National State Tourism Directors Mercury Awards > "The Road Less Traveled"

MOTBD - Eastern Montana Tourism Initiative

About This Entry:

The state of Montana has seen sustained growth in out-of-state visitors and bed tax collections over the past decade. Unfortunately, that growth has not been equally dispersed throughout the state. While areas surrounding Glacier and Yellowstone national parks as well as cities and regions in the Western half of the state saw increased bed tax revenue, revenues in Eastern regions had trended downward for years. In an effort to reverse this trend, the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development (MOTBD), in partnership with tourism organizations and stakeholders, developed the Eastern Montana Tourism Initiative to improve the economic impact of tourism in specific counties, and also draw tourists away from areas of the state that experience overcrowding during the summer. This highly targeted, research-driven initiative promoted Eastern Montana’s undiscovered treasure of unique landscapes, historical and cultural sites, and opportunities for outdoor recreation to drive economic growth in this part of the state.

Goals and objectives for the program included those where we hoped to move the needle immediately, and others that would help position Eastern Montana for sustained success, all while helping to redistribute visitor population across the state. Short-term goals included building awareness of Eastern Montana’s tourism offerings and increasing bed tax collections and visitation, while long-term goals included sustained investment in tourism infrastructure, product development and promotion, as well as the creation of a grant program to specifically support Eastern Montana.

To begin delivering on the immediate goal of increased visitation, MOTBD used historical visitation data and research to identify key markets. Drive states were identified as our best opportunity for quick conversion and target geographies included North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The summer campaign would target the same consumers as the overarching brand campaign – Families and Educated Travelers. For the fall season, MOTBD’s research showed that bird hunting was a strong draw to the region and therefore targeted this specific audience to the aforementioned drive markets, and also to select in-state cities as well.

Campaign Strategy:

To best understand the challenges and opportunities in Eastern Montana, research partner Destination Analysts facilitated a series of two-hour listening sessions with stakeholders throughout the region. These sessions were also attended by representatives from MOTBD, agency of record Hoffman York, voices of Montana Tourism and the Tourism Advisory Council. Objectives of the qualitative research were to:
• Inventory thoughts and reasons for the decline in bed tax in Eastern Montana
• Document opinions on Eastern Montana’s best tourism assets and ideal audiences
• Generate ideas and strategies to increase tourism and bed tax collections
• Understand short and long-term tourism product development needs

This research steered the creative and content development by identifying top activities—historical sites/Indian Country, dinosaur museums and digs, and bird hunting—as well as the communities that needed a tourism boost and had the infrastructure to support more visitors.

To maximize the program’s budget, and inform and educate audiences about Eastern Montana experiences, the campaign relied on mid- to low-funnel tactical support using native static and video ads, digital display and paid social. MOTBD then prioritized ad exposure to those audiences that had already been exposed to the state’s larger awareness campaign. With Montana already on their mind, the Eastern Montana campaign acted as frequency layer specifically promoting the region. In addition, MOTBD was granted permission to pixel a number of tourism partner websites within the region to retarget their site visitors with paid advertising.

Campaign elements included:
• Native video ads featuring a :60 dinosaur experience video
• Native display ads promoting articles on Indian Country, Eastern Montana road trips and bird hunting
• Banner ads showcasing Indian Country, The Montana Dinosaur Trail and bird hunting
• Social media carousel ads touting the breadth of experiences and family-focused adventures
• Dedicated landing pages on VISITMT.COM for Eastern Montana activities and bird hunting

Methodologies identified to measure the success of the campaign were as follows:
• Out-of-state visitors tracked via Arrivalist
• Overnight visitation measured by bed tax collection
• Website traffic and site engagement
• Digital ad click-through rates and conversions
• Social ad engagement and conversions

Results:

With a research budget of $35K and a relatively small paid media budget of $250K, the 2019 Eastern Montana campaign was highly successful.
• Delivered 51MM impressions targeting relevant audiences and interests. Paid media drove over 38K website sessions to new Eastern Montana landing pages and increased traffic to existing pages such as the Southeast Montana Trips page which saw a page view increase of 98% YOY.
• During the timeframe of July-September 2019 – the largest quarter for bed tax collections – the two tourism regions that make up Eastern Montana both achieved their highest YOY growth in bed tax collections since 2013-2014. Southeast Montana saw a 3% increase in Q3 bed tax collection YOY, while Missouri River Country increased 6% YOY.
• Eastern Montana Initiative paid marketing efforts assisted in increasing overall tracked arrivals to the region by 17% relative to state’s summer brand campaign.
• Makoshika State Park, a marquee offering located in Eastern Montana, had a record 45K visitors in the June-August 2019 timeframe, with June 2019 being its highest June ever. The park’s paleo experience saw more consistent numbers, with the campground filled almost every night (including middle of the week).
• Social ads targeting the hunting audience resulted in an outstanding 12.94% conversion rate, while native video and display ads led to conversion rates between 4-9%.
• MOTBD allocated more than $1MM to a marketing grant program for communities and organizations in Eastern Montana.

Beyond quantifiable results, the 2019 campaign was valuable in learning more about our target markets and opportunities moving into 2020. Insights derived from our target audience’s online behavior confirmed the potential Eastern Montana visitor has a high interest in history and dinosaurs, and also identified a huge opportunity for stargazing and fall season growth. The data also showed that Wyoming and Washington were high-potential markets. MOTBD used this information to develop an expanded 2020 plan with an increased budget, additional creative elements, influencer activations and a longer duration. Unfortunately, this campaign was cancelled due to COVID-19, but the campaign framework remains, and elements may be reactivated in late summer 2021.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

Its business development plan, with an initiative to improve the economic impact of tourism in specific counties in Eastern Montana and address overcrowding, with both short term and long term goals, was most compelling. I specifically appreciate the listening sessions where they engaged stakeholders throughout the region.

Overall, this campaign was excellent, with a holistic vision, strategy based in both short and long-term needs of spreading economic impact throughout the state, and achieving results. It is clear that the MOTBD understands the power of marketing beyond getting heads in beds but that it is about the well-being of communities, protection of unique cultural heritage and environments. The triple bottom line of people, planet, and prosperity are well-balanced. The program began with the understanding that the sustained growth in visitation was out of balance with dispersal throughout the state, and a research-driven approach helped to spread out the economic impact.