Mc munn's Digital Marketing Strategy

McMunn’s of Ballybunion Digital Marketing Strategy 1

Project Title: Digital Marketing Strategy for McMunn’s of Ballybunion

Presented by: Shane Hickey

Course: Certificate in Digital Marketing

Module: End of Year Project

Lecturer: Eva Perez

Date: 05/01/2015


Table of Contents

1.0) Executive Summary

2.0) Business Overview

2.1) Ballybunion and its Amenities

3.0) Situational Analysis

4.0) Buyer Persona’s

5.0) Business Objectives, Digital Goals and KPI’s

6.0) Digital Channels

6.10) Owned Media

6.11) Website, SEO & Blog

6.12) Email Marketing

6.13) Twitter

6.20) Paid Media

6.21) Google AdWords

6.22) Display

6.22) Facebook Retargeting

7.0) Measurement

7.1) Google Analytics

8.0) Implementation

8.1) Budget

Bibliography

Appendices


1.0) Executive Summary

The purpose of this paper is to develop a three month digital marketing strategy for

McMunn’s of Ballybunion which is a ten bedroom guesthouse and gastro pub located in

Ballybunion in County Kerry. The digital marketing strategy will run from the start of

January to the end of March 2015.

The business objective of the strategy is to improve the online presence of McMunn’s and

lead to increased numbers of bookings from their website. Given that the business is

seasonal it will also allow them to improve the operations side of the business as they will

know in advance the occupancy of the guesthouse and how to more efficiently allocate

resources such as staff.

A review will be undertaken of McMunn’s current digital footprint. A target audience will be

identified with three separate buyer personas. The strategy will have business objectives,

digital goals, channels and KPI’s and through the use of Google Analytics the success of each

tactic can be measured. A budget will also be produced and an indication of how the

strategy will be implemented.


2.0) Business Overview

There are two elements to the McMunn’s business and in some ways they can be treated as

separate entities. The first of these is the Gastro pub which according to their own website

serves the finest food, wines and whiskeys and all are offered in an Irish pub setting with

open fire and traditional music (McMunns, 2014). The second is the ten en suite rooms

which are located above the pub.

2.1) Ballybunion and its Amenities

Ballybunion is a coastal town and seaside resort located in Kerry on the West Coast of

Ireland. The Ballybunion Golf Club was founded in 1893 and is home to two golf courses the

Old course and the Cashen course both of which are links courses, given that they are

located beside the sea (Ballybunion Golf Club, 2014). The Old course is arguably one of the

most famous links courses in the World and has hosted the Irish Open. Bill Clinton also

played here on one of his visits to Ireland and a statue of the former President has been

erected in the town to mark that occasion (Wikipedia, 2014). Ballybunion is located beside

the Atlantic Ocean and has a blue flag beach.


3.0) Situational Analysis

A situation analysis will be undertaken using a SWOT analysis.

Strengths:

Reasonable presence on Social Media

with 1,247 Facebook likes and 118

Followers on Twitter. Posts and tweets

are frequent.

Functional website with good quality

resolution images.

Ranks well organically on Google with

variations of Ballybunion search queries.

114 restaurant reviews on Trip advisor, 70

of these are Excellent (Tripadvisor, 2014).

Mobile site available although it is an

exact replica of the desktop version.

Website is available in Chinese.

Very good page speed and across desktop

and mobile scoring 80/100 and 79/100

respectively. (Google Page Speed Insights,

2014)

Kerry was the fourth highest visited

county in 2013 with 877,000 tourists

(Failte Ireland, 2013).

In 2014 Ireland saw record breaking levels

of US tourists and a return to increased

visitors from Britain (Independent, 2014).

Weaknesses:

Poor Social Media engagement levels.

No email sign up facility on the website.

No blog.

Form to book a room is a standard HTML

form with no indication of availability or

room rate.

No profile on Executive Chef Greg Ryan.

Restaurant menu only available in

Microsoft Word.

Social media icons need to be listed such

as Google+ and Twitter and Facebook icon

is out of date.

Location map is only available as a PDF

download and not Google Maps.

Improvement needed in the optimisation

of the website as McMunn’s in the

headings, Meta tags and alt images.

No LinkedIn profile.

No Google AdWords or Display spend.

Only 61 backlinks to the site

(Backlinkswatch, 2014).


Opportunities:

Capitalise on the rising tide in overseas

visitor numbers to Ireland in particular

from the US and the UK.

To target Irish tourists given the

popularity of Kerry as a tourist destination

for ‘staycations’ (Infographic Journal,

2014).

Embed Google Analytics on the website to

track visitor numbers and conversions.

Back links could be created from Golf

websites such as ballybuniongolfclub.ie

and irishopengolf.com.

Optimise the website with good title and

heading tags and keyword descriptions to

rank better in Search.

Improve the layout and structure of the

site in particular the bookings section

creating a calendar and booking facility.

Use email marketing to promote, in

particular, the rooms they have, as rooms

provide a much higher margin than food

and beverage.

Add rich content on local amenities and

attractions and a regularly updated blog

with targeted keyword strategy.

Threats:

First impressions last and the McMunn’s

Hotel website needs to improve. The

inability to look at room rates and the fact

you have to download menus and maps

offer a very frustrating user experience.

Bounce rate statistics could be quite high

as an example.

PPC campaigns for the Hotel and Travel

industry can be very expensive as you are

competing with the likes of Bookings.com

and Expedia (AdventurePPC, 2014).

Kerry is the traditional mecca for tourism

in Ireland and as such is an extremely

competitive marketplace in terms of

accommodation. There are 454 places to

stay including hotels, B&B’s and

guesthouses (Bookings.com, 2014).

McMunn’s have no real digital marketing

strategy and are therefore exposed to

losing business to competitors who have a

stronger online presence.

The lack of seasonal opening times of

McMunn’s on the site means they could

be taking bookings they have to turn

down and lead to customer

dissatisfaction.


4.0) Buyer Persona’s

Three buyer personas have been identified for McMunn’s. The reasons for these three

buyers are backed by tourism trends, the product offering of McMunn’s and what

Ballybunion is offering as a tourist destination, all highlighted in previous sections.

Dublin Family

Michael and Joan are from Dublin and are married with two children aged 10 and 8 and live

in a semi-detached house in Clontarf which they bought in 2006. When Michael was

growing up, his family brought him on summer holidays to Kerry every year and this

something he has tried to do as a parent with his own kids. Over the last few years the

family have taken trips to Dingle and Glenbeigh and like to go a new place every year.

Michael is a Sales Director in Vodafone in Dublin and Joan is a primary teacher. They favour

staying in guesthouses near the sea and taking part in family activities. They are very much

the typical “Staycation” Irish family as they bought their family home in the property boom

and have limited disposable income for overseas family holidays. They are both tech savvy

and can be found online in places like Tripadvisor and Discover Ireland. In terms of Social

Media Facebook they are avid Facebook fans, posting all their family photos there.


Retired English Couple

Alan and Laura are a retired couple living in Bath in Somerset in the UK. Alan had his own

furniture business which he sold 2011 for £2 million. They are both in their fifties and love to

spend most of their time travelling. They are both ‘silver surfers’ given that they are very

internet savvy and research all of their trips online. Ireland is one of their favourite spots

particularly the West Coast. They are both Foodies and gastronomy is very much the key

focus of their holidays sampling the best local produce in the areas they visit. They are very

much fans of independently owned boutique style accommodation as oppose to large hotel

chains. They can be found online on sites like the Guardian and the Goodfoodguide.co.uk. In

terms of Social Media they have embraced Twitter and tweet about new restaurants and

menus that they find and love.


American Golfer

Brad is a technology start up founder from Boston in the United States. He is a keen golfer

and does much of his business networking with venture capitalists on the golf course. He is a

member of the famous Brookline Golf and Country Club in Massachusetts which hosted the

1999 Ryder Cup. He has visited Ireland a couple of times courtesy of invitations from the IDA

and is looking to establish a European hub for his business in Dublin. On a recent trip he

read about the Failte Ireland initiative ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ aiming to be the world’s longest

coastal drive. This has captured Brad’s imagination and he is now planning a golf road trip

with his friends where he plans to play the Old Course in Ballybunion and Doonbeg, which

has recently been purchased by his one his business idols Donald Trump. He can be found

online in places such as Forbes.com and the Boston Globe.


5.0) Business Objectives, Digital Goals and KPI’s

The business objectives, digital goals and KPI’s for this three month digital marketing plan

will be outlined using the RACE format listed on the following page.

In order for us to measure the effectiveness of the campaign Google Analytics will be used

to measure the success of each tactic against the relevant KPI.

The overall business objective is to increase conversions. Therefore as the digital marketing

strategy will run for a three month period the business objective will be to increase

conversions by 25% from the period January 1 to March 31 2015 which a greater focus on

room bookings for the summer season of 2015.

There are five main business sub objectives and they can be listed as follows:

Increase awareness of the McMunn’s brand in Ireland, the UK and the USA.

Increase McMunn’s Social Media presence.

Improve content engagement levels.

Increase conversions on the website.

Improve customer retention.


BUSINESSS

OBJECTIVES

DIGITAL GOALS CHANNELS KEY PERFORMANCE

INDICATORS (KPI’S)

REACH Increase Brand

Awareness in Ireland,

UK and USA

Increase Social

Media Presence

Increase Visitor

Numbers

Increase

Followers

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Email

PPC

Increase user sessions by 50%

500 New Facebook followers

100 New Twitter Followers

200 Email signups

5000 Page Impressions

ACT Higher Engagement

Levels

Lower the bounce

rate on Home

page

Increased

Engagement

levels with the

Website

Increased

engagement

levels on Social

Media

Website

PPC

Facebook

Twitter

Email

Reduce Bounce rate by 20%

Increase Page Views per visit by 10%

Increase time spent on site by 25%

15% Engagement per Social Media

Post

Email Engagement 5%

CONVERT Increase Conversions

on Website

Convert new

network of

contacts from

Facebook, Twitter

and Email.

Website

PPC

Facebook

Twitter

Email

50 Direct Conversions

100 Conversion from PPC

50 Conversions from Facebook and

Twitter

50 Conversions from Email


ENGAGE Improve Customer

Retention

Increase repeat

visitor numbers to

the site

Increase numbers

of new visits to

website and

Social Media

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

Email

Increase Email Engagement

Increase Social Media Engagement

Increase repeat visitor numbers to

the website


6.0) Digital Channels

A mix of both owned and paid media will be used with the ambition of generating some

earned media for McMunn’s efforts. The use of free resources that are available to

McMunn’s will be maximised to limit the digital marketing spend while achieving results.

6.10) Owned Media

6.11) Website, SEO & Blog

In terms of the website McMunn’s need to do three key things with the site:

1) Add a reservation page through bookassist which takes a percentage on bookings.

2) Install a free Mailchimp plugin to allow users of the site to subscribe to mail shots.

3) Install a free WordPress blog on the site.

McMunn’s does rank well organically on specific search queries relating to Ballybunion but

does not rank well on more general search queries relating to Kerry which overseas visitors

may look for. In the short term PPC campaigns can be used for keywords that McMunn’s

don’t rank well on. In the longer term a blog on those same keywords will improve SEO.

“Golf in Ballybunion” (Listed on Page One) “Hotels in Kerry” (Not on Page One)

“Gastro pub in Kerry” (Listed on Page One) “Holidays in Kerry” (Not on Page One)

“Restaurants in Ballybunion” (Listed on

Page One)

“Golf in Kerry” (Not on Page One)

“Guesthouses in Ballybunion” (Not on Page

One)

“Accommodation in Kerry” (Not on Page

One)


McMunn’s can improve optimisation in the following area’s to have an improved ranking:

Improve keywords in the title tag, heading tags and Meta tags.

Include keywords in URL’s which at the moment are non-existent with a breadcrumb

structure.

Include an XML Site Map.

The site has lots of images but is low on content and is not regularly updated. A blog

is a free and easy way to use keyword targeting to improve on SEO. Sample blog

posts can include “Golfing in Kerry” and “Food Tourism in Ireland”.

Improved Google+ presence to improve SEO and feature on local listings. For

example they do not list locally on guesthouses in Ballybunion.

6.12) Email Marketing

At the moment McMunns do not have an email sign up on their website. This function

needs to be created at the website and can also be collected from guests when they check

in to the Hotel. CTR on email marketing in the hotel industry is around 9% (Aro, 2014).

The importance of email marketing in the Hotel industry cannot be underestimated and is

an effective way of targeting customers who have expressed genuine interest in your

product and have explicitly stated they want to be contacted by you.

The list needs to be grown organically as oppose to purchasing an email database.

Mailchimp can also be used to promote interaction with the Blog posts on the site.


Mailchimp will then be used to email these clients using the A/B Split Campaign method

which will allow to test effectiveness of campaign running concurrently:

Subject Line Group A: 5 must do things in Kerry

Subject Line Group B: 5 must see places in Kerry.

6.13) Twitter

According to IPSOS MRBI 29% of Irish people have a Twitter account with 38% of those using

it daily so it is a very important medium, second only behind Facebook (IPSOS MRBI, 2014).

In the case of McMunns, Twitter will be used for three purposes:

To act as a listening post so see what customers are tweeting in relation to

McMunn’s so they can respond to both positive and negative tweets.

To promote the blog postings on the website generating pillars of conversation and

linking to tourism organisations that McMunn’s follow.

To continue to tweet about events and offers from McMunns with improved

engagement levels.

Twitter can also generate earned media when users share and retweet content that has

been posted.

For examples of tweets see Appendix A.


6.20) Paid Media

6.21) Google AdWords

Google AdWords will be used as a two week Pay per Click campaign in January targeted at

attracting customers looking for information on holidays and golfing in Kerry. Google

Analytics will allow accurate measurement of the Click through Rate (CTR) from this

campaign.

Research was carried put using the Google Keyword Planner to get information on the

keywords and suggested keywords that could be used in the campaign. A mix of exact,

broad and phrase match within each ad group will be used. Negative keywords will also be

used to ensure the campaign is highly targeted and effective.

There will be a strong focus on getting a Quality Score of 10 with each advert to reduce the

CPC. Please see Appendix B and C for Keywords and Sample Ad’s for each Ad Group.

Campaign: Campaign Level

Negative Keywords

AD Group Keywords

Dublin Family Cork

Five Star

Celebrity

Michelin Star

Dublin

Kerry Holidays ‘Holidays in Kerry’

[Holidays in Kerry]

+Holidays +Kerry

‘Wild Atlantic Way’

+Wild Atlantic Way

American Golfer Northern Ireland

Rory McLlroy

Graham McDowell

Old Head Kinsale

Portmarnock

Royal County Down

Golf in Ireland [Golf in Ireland]

‘Golf in Ireland’

+Golf +Ireland

[Golf in Ballybunion]

‘Golf in Ballybunion’

+Golf +Ballybunion


6.22) Display

We will use Display through the Google Display Network targeting pages where the Buyers

Personas are spending time online. We will also use the suggested sites from within the

Display Network and an example of this can be seen in Appendix D.

Campaign: Ad Group Ad’s

Retired English Couple Placements:

www.the goodfoodguide.co.uk

www.theguardian.com

Other suggested sites from

within AdWords

2 x Text Ad’s

2 x Display Ad’s

6.23) Facebook Organic, Paid and Retargeting.

Facebook is by far the largest Social Media platform in Ireland with current user levels

estimated at 2.25 million according to recent research (Irish Independent, 2014). McMunns

are effectively using Facebook but could improve on the engagement levels on their organic

posts. The use of Facebook Edgerank will give us better insights into post performance.

Sponsored adverts can be used to target buyer personas such as golfers in the USA.

Facebook Retargeting will also be used for users who have been on the McMunn’s website

and have not converted once the bookassist reservation option has been embedded on the

site. Targeted buyer personas will be the Dublin Family who visited the site but did not

book. Please see Appendix E and F for Sponsored and Retargeting Adverts respectively.

http://www.theguardian.com/


7.0) Measurement

Key to the whole Digital Marketing strategy will be the use of Analytics to measure the

tactics against their relevant KPI’s that have been set out in the plan. We will use both

Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to track conversions and developer deeper

understandings of our Buy Persona’s.

7.1) Google Analytics

First and foremost GA will be embedded on each page of the McMunn’s website. The code

will be generated from setting up a GA account and then pasting the GA code into the

header of the site.

We will also use the Audience Overview element of GA to add details to our Buyer Persona’s

collecting information on demographics, interest’s, geographic location and also the devices

that they are using to access the site through.

One of the most important elements of GA is that it allows us to set up goals on our website

so that we can effectively create a funnel that we would like our customers to journey

through. Goal conversions that we set up on the site will be both revenue and content

related.


Top levels goals will be as follows:

Increase Bookings (Revenue Goal)

Email Signups (Revenue Goal)

Content Engagement Time (Content Goal)

We will also use the Campaign feature in GA so that we can effectively measure the success

of each of our digital strategies. Google AdWords is already synchronised with Google

Analytics but for other campaigns such as Display and Email we will first generate the URL

from URL Builder and then create the campaign on GA so that we can clearly see the

performance of the activity. We can then use Bitly to shorten the URL’s so that they are

more pleasing on the eye for prospective customers.


The following is an example of an email campaign for the “5 Must do Things in Kerry” that

we are going to send out through Mailchimp. First of all we can create the Campaign URL:

We have also used the Campaign content labelling system to reflect the A/B Testing that we

are going to carry out with each campaign to see which produces the most conversions so

we can adapt our campaigns going forward. We can then paste this URL into to tidy up the

URL and hide the source code which can be off putting to some users.


8.0) Implementation

A digital marketing degree graduate will be hired under the Job Bridge scheme for 3 months

to implement the strategy. They can be based anywhere in Ireland and work remotely.

8.1) Budget

A budget of €600 has been secured for the three month strategy. The focus of the budget

will be very much on prospecting with a 70/30 split between prospecting and retention in

terms of spend. A concerted effort will be made across all channels to reduce cost so for

example in the area of PPC we will endeavour to get high quality scores in AdWords to

reduce CPC. There will be a strong focus on utilising free resources which are available

including owned media such as SEO, Blog and Email.

January February March Total: Hours

Website €240 €240 0

SEO In House 12

Blog In House 12

Email In House 12

Facebook Organic Organic Organic In House 18

Twitter Organic Organic Organic In House 18

FB Retargeting €60 €60 €120 6

PPC €120 €120 12

Display €40 €40 €40 €120 12

Totals: €400 €100 €100 €600 102


Bibliography

McMunn’s (2014) ‘McMunn’s’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.mcmunns.com/index2.htm [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Ballybunion Golf Club (2014) ‘The Club’ Available from:

http://www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie/the-club/ [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Wikipedia (2014) ‘Wikipedia’ [Online] Available from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballybunion [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Tripadvisor (2014) ‘Tripadvisor’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g212527-d1552131-i94660004-

McMunns_Restaurant-Ballybunion_County_Kerry.html [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Google (2014) ‘Page Speed Insights’ [Online] Google PageSpeed Insights Available from:

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Failte Ireland (2013) ‘Regional Tourism Performace 2013’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_

Insights/2_Regional_SurveysReports/Regional-tourism-performance-in-2013.pdf?ext=.pdf

[Accessed 15th December 2014]

Anderson N. (2013) ‘Tourism industry to create 8,000 jobs in 2015 generating billions in

revenue’ [Online] Irish Independent 15th December 2014 Available from:

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/tourism-industry-to-create-8000-jobs-in-2015-

generating-billions-in-revenue-30838010.html [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Backlinkwatch (2014) ‘Backlink watch’ [Online] Backlinkwatch Available from:

www.backlinkwatch.com [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Inforgraphic Journal (2014) ‘An insight into the Irish staycation’ [Online] Available from:

http://infographicjournal.com/an-insight-into-the-irish-staycation/ [Accessed 15th

December 2014]

http://www.mcmunns.com/index2.htm

http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/2_Regional_SurveysReports/Regional-tourism-performance-in-2013.pdf?ext=.pdf

http://www.failteireland.ie/FailteIreland/media/WebsiteStructure/Documents/3_Research_Insights/2_Regional_SurveysReports/Regional-tourism-performance-in-2013.pdf?ext=.pdf

http://www.backlinkwatch.com/


Adventure Media Group (2014) ‘Adventureppc’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.adventureppc.com/most-expensive-adwords-2014/ [Accessed 15th December

2014]

Bookings (2014) ‘Bookings’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.booking.com/region/ie/kerry.html [Accessed 15th December 2014]

Ipsos MRBI (2014) ‘Social Networking Quarterly August 2014 Q3’ [Online] Available from:

http://www.ipsosmrbi.com/social-networking-quarterly-survey-aug-14.html [Accessed 15th

December 2014]

Robson F (2014) ‘Consulting, Email Marketing, Email Media The importance of E-Media’

[Online] Aro Blog June 2nd Available from: http://www.aro.ie/2014/2/6/Email-Media/

[Accessed 15th December 2014]

Weckler A. (2013) ‘Irish are the biggest Facebook users in English speaking world’ [Online]

Irish Independent 18th September 2013 Available from:

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/irish-are-the-biggest-facebook-users-in-

englishspeaking-world-29587083.html [Accessed 15th December 2014]


Appendix A (Sample Tweets)


Appendix B (AD Group “Kerry Holiday”)


Appendix C (AD Group “Golf in Ireland”)


Appendix D (Ad Group “Placements”)


Appendix E (Facebook Sample Sponsored Advert)


Appendix E (Facebook Sample Retargeting Advert)

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