CMON finds first-time visitors with geofencing campaigns

It all starts with a little understanding

In this fast-paced world, it’s tempting to run the first marketing campaign that comes to mind. But effective strategies begin by deciding where to invest efforts. 

This is something Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples exemplifies. And that’s because Kaitlyn Bennett, their marketing & membership coordinator, knows that marketing revolves around a community.

She says, “Because of the area we’re in, we serve a lot of tourists and first-time visitors. We see a lot of grandparents whose grandkids are visiting. And that's why we focus on getting them in the door, and then see where that leads.” 

Awareness ad to attract first-time visitors

Fun may be what gets someone in the door — or escaping the Florida heat! But that’s the tip of the iceberg. CMON has programs from homeschool workshops to kindergarten readiness programs. The initial hook may be fun (or A/C), but it’s learning that brings families back again and again.

Kaitlyn says, “A lot of those people who start as one-time visitors are good candidates for membership. Even if a family of four visits one more time during the year, they’ll end up saving money with a membership.”

Now that Kaitlyn has done the hard work of figuring out who might visit the museum for the first time, she knows exactly who to target for memberships — the people who already visited once! And then, all of a sudden, she has two segments to reach.

She says, “Throughout the year, we’ll have special offers geared toward members — like a discounted rate or member’s only event. But often we’ll expand and message people we know would be a good fit for membership, so they can see all the benefits that they could have.”

Keeping pace with the times

Kaitlyn’s marketing experience began on the design side, which will make total sense when you look at the ads she’s built. But in Feathr, she’s doing everything – segmenting her audience, planning timelines and budgets, launching and tracking campaigns, and staying on top of what works best so she can replicate her successes.

“Since I've worked with Feathr, all of our ads have done really well,” Kaitlyn said. “I come from the graphic side of things, so I love being able to test different creatives in the platform and see what’s performing well. I rarely build ads with stock imagery, and I see more engagement with our ads when I’m using images of families and community members.”

And knowing that a lot of her visitors will be tourists, she often leans on geofencing campaigns to reach potential visitors in places where visitors tend to congregate.

Kaitlyn says, “With us being a heavily touristed area, we have a couple local airports. And with geofencing, we reach out to them even as they land. But we’ll also reach out to visitors of our local zoo. So we kind of bounce around those areas and local schools, and this often is the initial touch point for our first-time visitors.” 

From the first date to going steady

As the marketing & membership coordinator, Kaitlyn sees guests’ first interactions all the way to their long-term commitments. And just like she has a proven strategy to get in front of new visitors, she also has tactics that will turn those visitors into lifetime learners.

Kaitlyn says, “Right now we're really pushing summer camp. Maybe they haven't been into the museum for a while, but now that it's summer, they have a lot more free time. And this is a really strategic point to become a member because we offer a lot of discounts to members for all of these opportunities.”

Ad promoting CMON’s summer camp

And with Feathr, Kaitlyn’s able to track that relationship from start to finish. It no longer requires a weeklong process, pulling all the data into a spreadsheet. It’s simply live and ready to share.

She says, “It’s very simplified, and it's all right there on the dashboard. It's very straightforward compared to some other ones that I've used before. The reporting is definitely a selling point for us.”

The sky's the limit

During her time in marketing with CMON, Kaitlyn has learned some ways to get the most from her ad campaigns.

She says, “Definitely keep the ad copy short. Consider how fast they’re scrolling — you don’t have much time. And this may be a personal brand thing, but bright colors have worked really well — again we only have a second to grab attention. And always insert a little personality over those stock images. People want to be happily surprised!” 

Membership renewal ad

And though Kaitlyn brings in consistent wins for CMON, she isn’t shy about how working with the right tools has helped her get there a little faster.

She says about Feathr, “It's easy, and it keeps everything organized. This is especially important for me since it's only me on the team. So, when we're running five, six, seven ads at a time, it’s helpful to be able to see everything in one place. It makes it go a lot smoother.”