Market Research: Initial research identified 55% of visitors were from the U.S., while the remaining visitors came from China, Germany, the U.K., and Mexico. International travel trends were examined to identify potential markets that were currently untapped, including number of visitors, time spent, spending and spending capabilities. Competitive destinations were then examined including the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Research on tourism trends within the U.S. and the State of Arizona were then examined by origin market, frequency of travel, and port of entry. Visitor demographics, psychographics including composition of traveling parties, primary purpose of visit, leisure activities, other destinations visited, preferred dates of travel and mode of transportation were examined.

Marketing Strategy: The research identified most valuable target audiences by country, age, income, gender, peak travel times, preferred activities, amenities and projected spending by target audience. Visitor personas were created and marketing strategies built for each persona that customized preferences including packaging personalized experienced, communication preferences, media consumption, likely travel times and companions. This information informed the media buying plan, the rebuild of the website, the public relations strategy, and the overhaul of the sales team’s structure and offerings.

Services Provided: Marketing consultation, research, strategy, traditional media planning and buying including TV, radio, outdoor and print (including commercial production service and graphic design). The website was rebuilt, search engine optimization conducted, search engine optimized blogging, data capture installed, e-mail, social media, mobile (SMS), and internet marketing were engaged, added value contesting was initiated, plus robust public relations campaigns.  The website has been redesigned again so we are not able to showcase our work.  SMS marketing is included in the radio spot below.

Results: In just three months, website traffic grew to over 40,000 monthly visitors, a 6,588% increase, a 181% increase in organic traffic as a result of search engine optimization, leads (calls + e-mails) tripled while cost per lead fell to just 43 cents per lead, while sales volume increased by 75%. Initial public relations efforts with just one search engine optimized press release netted 28,000 external website headline displays, and the e-mail database tripled in size.

Recommendation:
“The Grand Canyon Resort Corporation (GCRC) utilized the expertise of Elevate Marketing to increase direct sales for Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk. As of result of their integrated marketing strategies, our direct sales increased by 75% in just three months time. During that same time period, our monthly website traffic grew from 1,100 visitors to over 40,000 visitors per month! Elevate Marketing developed strategies for Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk that continue to deliver results for the long haul.”
-Waylon Honga, COO, Grand Canyon Resort Corporation