up 115% and
revenue from them was up 28% from the months of January to March in 2013.
(Tourism Ireland, 2013)
The family are very tech savvy and between
them have a variety of mobile devices in-
cluding Smartphones and Tablets.
Claude has been invited to Lough Erne
Resort for a three day stay and asked to blog
about the experience.
While at Lough Erne they plan to visit local
amenities such as Belleek Pottery and take a
day trip to the beaches of Sligo as well as
enjoying the hotel ‘s facilities.

Channels for Implementation

Owned Media
Website:
The website will be changed to have a more glossy
magazine style feel as opposed to the traditional static feel
it currently has. The site will be very engaging for
customers and be inbound marketing driven.
The website will be translated into two other languages
namely German and French which will have appropriate
country domains and be hosted in the respective country
to improve SEO in that countries ranking.
Mobile App:
Create a Mobile App that users can download for free and
will effectively be a brochure for the hotel. New check in
guests to the hotel can also be alerted to this and will have
features such as the layout of the hotel and geo tagging so
you can see where you are in relation to the hotel facilities
such as the Spa and also where you are on the golf course.
The App will be available in English, German and French
and will have an online booking facility.
Blog:
Create a blogging element to the Lough Erne website. This
will allow guests to write reviews about their experiences.
Head Chef Noel McMeel can blog about fine dining at
Lough Erne and the Clubhouse golfer can blog on golf
related events. Content can include blogs on fishing,
massage and spa and tourism in Northern Ireland.
The hotel can also invite guest bloggers from both Ireland
and Internationally to come and stay at Lough Erne and
blog about their experience. The blog will be updated on a
regular basis providing fresh and engaging content.

Earned Media
Facebook:
Create incentives for visitors and former guests to “check in”, “like” and “share” Lough
Erne resort. The incentive’s can be as simple as a glass of champagne upon arrival once
the guest has “checked in“ at Lough Erne Resort on Facebook.
Discounts can also be given on future bookings if guests have agreed to share Lough Erne
Resort with their friends.
Topical campaigns on Facebook which they have just done with the Giro D’Italia Pink
campaign are very popular. They can use Sponsored stories whereby Facebook posts by
Lough Erne receive greater prominence and prolonged exposure in Facebook streams
Improve company contact details section on Facebook including the web address.
Twitter:
Use Twitter search to find the top 100 most influential journalists and bloggers in the
travel space in America, Germany and France. Add them to a private twitter list and
engage with them on a frequent basis.
Lough Erne already manage their brand quite effectively on Twitter by tracking mentions
of the company and responding and retweeting accordingly. One area they can improve
on is in terms of visual. Lough Erne do post photo’s and menu’s but don’t post video’s.
Offer Twitter specific promotions around seasonal menu’s such as:
“First five Twitter users to retweet our Christmas menu will receive a Christmas gift
@Lough Erne Resort”.
Add a link from Twitter back to the main website which is currently not there.

YouTube.com:
Increase video content on YouTube and embed selected videos on the Lough Erne
desktop and mobile site available in both French and German.
The content can focus on areas that are not currently there such as cooking courses, golf
tips and activities in the Fermanagh Lakelands.
Head Chef at Lough Erne Resort can produce “How to” video’s on some of his signature
dishes and special seasonal menus that are offered.
Organise an Irish golf celebrity walk through video while playing the two golf courses at
Lough Erne and providing commentary while doing so. Rory Mcllroy can be approached.
A media production company will be used to improve the production quality of the
uploaded material and ensure that the luxury branding of Lough Erne is reinforced
through this digital channel.
Justification:
According to their own website YouTube has more than one billion unique visitors per
month. (YouTube 2014)
YouTube is already used as a channel by Irish Tourism Agencies for promotional videos.

Paid Media
Email:
Email the current client database to update them with the
special offers that are available through Facebook and Twitter
and asking for feedback on the new website.
I personally signed up to the Lough Erne Newsletter and
received no reply to date and this would suggest this is not a
resource that is being effectively used. We can also use email
retargeting for customers who do not buy.
Search:
PPC campaigns can be run to increase traffic in the countries
that have been targeted in our strategy. We can use some of
the keywords outlined in the Audit for our Search campaigns in
America, Germany and France.
“Five Star Hotels in Northern Ireland”.
“Luxury Hotels in Ireland”.
“Golf breaks in Ireland”.
Google Remarketing:
Google remarketing can be used for clients
who have come to the Lough Erne website
and not decided to book. Through Google
Adwords we can retarget clients who have
been on the Lough Erne Resort booking page
but have not proceeded with the purchase.
They can be targeted with special offer
messages which may attract them back to
the website to book.

Display:
PPC advertising can be used to increase traffic in the countries that have been targeted in
our strategy. We will use display adverts on popular travel websites in America, Germany
and France.
Three travel websites have been chosen and the campaigns will be run on the following
domains the .com, .fr and .de domains and on both the desktop and mobile versions:
The copy for the advert will be different for each country and will have all contact points:
America: Luxury golf breaks in Ireland theme with golf course photographs.
Germany: Enjoy the Great Irish Outdoors with a luxury feel and photo’s of Lough Erne.
France: Fine dining and Luxury Accommodation in Ireland with Hotel photo’s.
The idea will be very much to user test campaigns so we can analyse the results through
Google Analytics using campaign tracking and decide whether in terms of conversion’s
which of these mediums is the best and how they compare in terms of cost/ benefit
analysis to other digital marketing campaigns that we are running.
The marketing spend on will reflect the respective reach of each medium.
Justification:
According to its own website Tripadvisor has the largest travel community in the world
reaching over 260 million unique visitors per month. (Tripavisor, 2014)
According to EbizMBA Booking .com is the third most popular travel website with 36
million unique visitors per month. (EbizMBA, 2014)
According to EbizMBA Expedia.com has 25 million unique visitors per month.
(EbizMBA, 2014)

Required Resources

Hire two graduates with honours degrees ideally from a Digital Marketing and Language
course from Queens University or the University of Ulster on a six month Internship which
will be the duration of the digital marketing campaign for Lough Erne.
They can be hired on the Job Bridge Northern Ireland National Internship scheme. Each of
the graduates must have a fluency in French or German. A fluent French speaker and
German speaker will be needed and they will translate the copy for the marketing for the
French and German digital marketing campaigns.
The website design and App design will be put out to tender with a budget of €10,000 for
each job. The chosen companies will work closely with the Lough Erne Resort marketing
team on all aspects of functionality, design, user experience and content.
Free software tools such as FluidUI.com can be used to prototype the App and Wix.com to
prototype the new content based website before presented to selected Website and App
build companies.
A media production company will be used for the video production for the website and
increased YouTube content.
The Marketing team at Lough Erne will continue to take care of all Social Media posting
and advertising content, other select employee’s will be used to blog.
Internal Resources:
Current Lough Erne Resort Marketing
team.
Two Interns with fluent French and Ger-
man.
External Resources:
Web and App design outsourced.
Media production company for
video’s for website and social
media outsourced.

Digital Marketing Budget

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Total:
Intern 1 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €6,000
Intern 2 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €1,000 €6,000
Website €2,500 €2,500 €5,000 €10,000
Mobile App €5,000 €5,000 €10,000
Media
Production
€500 €500 €500 €500 €500 €500 €3,000
Blog In House
Facebook In House
Twitter In House
YouTube In House
Email €200 €200 €200 €200 €200 €200 €1,200
Remarketing €700 €700 €700 €700 €700 €700 €4,200
Search €1,500 €1,500 €1,500 €1,500 €1,500 €1,500 €9,000
Display Total €1,200 €1,200 €1,200 €1,200 €1,200 €1,200 €7,200
Tripadvisor €800 €800 €800 €800 €800 €800
Booking.com €200 €200 €200 €200 €200 €200
Expedia €200 €200 €200 €200 €200 €200
Totals: €13,400 €5,900 €13,400 €5,900 €5,900 €10,900 €55,400
Miscellaneous €3,200

Success

Success will have been reached at the end of this 6 month digital marketing campaign if
the following criteria have been met:
1) Bookings at Lough Erne Resort will have increased by 25% as per our campaign
objective.
2) All Key Performance Indicators will have been met as outlined in the Campaign
KPI’s.
3) Lough Erne Resort will have a new content based website and an improved social
media presence and will be in a position to effectively track and measure
campaigns. Analysis of the results will allow future campaigns to be tweaked and
changed to maximise the ROI.
4) The Resort will have a more international feel in terms of its online marketing and
customer base having improved their digital presence in America, France and
Germany.
5) Through the direct digital marketing campaign Lough Erne Resort can reduce their
use of Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) resulting in improved margins from their
bookings and better engagement with the client online.

References

1) Net Affinity (2014) “14 Hotel Marketing Trends for 2014—An Infographic by Net
Affinity” [Online]. Net Affinity. Available from: http://www.netaffinity.com/
netaffinity_news.html/14-hotel-marketing-trends-for-2014 [Accessed 13th May
2014].
2) Failte Ireland (2013) “Overseas-visitors-to-Ireland-January-December-2013”[Online].
Failte Ireland. Available from: http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/
WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/3_General_SurveysReports/
Overseas-visitors-to-Ireland-January-December-2013.pdf?ext=.pdf [Accessed 13th
May 2014].
3) Socialbakers (2014) “Lough Erne Facebook Page Statistics”. [Online]. Social Bakers.
Available from http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-pages/128786117138525-
lough-erne-resort [Accessed 13th May 2014].
4) Failte Ireland (2013) “New Failte Ireland research shows golf to the fore in delivering
tourism revenue”. [Online].Failte Ireland. Available from: http://www.failteireland.ie/
Utility/Media-Centre/New-Failte-Ireland-research-shows-golf-to-the-fore.aspx
[Accessed 13th May 2014].
tourism revenue”. [Online]. Failte Ireland. Available from: http://www.failteireland.ie/
tourism revenue”. [Online]. Failte Ireland. Available from: http://www.failteireland.ie/
7) Tourism Ireland (2014) “Fishing for German tourists”. [Online]. Tourism Ireland. Avail-
able from: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/About-
E2%80%98Fishing%E2%80%99-for-German-Tourists.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
8) Tourism Ireland (2014) “Fishing for German tourists”. [Online]. Tourism Ireland. Avail-
able from: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/About-Us/Press-
Releases/2014/%E2%80%98Fishing%E2%80%99-for-German-Tourists.aspx [Accessed
13th May 2014].

9) McGreevy K. (2013) “Tourism industry hails 2013 as a success”. [Online]. Irish Times.
Available from: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/tourism-industry
-hails-2013-as-a-success-1.1640624 [Accessed 13th May 2014].
10) Tourism Ireland (2014) “New strategy unveiled to boost tourism from Germany and
France”. [Online]. Tourism Ireland. Available from: http://www.tourismireland.com/
Home!/About-Us/Press-Releases/2014/New-Strategy-Unveiled-to-Boost-Tourism-
from-German.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
11) Tourism Ireland (2011) “France Overview”. [Online]. Tourism Ireland. Available from:
http://www.tourismireland.com/getdoc/5323d851-ea76-46f1-8b4e-89f912eff987/
france.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
12) Tourism Ireland (2011) “France Overview”. [Online]. Tourism Ireland. Available from:
http://www.tourismireland.com/getdoc/5323d851-ea76-46f1-8b4e-89f912eff987/
france.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
13) Tourism Ireland (2014) “New strategy unveiled to boost tourism from Germany and
France” Tourism Ireland. [Online]. Available from: http://www.tourismireland.com/
Home!/About-Us/Press-Releases/2014/New-Strategy-Unveiled-to-Boost-Tourism-
from-German.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
14) Tourism Ireland (2013) “Tourism Ireland comment on CSO figures for January– March
2013”. Tourism Ireland. [Online]. Available from: https://www.tourismireland.com/
Home!/About-Us/Press-Releases/2013/Tourism-Ireland-Comment-on-CSO-Figures-for
-January.aspx [Accessed 13th May 2014].
15) YouTube (2014) “YouTube Statistics”. YouTube. [Online]. Available from http://
www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html [Accessed 13th May 2014].
16) Tripadvisor (2014) “Tripadvisor Factsheet”. Tripadvisor. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/PressCenter-c4-Fact_Sheet.html [Accessed 13th May
2014].
17) EbizMBA (2014) “Top 15 Travel Websites May 2014” EbizMBA. [Online] Available
from: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/travel-websites [Accessed 13th May 2014].
18) EbizMBA (2014) “Top 15 Travel Websites May 2014” EbizMBA. [Online] Available
from: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/travel-websites [Accessed 13th May 2014].

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