Full Marketing Planning
We started with their old website, a website that had not been updated for over a decade. It was in drastic need of modernization. The previous version was not very mobile friendly and lack of any content updates also meant it was falling out of favour with Google. The website was our starting point, and then we discussed what should follow. The situation Honker Heaven was facing was that they had never fully recovered the lost business from the Covid years. Previously strong re-booking and referrals from clients were the source of filling out the hunt calendar. They were in need of more than that, they needed a plan.
We sat down and got to work. With little in the way of organic traffic, we had two goals in mind.
1. Generate short terms website traffic increase to help drive leads for the upcoming fall waterfowl hunting season.
2. Rebuild the sources of organic traffic for improved performance long term.
Website
The website development followed our process. We put together a few sample designs, showed them to the client, and they picked the same one we liked the best. We choose to develop the new website (see honkerheaven.com") using WordPress as the client had indicate that they would like the ability to do future content updates themselves.
Google Ads
With a new website in the plans, showcasing their business to a better standard, working properly on all devices, we next needed the short term traffic boost. The choice was clear, Google Ads for a short term campaign pre-fall season. Within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead to set this up, we had an active campaign targeting USA based goose and duck hunters. When the season starts, we will pause the campaign, then restart for the "looking and booking" season of American Thanksgiving through January.
Newsletters
To capitalize on the nearly 2 decades of outfitting business, we are planning to produce update newsletters during the hunt season and send to the list of all current and past clients. Showing what's happening in the central Saskatchewan flyway is a sure fire way to create the sensation of anticipation among those who are booked to hunt and the sensation of missing out among those who are not. Plus, waterfowl hunter know other waterfowl hunters. We are giving them a piece of content, the newsletters, in an easy to pass along format.
Social Media
Hunters in their target demographic are heavy social media users. The primary platform is Facebook. Honker Heaven already has a Facebook account, but it is underutilized and ad hoc. We are developing a 52 week social media calendar which we will kick off approximately 1 month before the start of the coming season.
New Content Development
A mentioned above, the new content on the old site has suffered from a lack of updates and has gone stale. We will utilize a bank of images and video they have collected over the more recent years to update the site. then, during the hunt season, we will spend some time on site, gathering raw content, images, b-roll video, activities around camp and in the field plus interviews with their hunters and the outfitters. From this we will work the raw content into a number of finished content pieces in our content cluster approach. The resulting YouTube videos, blogs, testimonials, etc. have proven extremely valuable in attracting new sources of traffic and are strong evidence of what the Honker Heaven Waterfowl Hunting Experience will be.
New Online Trip Booking System
Then, to top it all off, we are working to deploy our new online trip booking and payment system we are just rolling out to the market. OutBookX will allow hunters on the Honker Heaven Outfitters site to view hunt schedule openings, book available trips, and pay their deposit online to secure their booking.
Utilizing the Tourism Sask. M.E.P.P.
To aid in the financials of the Marketing Plan, we helped Honker Heaven Outfitters apply to the Tourism Saskatchewan Marketing and Events Partnership Program. When the approval came, this gave them the financial resources (along with their own contributions) to execute the plan.