Entries are now open for the ‘DGiT Do It’ grant programme, which gives tourism operators the chance to win one of two $3000 (+GST) grants for a customised digital marketing campaign aimed at expanding their domestic market.
Now running for the second year, the marketing package consists of $2000 campaign advice and support from marketing agency Tomahawk and $1000 to spend on online marketing. The successful applicant will be required to contribute at least $700 (+GST).
The grants are being provided by Tourism Industry Aotearoa, in partnership with Tomahawk and the Domestic Tourism Working Group.
Interested? You can apply for the DGiT grant programme here.
What is DGiT?
DGiT is an innovative online tool to help tourism operators boost the value they get from domestic tourism. It identifies which Kiwi leisure travellers businesses should target, when they want to visit, their motivation for travel, what else they want to do on their trip, and their preferred type of accommodation. This information is gold for tourism operators wanting to expand their domestic market make the most of their marketing dollars by clearly identifying the target market and how to effectively reach them.
DGiT is the first initiative from TIA’s Domestic Tourism Working Group, and it’s free and easy to use. There’s a how-to video, a FAQ, and plenty of tools to get businesses using their DGiT data.
Successful increase in sales for previous winner Shantytown Heritage Park
One of last year’s winners, Shantytown Heritage Park, used the DGiT tool to identify key markets they could attract. Their subsequent digital campaign saw them grow their online sales by well over 200%.
Shantytown had previously relied on traditional mediums like radio and newspaper to advertise their park, but the DGiT tool revealed their target market, families from the Canterbury region, was more likely to be reached online. DGiT also revealed the best time to target this market, and what tools they were using to research their trips.
With the help of Tomahawk and DGiT, Shantytown Heritage Park launched their first ever digital campaign, creating a family package that they promoted using social media and Google Adwords, as well as making an optimised campaign landing page to drive traffic to their website.
The result of this digital advertising was an increase in online sales by 234% for the months of September to October, compared to the same period last year. Their revenue via online sales increased by 279% for the same months.
Nickelle Egan, Shantytown Heritage Park Marketing and Event Manager, said the results speak for themselves.
“The team at Shantytown have had an early start to the peak season and we believe this is all thanks to TIA and the brilliant team at Tomahawk. Gina, Renee and the team delivered well beyond our expectations in terms of communication, technical support and marketing advice, in addition to managing our digital advertising campaign.
“DGiT provided us with the foundation to build our campaign. It gave us the information on who would be interested in our product, where they would come from and how to reach them – all of which we believe contributed to the successful results of our campaign.”
