Trout Hotel
Online strategy for a Lake District gem
54°39′47″N, 003°22′07″W
Overview
With 49 chic bedrooms, set in the heart of the gorgeous Georgian town of Cockermouth, The Trout Hotel is the perfect getaway. Dating back to 1670, the hotel has a rich history and has hosted intrepid travellers for many years as their base for exploring the natural beauty of the Lake District.
The objective for the Trout Hotel was quite simple - develop a strong digital offering. After decades of success offline, they were now ready to invest resource into their digital channels and reach a wider audience than ever before.
Navigate worked with the team at the Trout Hotel to understand their goals and take their digital approach to the next level through a best in class strategy and highly targeted execution.
Our three objectives
Strengthening the foundations
Before we embarked on the Trout Hotel’s journey to digital success, it was important to know where they were, to begin with. With the modern traveller increasingly using digital channels to research, plan and book their trips away – being visible online is key.
We conducted SEO and website audits to develop a series of quick wins the Trout Hotel would be easily able to implement to boost their online presence, as well as a list of actions to embed into their digital strategy to ensure long term success.
Keeping things local
The ‘rise of the staycation’ was set to be a prominent trend for UK tourism in 2020, and the impact of the COVID-19 has only increased the propensity of people looking closer to home for their holidays this year.
One of the most prominent draws to the Trout Hotel’s idyllic lodge is their stunning surroundings. Through a combined PPC and Paid Social campaign, we target those with a 2-hour drive, with a particular focus on people who had an interest in nature in the major cities who were likely looking for a break away from the city.
Increasing the fishing pool
Most websites only convert 2% of web traffic on the first visit. So we used retargeting across all the campaigns to follow-up people who had visited the Trout Hotel’s website in order to increase their likelihood to book.
The returning visitors were then used to create additional lookalike audiences to feedback into the initial targeting of the paid social campaign, making sure our activity was the most effective it can be.
Since working with the Trout Hotel we have taken them online and have achieved strong results during a difficult summer period.
“After 32 years of ownership of the Hotel we have never used this type of marketing on this scale before, however, we are delighted with the results to date and even more delighted to be working with a business that drives thought leadership on the use of digital marketing to further drive sales through our business. We look forward to many years of a successful partnership.”