Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 1

Lough Erne Digital Marketing Audit

Presented by Shane Hickey

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 2

Digital Footprint

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 3

www.lougherneresort.com

User Friendliness:

The site is very easy to read, follow and navigate through.

Images:

Images are bright with good resolution. Includes iconic photographs including G8

Summit and Rory Mcllroy photographs.

URL:

The website just has a .com domain.

Structure:

The landing page has a number of features and

options as well as a prominent online booking

option.

Content:

There is a wide range of content on the site with information on what the hotel offers in

terms of its facilities, specification of the hotel and its rooms, location, gallery of images

and online booking facility.

There is also a newsletter available so that you can receive regular updates on a variety of

the hotels services. There are a number of other sections including careers and public

relations as well as a sitemap for the website.

Languages:

The website and newsletter are

currently only available in English .

Links:

There are 88 links to the website

Source: www.alexa.com.

Keywords:

Hotel facilities and luxury.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 4

The Lough Erne Resort Facebook page has 8,407 likes with 56 people talking about this.

The Page is liked by International Golf Celebrities including Darren Clarke, Nick Faldo, Grae-

me McDowell and Rory Mcllroy and International Golfing groups such as the Masters and

the European Tour.

Tourism boards that like the page include discoverireland.ie, Discover Northern Ireland,

Discover Ireland GB and Tourism Ireland.

The page is also liked by local food and drink companies such as Belleek Pottery and

Bushmills Irish Whiskey and local and International media including the Ulster Tattler, TV3

and Conde Nast Johnansens.

They also have other Facebook pages such as Lough Erne Hotel and Lough Erne Golf Resort

Which have 994 likes and 1,126 likes respectively.

Lough Erne use Facebook to update

followers with regard to promotions

and offers including:

Hen and Stag parties (see the

Advert)

Weddings

Special Event Menu's such as

Mothers Day and Christmas.

Golf Tournaments

Special Offers

Events that are being hosted.

Competitions

Photographs.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 5

The following list is a breakdown of the nationality of the Lough Erne Facebook

followers. The greatest majority are from the UK with 79% and Ireland coming a very

distant second on 15.5%. The combination of these two figures show that 94.5% of

the followers are from these two countries suggesting that on Facebook the

company has practically no International following.

# Country Local Fans % of Fan Base

1 United Kingdom 6643 79.0 %

2 Ireland 1302 15.5 %

3 United States 121 1.4 %

4 Australia 60 0.7 %

5 Germany 23 0.3 %

6 Italy 15 0.2 %

7 India 13 0.2 %

8 Spain 13 0.2 %

9 Canada 12 0.1 %

10 Greece 10 0.1 % Source: Socialbakers.com

In comparison to their competitors, such as the

K Club, who only have 1,470 likes this evidence would

suggest Lough Erne are doing a very good job on

Facebook . Fota Island though, another competitor

have 32,065 likes and 1,761 talking about them.

Therefore we can say that Lough Erne are effectively

using Facebook but could do more on this platform.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 6

Lough Erne Resort ranks very well through the Organic Search in Google.ie The

following terms were introduced and this is how they listed.

Term: Ranking:

“Hotels in Northern Ireland” 4th on Page One

“5 Star Hotels in Ireland” 3rd on Page One

“Luxury Hotels in Ireland” 2nd on Page One

Weddings in Ireland Not ranked on Page One

Weddings in Northern Ireland 2nd on Page One

Spa breaks in Northern Ireland 2nd on Page One

Spa breaks in Ireland Not ranked on Page One

Golf Breaks in Northern Ireland 3rd on Page One

Golf Breaks in Ireland Not ranked on Page One

Best restaurants in Northern Ireland Ranked 9th on Page One

The resort has very good Search Engine Optimisation through Google resulting in a very

high natural ranking on Page One for generic searches including the terms luxury, five star

and Hotels in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Observations would also include that the company lists very well with searches that relate

to Northern Ireland and the various activities at the hotel but this is not reflected when

searching for these activities with the word “Ireland”.

Their events such as Golf, Weddings and Spa are also well promoted as is their Restaurant.

Hen and Stag weekends which are promoted through Facebook are not promoted through

Search.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 7

Term: Ranking: Adwords:

“Hotels in Northern Ireland” Not ranked on Page One Yes

“5 Star Hotels in Ireland” Not ranked on Page One No

“Luxury Hotels in

Northern Ireland”

4th on Page One Yes

“Weddings in Ireland” Not ranked on Page One No

“Weddings in Northern Ire-

land”

Not ranked on Page One No

“Spa breaks in Northern

Ireland”

Not ranked on Page One Yes

“Golf Breaks in Northern

Ireland”

Not ranked on Page One Yes

Lough Erne Resort ranks very well through the Organic Search in Google.co.uk

Although not as well as their SEO in Google.ie.

The observation is that Lough Erne resort spend heavily on Adwords within

Google.co.uk to ensure they list on key searches where they do not list

organically.

Examples of this can be see in the above table with the following search terms

“Hotels in Northern Ireland” and “Spa breaks in Northern Ireland” and

“Golf Breaks in Northern Ireland” .

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 8

Youtube has over 1 billion unique visitors monthly and is the second largest search

engine after Google.

Source: socialmediatoday.com

There are 815 videos which have been posted on YouTube relating to the search

“Lough Erne Resort” although there are 5,510 videos under the search

“Lough Erne” with much of this focusing on the lakes and angling.

Mount Juliet have 24,700 results when you search “Mount Juliet” and Fota Island

Have 1,850 videos under the search term “Fota Island”.

The observation would be that Lough Erne Resort are underutilising this incredibly

Powerful search engine and this is an area that could be targeted in future digital

marketing strategies in terms of broadcasting video of this resort to the world.

There are now over 1 billion users

with Google+ enabled accounts .

Source: jeffbullas.com

Lough Erne Resort have a presence

On G+ but with very limited photos,

information and no videos.

Lough Erne Resort have 2 followers

with 4,485 views although Fota

Island has 36 followers but with

18,029 views.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit 9

Lough Erne Resort are listed on Twitter under a

Number of different hashtags including:

@LoughErneResort (2,670 followers, 162 following)

@G8LoughErne (1,424 followers, 19 following)

@LoughErneGolf (38 Followers, 55 following)

Competitor brands include the following:

@mountjuliet (10.1k followers, 5,521 following)

@fotaisland (7,002 followers, 2,050 following)

The observation from the statistics would be that Lough Erne Resort are under using

Twitter as a platform to communicate with both current and prospective customers.

We can see this not only in the number of followers they have, Mount Juliet have over

10,000 followers compared to the 2,670 followers that Lough Erne has but also in the

Tweet Activity.

Wonderful day and round of #golf at the very beautiful

#LoughErneResort #Luxury @Shanehickey2

@MountJuliet has tweeted over 7,031 times versus the 205 tweets that have been sent

out from @LoughErneResort.

Given that Twitter has an estimated current following of 550 million users, albeit not at

the estimated levels of Facebook which has 1.2 billion users, it has to be taken very

seriously as a marketing tool and this is something that Lough Erne are failing to do.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

SWOT Analysis

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Strengths

Close to St. Angelo Private Jet airport.

The resort has five Heli pads to

accommodate arrival by Helicopter.

Excellent facilities including and

Authentic Thai Spa and 6 Conference

and Meeting Rooms.

Superb Dining facilities run by

Acclaimed chef Noel McMeel.

120 Bed 5 Star Hotel with 66 Golf Lodges on its very own 600 acre peninsula in

Lough Erne.

Hosted the G8 Summit in 2013.

Only 5 Star Golf Hotel in Northern Ireland and one of only four 5 Star Hotels in

Northern Ireland.

Award winning Hotel including Best Hotel at the 2011 Northern Ireland

Tourism Awards.

Two Championship Golf Courses including Faldo course designed by six time Major

winner Nick Faldo.

Hotel has been endorsed by International sports stars such as Rory McLlroy.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Weaknesses

The Lough Erne Resort is currently in

administration and this is being managed by

KPMG. The administrators will not have the

same affinity and passion for the business as

an owner would have and this could affect

business performance.

The resort is around two hours from

Dublin and Belfast airport which could be

argued that it is a negative in terms of ease of

access.

The website and newsletter are only in

English which damages their ability to attract

customers from Asia, the Middle East and

Spanish speaking countries.

The five star golf hotel is an extremely

competitive industry in Ireland with

Internationally recognised competitors

such as Adare Manor, Mount Juliet, the K Club

and Doonbeg Lodge, which was recently

bought by Donald Trump.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Opportunities

Target the hosting of International Golf events such as the hosting of the

Ryder Cup, the Irish Open and the EurAsia Cup. The 2012 Ryder Cup in Medinah was

estimated to be worth €150 million to the local economy in Chicago.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-19726313

Target American tourists of with 1 million of them visiting Ireland in 2013

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/tourism-numbers-up-7-

as-the-gathering-exceeds-expectations-1.1630842

Target the hosting of International political and diplomatic summits such as EU

Conferences and United Nations summits.

Target International fishing tourism coming to Ireland. Current Irish angling market

valuation is €750 million. Source: fisheriesireland. ie

Target high profile celebrity weddings. Wayne and Colleen Rooney’s wedding

Was estimated to cost £5 million.

Target International business conferences and Tourism from Asia and the Middle East

by having the website translated to languages such as Chinese where there is huge

demand for luxury brands and increasing International tourism. Source: KPMG

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Threats

Ireland and the UK have endured a very difficult recession and although both

countries economies are starting to grow and there is very little economic and

employment certainty which is affecting consumer confidence.

A large number of hotels in Ireland were forced into NAMA as a result of their

holding companies going into administration. This coupled with the high levels of

supply in terms of hotel rooms per head of capita has resulted in extreme pressure

in terms of the price of hotel rooms.

Deal websites such as Groupon have resulted in the eroding of margin within the

hotel industry with consumers now looking for luxury accommodation at economy

style prices.

The five star golf hotel is an extremely competitive industry in Ireland with

Internationally recognised competitors such as Adare Manor, Mount Juliet, the K

Club , Fota Island and Doonbeg Lodge, which was recently bought by Donald

Trump.

The wedding market has been affected by economic conditions with couples

waiting longer to get married and spending less on their reception which is bad

news for top end resorts like Lough Erne.

Source: http://www.mrs2be.ie/wedding-business/irish-wedding-survey-2013/

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

PEST Analysis Political:

Northern Ireland has had a devolved Government since 2007 and this political

stability coupled with the Peace Process has effectively ended sectarian violence.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland#Peace_process

Improved political relations with the Republic of Ireland have seen improved visitor

numbers from the south and joint marketing efforts promoting the Island of Ireland.

Economic:

After a difficult last few economic years the UK

economy is expected to grow by 2.8% in 2014

according to the British Chamber of Commerce.

Source:http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26504691

Northern Ireland tourism is targeted to hit £1 billion by 2020.

Source: http://www.detini.gov.uk/ni_tourism_20100308-4.pdf

In 2013 8 million overseas tourists visited the Republic generating €3.64 billion

Source: http://www.tourismireland.com/Home!/About-Us/Press-Releases/2014/

Tourism-Ireland-Welcomes-8-2-Growth-in-Overseas.aspx

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Social:

How we as a society have embraced the digital era has had a profound impact on

how we review and book our travel and accommodation experience. The consumer

is now extremely well informed, has access to a wide variety of booking mechanisms

over a variety of platforms and will post their experiences online after their stay.

Technology:

Technology is dynamic in the digital era and this therefore presents both

opportunities and challenges within the Hotel industry. Trends indicate an explosion

in Ecommerce through the smartphone. In Ireland over 1.6 million people own a

Smartphone.

Source: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/over-16m-irish-people-now-use-

smartphones-229121.html

Search engines Yandex in China and

Baidu in Russia are experiencing

exponential growth where Google have

difficulties operating.

Cisco expects 3.4 billion Internet users in

four years, equivalent to 45% of the world

population. Source: Cisco.com

Globalisation has led to increasing levels of

Tourism and it is now one of the fastest

growing and largest industries in the world.

In 2010, 940 million people were recorded

as tourists with the industry valued at $919

billion dollars.

Source: World Tourism Organisation

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Philip and Gloria:

Philip is a retired property developer and lives in Irvinestown

which is only a short drive from Lough Erne. He and his wife

are both in their early seventies. His wife Gloria has never

worked. They have three children who all are married and live

in England. He has been an avid golfer all his life. He and his

wife are members of Lough Erne golf resort and play golf

there most weekends. They regularly attend social events in

the Clubhouse and dine regularly with friends there.

Buyer Personas

Adam and Laura:

Adam and Laura are an engaged couple originally from

Hollwood in Co. Down. They are both in the their mid thirties

and they work in the City in Belfast. Adam is an investment

banker and Laura is a solicitor. They are both from wealthy

Protestant Backgrounds and met at Queens University. They

will marry this summer in Lough Erne Resort and honeymoon

in French Polynesia.

Emily:

Emily is from Dublin and is in her late twenties. She is single

and works as a Pharmacist. She has high disposable income

and likes to treat herself with regular weekend getaways with

herself and her single girlfriends. They recently had a

weekend break at the five star Monart spa in Wexford. She

has booked a spa break at the authentic Thai Spa in Lough

Erne for the Easter weekend.

Lough Erne Resort Digital Marketing Audit

Digital Summary

Website and SEO:

Lough Erne resort have a very good website with excellent SEO and spend heavily on

Google Adwords promoting the resort and its facilities through Google.co.uk.

Social Media:

Lough Erne is doing a reasonable job in terms of Social Media marketing. They are not

head of the pack but they are far from being late adopters either. They have a good pres-

ence on Facebook and Twitter but have failed to embrace emerging platforms such as

Google+ and YouTube.

Target Buyer Personas:

Lough Erne from the research seems to be heavily reliant on the UK and Ireland as their

two principal markets. They have a fantastic product which has International recognition

From hosting such events as the G8 summit. They also have the Faldo Championship gold

course so I believe their digital marketing needs to take much more of an International fo-

cus.

New buyer personas could include Asian tourists particularly those from China where there

is an increasing demand for luxury goods and International tourism. This can be achieved

by translating the website into Chinese, affiliate marketing in Asia and Paid advertising in

Baidu, Chinas largest search engine.

Lough Erne also need to capitalise on the success of Northern Irish golfers such as Darren

Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory Mcllroy to target the American golf tourist. Lough Erne

has a fantastic golf product and coupled with luxury accommodation. Marketing initiatives

could include sponsorship of American PGA tour events and increased use of YouTube golf

tutorials.

Given the success of the G8 summit they could lobby Irish and UK politicians and civil serv-

ants to use Lough Erne as host venue for political conferences and events. This could be

achieved through targeted Facebook and Twitter campaigns.