Paid Search: A Powerful Tool for Attraction Marketing

This blog features content pulled from our free fifty-page visitor growth playbook. If you're in marketing and work for a visitor attraction, you can download the full playbook here.

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We know how rapidly digital change has come about, but the attractions sector was slow to adopt it until the pandemic. Having finally realised the importance of paid search and how to convert interested customers into paying visitors, many have since begun asking what it’s all about.

So, here’s our take on paid search for attraction marketers. Buckle up!

What is Paid Search?

Google dominates the search engine market (who would have guessed?) with over 91% of market share. Google ads are a must but what about Bing or MSN? We know you might not have opened those since 2015 and sure they have lower market shares but they’re super easy to set up and still deliver traffic to your website.

Paid search is all about converting the attention of those who are already showing interest - that low-hanging fruit. That’s what actually gets them to take action, like booking a visit.

What Results Can I Expect from Paid Search?

The average Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) for destination marketing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) across a wide range of organisations in 2022 was 19:1 (£19 return for every £1 spent), according to our data. There is a great range of results in our data, however, with some businesses delivering well over 50:1 return. When compared to the current all-industry average for PPC, which is 2:1, attractions perform well above the average.

To surmise, you can expect some pretty good results. Paid Search can help you generate over 50x your return if you’re doing it correctly.

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Tips for Success in Paid Search Advertising

1. Owning searches for your own brand is the first step of your PPC strategy on any search platform. Why would you want to do the whole treasure hunt just for someone else to swoop in and take the gold? By owning your searches, you prevent competitors or affiliates bidding on your terms, and swiping those visitors who are already searching for you.

2. Using a spreadsheet to help calculate your advertising ROI is a great way to understand your PPC costs and returns efforts but if you don't have a spreadsheet set up, you can try using https://www.omnicalculator.com/finance/roi

3. Using broad match keywords (and coming up in related, but not exact searches) can lead to wasted ad spend and traffic. Why? Because it generates poor relevancy and traffic with low intent. Ad copy that doesn't include your ad groups' keywords will result in a low-quality score, leaving your ads ranking lower with more expensive average cost-per-clicks.

4. Adding extensions to your campaigns will add additional value by showcasing promotions, unique selling points, and prices. The objectives of your search ads shouldn't just be to send traffic. Instead, use conversion tracking to highlight what actions that traffic is taking, allowing for optimization of smart bidding strategies and data-driven decision-making.

So, what can you do?

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

What is your current advertising spend on PPC?
What revenue do you generate from PPC on a monthly basis?
Do you have conversion tracking set up, and is it reporting accurately?
What is your ROI from PPC (include resource time or investment here)?

Now you’ve answered these, it’s time for you to set your targets and produce a timing plan. This will help you enhance your paid performance and current position. Paid search ads deliver rapid results making it a number one tool for growing your visitors and revenue.

Google Grants for Charity Attractions

If your attraction has charity status, you are eligible for a Google Ads Grant of up to $10,000 per month for free. FREE. And with only 2% of charities using their Google Ads Grant, how many of those do you think are using it properly?

It’s a great way to experiment with your audiences and get relevant traffic to convert without using your own marketing budget. There are restrictions, but as long as you follow your grant on what it can be used for, click-through rates, spend thresholds and so on, you should be good! And it’s worth it for $10,000 free.

Overall

Paid search is a rapid way to produce decent results, and convert that low-hanging fruit from interested customers into ones that book. If you’re not already on the bandwagon, you’re missing out on an easy and effective way to get to your future customers.

Did you find this blog useful?

For more information on marketing tactics to help grow your revenue, take a look at our fifty-page rapid action manual featuring more information. Click here.