Search marketing case study - The Dungeons

Objectives

Merlin Entertainments Group is the World's second largest visitor attraction operator with leading brands including The Dungeons, which has venues in UK cities London, Edinburgh, Blackpool and York as well as The Dungeons in Hamburg and Amsterdam. Tug took over a brand driven PPC campaign, to deliver a multi-lingual, awareness and sales focused account optimised to increase footfall and incremental revenue at all 6 locations. This was integrated with a strategic SEO programme designed to increase visibility locally as well as internationally for competitive Natural terms.

Strategy and planning:

Tug worked with The Dungeons web agency to launch fully optimised websites across all European venues. Targeted keywords were expanded beyond brand to include broad terms such as 'London Attractions', as well as historical keywords such as 'Jack the Ripper'. Extensive PPC keyword mining increased The Dungeons keyword list from 500 to 45,000 keywords. These targeted users at all stages of the purchase cycle, from the research stage (e.g. "fun London days out") to the buying stage (e.g. "buy London Dungeons tickets"). SEO link building included traditional directories, article submissions and blog activity. In addition, banned videos were distributed as well as images of celebrities at the venue, competitions for free tickets organised with bloggers and press releases optimised and released through paid and non-paid channels.

To ensure Integrated Search Marketing, messaging across PPC & SEO was compared and tested regularly, using PPC to be more promotion focused and SEO to emphasise historical, educational and emotive messages. Regular traffic analysis from both channels allowed budgets to be amended to meet demand, seasonality and support visibility for critical terms.

Results

• Integrated Search Marketing has grown site traffic by 72%
• 65% increase in Online Sales
• ROAS of 1,280%
• Bronze Award in the 2010 DMA best use of Search category

"Results from this campaign have far exceeded expectations. Tug's solution to expand keywords across the purchasing cycle combined with relevant, targeted advertising has been highly effective. The 65% increase in online sales is an achievement."

Caroline Hepworth, Merlin Entertainments Group

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