Newcastle Jockey Club (NJC) approached Method+Marketing with an interesting challenge: How can I change the perception of my brand and attract a different demographic to our events?
NJC wanted to focus on transforming Newcastle Racecourse into a young, hip and vibrant brand, while attracting a female audience, primarily aged 25-34.
Method+Marketing’s first priority in tackling this challenge was to conduct a customer analysis and develop a key messaging strategy, which included the creation of buyer personas. These buyer personas included demographic information, likes, dislikes, motivations and online habits. This information allowed us to draft key messages for NJC that would really speak to the wants and needs of their target customers and resonate with their audience.
From there, we developed content pillars and a social media strategy for NJC that aimed to:
- Increase their brand awareness amongst their target audience
- Change the brand perception of Newcastle Racecourse
- Drive targeted traffic to their website and to their events
The strategy included less horse racing, beer and gambling type messages and added a large emphasis on entertainment, fashion and events.
Since May 2018, the social strategy has achieved:
- 56% growth in Facebook following amongst their target audience
- 40% growth in their Instagram following amongst their target audience
- A 17% increase in web traffic from the previous period + a huge drive in traffic and online conversion to their new online ticketing platform
Additionally, we have had great success with campaigns. For example, NJC decided to give away a VIP day at Royal Randwick, a racecourse whose brand embodies what NJC is striving for. The campaign resulted in:
- 10,000+ people in their targeted demographic seeing the ad
- 500+ clicks to contest page at just $0.27 / click
- 335 contest entrants (just $0.42 per email gained for their database)
- And over 38 shares on social
Each month, we analyse the engagement of our messaging and refine it. By listening to customer feedback and paying attention to what messages resonate with them, we are able to increase and improve our results from month-to-month.
As NJC CEO, Matt Benson, said, “Method+Marketing’s strategy and approach has really changed and lifted the perception of the Newcastle Racecourse brand. We have noticed a shift in demographics at our events and a boost in ticket sales as a result.”
If you are interested in achieving customer-centric growth for your business, we recommend starting with a Customer Analysis and Key Messaging Workshop and/or strategy.
