Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Our target audience over indexes on magazine readership, particularly for travel inspiration. But St. Pete-Clearwater is a vibrant region with a robust and diverse offering that can’t be fully captured in a single-page ad. So we anchored our tourism effort with a long-form publication that optimized both design and utility to increase interest in traveling to St. Pete-Clearwater.
Now in its 11th year, the magazine had two specific objectives:
- Target and inspire out-of-market audiences to consider St. Pete-Clearwater for their next trip.
- Provide in-market visitors with a comprehensive guide to navigate and make the most of their vacation.
Success would be measured through a survey, delivered through a reader response card and incentivized with a sweepstakes to win a trip to the destination. Our goal was to optimize reach? and meet or exceed the magazine’s prior year benchmarks for likelihood of recommending and visiting among readers.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
The glossy 116-page Gulf to Bay Destination Magazine employed a strategic content and distribution strategy to achieve our goals:
-Maximized targeted reach
The magazine was inserted into The New York Times and local publications in key feeder markets, reaching an out-of-market audience with high visit potential. Copies were distributed at targeted tradeshows, events and Tampa Bay airport and visitor centers, where in-market visitors were likely to be. Finally, lookalike modeling against past guide requests drove a social media campaign for both in- and out-of-market targets.
The result was 395,000 distributed copies at an efficient $0.20 per magazine. And with 92% of survey respondents saying they read the magazine and 98% of readers satisfied with its content, we knew we had reached a highly relevant and targeted audience.
-Increased interest in the destination
With stunning images, a fold-out map, and a poster made from 7900 local photos, the magazine captivated our target, prompting readers to say “The photos made me wish I was flying there today!”, “I hadn’t considered traveling to Clearwater prior to the magazine but the publication makes it VERY appealing.”
A “Best of St. Pete-Clearwater” section included authentic recommendations voted on by locals and visitors, adding to the planning mindset of potential travelers. For example, a reader commented “It’s been a few years since I’ve visited the area.The magazine gave me reasons to return for a visit. Most importantly, of the 1900+ readers that submitted a survey, 85% were extremely likely to recommend our destination to family and friends, and 56% were very likely to visit in the next 12 months (up from 81% and 53% respectively in 2023). With 76% of readers agreeing the Magazine was important to their travel planning, this publication was a “pleasant surprise,” “just what the doctor ordered,” a “great magazine,” proving to be highly effective in promoting the beauty and appeal of our destination.
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
While the publication was not intended to be a direct sales piece, its influence on visitation was tremendous. 56% of readers reported they were very likely to visit St. Pete-Clearwater in the next 12 months, and only 34% had already decided to visit before receiving the magazine. That meant 22% of Gulf to Bay recipients, or 86,900 likely visits could be attributed to the magazine. With each visitor contributing an average of $400 in spend, that meant the magazine had the potential to drive $35 million in visitor spend.
The total investment for production, distribution and research for the publication was $1.2 million, so the estimated ROI of this effort was an amazing 28:1.
Entry Title
Gulf to Bay Destination Magazine
Division
Advertising - Print Collateral