Some marketing thoughts for zoos, aquariums, gardens, and museums
This is a collection of thoughts, quotes and general observations we’ve made over the years.
Spend more on paid social ads than display ads.
Marketing should have a seat at the table when selecting a new ticketing system.
Use your Google Ad Grant to bid on your attraction’s name.
“If it looks like an ad…if the ad agency people like it. I don’t want it.”
If you’re not willing to spend more than 5% of your budget on a tactic, its probably not right for your plan.
Have an influencer highlight taking an Uber to your busy event nights.
The lower the media budget, the higher the percent of spend should be in social.
60% of your ad budget should be run on ‘impactful’ media channels.
As many people are using social media as watching linear TV now. Social is just as much a reach channel as TV is.
Tools like Birdeye.com can help generate more positive Google reviews and deflect negative ones.
You shouldn’t buy Streaming TV the same way you were buying display ads programmatically.
Many nonprofit attraction marketers invest in too many media channels.
Their media budget is ‘spread too thin’ resulting in ineffective investments.
We’ve seen influencers with less than a 1,000 followers sell more tickets than influencers with 100,000 followers.
Google Ad Grants: Create ads about everything you offer.
Don’t utilize multiple DSPs to execute the same programmatic buy.
In social media, there are no minimums ad spends.
And, there’s no one to explain why you shouldn’t spend as low as you might be.
Don’t take away from your Meta budget to add TikTok.
Increase your overall paid social budget.
CPMs have increased quite a bit in social over the last several years.
Don’t let Meta auto-optimize your campaign.
Set budgets for Facebook and Instagram individually.
Secure ‘usage rights’ when working with influencers.
This will allow you to run the video content they created in your TikTok and Instagram campaigns.
Social media is the best channel at supporting all objectives, from awareness to conversion.
Influencer marketing is a powerful tactic for nonprofit attractions.
Look at influencer marketing like you would TV or radio or billboards.
Own your media accounts. Pay the vendor bills.
This ensures complete transparency between you and your partners.
