Bayou City Tri-Series Digital Ad Campaign

The Challenge:

In March 2021, Bayou City Tri-Series, a triathlon event company based out of the Houston area, contacted Delicious Digital Marketing to help increase registrants for their upcoming Sylvan Beach Race event. During COVID, most triathlons were canceled, and BCTS was given the green light by the city of Houston to proceed with a triathlon at the end of May. Client insights told the team that registration was low because many runners were skeptical that the race would be held.

The client had a secondary problem. They had to reach a minimum number of registrants, 500 registrants, to at least break even. If Delicious Digital's marketing team did not meet that goal, the company would have to shut down the business due to COVID restraints and the financial impact of the previous year. So, the team was very motivated to save this company.

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The Solution: A Compounding Digital Ad Strategy

Delicious Digital developed a strategic digital advertising plan that incorporated social media ads and Google search ads. The budget for this digital advertising campaign was $3,500.

The team used lookalike audiences, past registrant data, and an email subscriber list to establish the right target market for the social media ads. Delicious Digital implemented the language “We are back” and “feel confident in racing again” to establish credibility and reassurance in runners.

For the Google search ads, the team saw an excellent opportunity to target the keywords like “triathlons,” “triathlons near me,” etc. There was a high search volume but no Google Ads running from competitor companies due to the lack of triathlon events being held. The Google search ads focused on the Texas region to narrow in on potential runners for the local Houston race.

The Focus:

• Increase brand and event awareness
• Increase traffic to the Bayou City Tri Series website
• Grow race registrants

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The Results: 248% Increase in Registrants

Delicious Digital's strategic advertising plan ran for 60 days before the Sylvan Beach race. Before the marketing efforts started, Sylvan Beach had 282 registrants; registration was open for one month before the team took over marketing.

At the end of 60 days, the registrant total was 980, gaining almost 700 registrants since the beginning of marketing, making it a 248% increase in registrants and 96% increase above the goal. With a significantly low marketing budget and a high revenue mark, the return on ad spend was a 2471.43% increase.

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