Case Study: Dunes Village Facebook Advertising Campaign

Situation & Objective

The Dunes Village Resort is a popular property in Myrtle Beach, SC. It is consistently full between Memorial Day and Labor Day but has plenty of availability during the quieter months. The property wanted to use Facebook advertising to promote the Dunes Village brand and room availability, as well as to increase direct bookings throughout the hotel’s off-season (January-February).

The objective was to create awareness of the brand and current specials in the off-season months for Dunes Village Resort. And to increase direct bookings during January through February.

Target Audience

We opted to re-target website visitors within a 30-day period with a list size below 1,000, while also targeting vacationers living in surrounding South Carolina states (New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama). We excluded vacationers within a 25-mile radius of Myrtle Beach.

We also narrowed our target by focusing on men and women aged 22-25, interested in Myrtle Beach vacations, family vacations, visiting Myrtle Beach, and behaviors including frequent travelers.

Research & Planning

We researched vacationer behavior and interests in the surrounding areas in order to come up with an appropriate audience to market to.

We also created several headlines, images, and ad copy to test dynamically so that we could implement the best-performing ad.

Message & Implementation

We focused the messaging on price-point, unique amenities, and guaranteed lowest rate for booking direct.

Dunes Village offered over 25% savings with the lowest rates guaranteed. Their differentiators included their indoor water park (open all year round) and King Suites available for $59/night in January-February.

Results

All goals for the Dunes Village Facebook Campaign were met or exceeded with increases across-the-board.