Selling hospitality with modern marketing.
Your home away from home.
The Shore is a modern apartment-hotel complex located in Kelowna, BC. Operated by Appelt Properties, they’re part of an exclusive group of mixed-use residential and premier office space across the country. The Shore came to us for Google Ads in December 2020, concerned with their accounts performance. After reviewing their account, we discovered the targeting was too broad, leading to high impressions but low relevance. They were spending their budget in all the wrong places, something that we quickly helped to turn around.
Reach
Tourism-based with nationwide appeal
Year
2020 – Present
Services
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Copywriting
Website Updates
Web Hosting
Maintenance & Support
Tech Stack
WordPress
Google Ads
Google Tag Manager
Google Analytics
Google Search Console
Google Trends
Agency Analytics
SEMrush
HotJar
GOOGLE ADS
Whipping their ad account into shape.
Using keyword and competitor research, we built a content strategy that tied their Google Ads and blog content together. We analyzed user intent and search history to determine what people search for when booking a hotel, and the best way to get in front of them during those searches.
CONTENT STRATEGY
Laser-focused on location.
In building the content strategy, we knew that we were up against some marketing giants. Platforms like Booking.com and Expedia invest heavily in showing up in search, so our strategy had to take advantage of their main weakness – local expertise.
One of the factors in Google’s Quality Score, a metric that determines whether an ad will show for a search term, is relevancy. We worked to position The Shore as the most relevant choice for location-based searches, crafting targeted landing pages that matched each of our new ad groups.
We also worked on creating ads that targeted booking intent, rather than just direct searches for hotels. Users that search for cabins, cottages, vacation rentals, resorts, airbnbs & vrbos are all looking for the same thing: somewhere comfortable to rest their heads. While we can’t position The Shore in all of these categories, we can offer it as a great alternative. In a popular travel destination like Kelowna, this competitive positioning has made all the difference.
DATA-DRIVEN RESULTS
Because everyone loves a before & after.
In the first two months of their campaign, we saw considerable improvements to their total cost per action (CPA) and other key performance indicators. And we haven’t stopped there. Each month we thoroughly review their campaign performance and make adjustments to search terms, keywords, and other campaign criteria.
Cost-Per-Action (CPA)
average
Impression Share
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
average
To date, we’ve managed over $100,000 in ad spend and brought in over 15k leads for the company.
SITE OPTIMIZATION & SEO
From building to booking.
Hospitality in the Okanagan is a seasonal business. While our seasons are mild and we’re lucky to have visitors all year long (thank you Big White Ski Resort), search volumes look different in July than in mid-February.
During slower seasons, we shift focus to organic growth and SEO. We started by conducting a comprehensive site audit to determine areas for improvement, and put together an action plan targeting the lowest-hanging fruit.
Some things we’ve worked on for The Shore include:
- Improving mobile pagespeed and core web vitals
- Fixing broken links and resolving chain redirects
- Site security improvements
- Conversion optimization & small website updates
- Page, category and tag optimization
- Optimizing images and image filenames
- Reviewing NAP citations and creating industry profiles
- Heat-mapping with HotJar
- Schema insertion & adding location-specific markup
Through consistency in publishing blog content (over 40 posts to date), on-page and off-page SEO, we’re seeing truly great results.
Today it’s not about ‘get the traffic’ — it’s about ‘get the targeted and relevant traffic.
Adam Audette
Today it’s not about ‘get the traffic’ — it’s about ‘get the targeted and relevant traffic.
Adam AudetteOrganic traffic increased
Organic traffic up
GOOGLE TRENDS
Hospitality in a pandemic.
For an apartment-hotel, one could have anticipated an increase in marketing performance in 2021, regardless of our efforts. COVID lockdowns dominated 2020 and many businesses in the hospitality industry faced great losses. However, looking at a year-over-year comparison, we can see that search volume was often higher in 2020. With international travel being largely out of the question, many families opted to travel within Canada instead.
Using historical data and seasonal trends, we can learn from the past, adapt in the present and best plan for the future.
The team at Twirling Umbrellas has been an invaluable addition to our marketing efforts, acting as a direct extension of our team and treating each initiative as its own.
We have been thoroughly impressed by each team member we have had the pleasure to work with throughout our digital campaigns, SEO management, continued blog and web support, and all the quick answers they provide to each of our technical marketing questions.
I highly recommend the team and look forward to many years of continued success through the support Twirling Umbrellas provides!
Ryan Gray, Director of Operations, Appelt Properties
The team at Twirling Umbrellas has been an invaluable addition to our marketing efforts, acting as a direct extension of our team and treating each initiative as its own.
We have been thoroughly impressed by each team member we have had the pleasure to work with throughout our digital campaigns, SEO management, continued blog and web support, and all the quick answers they provide to each of our technical marketing questions.
I highly recommend the team and look forward to many years of continued success through the support Twirling Umbrellas provides!
Ryan Gray, Director of Operations, Appelt PropertiesFINAL THOUGHTS
Holistic marketing for the real world.
More than ever, we’re having to rely on real-time metrics and adaptability in digital marketing. Gone are the days of attributing a sale or a lead to a single source, user journeys and environmental influences have gotten a lot more complex. It takes multiple interactions with a brand for customers to build trust, and what works today might not work tomorrow.
Our success with The Shore is the result of a strategic, persistent approach. While some wins have been quick, sustained growth has happened over time through consistent effort in multiple areas. If you’re ready to invest in your long-term growth, we’d love to connect.