Shore Excursions Group
Shore Excursions Group is an online business selling small, authentic shore excursion experiences to cruise line travelers. They market to third-party booking services and travel agents and on a direct-to-consumer basis.
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Background
Shore Excursions Group is a longtime Inflow client, having worked with our team since late 2016 on paid search and search engine optimization efforts.
But, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and all cruises were anchored, SEG needed a new digital marketing strategy that took into account decreased profits and an uncertain future.
To maximize existing revenue and set the stage for the eventual return of cruising, Inflow’s team dove in with a customized and agile marketing approach.
Results
149%
increase in ad revenue
1,333%
increase in profit margin
231%
increase in organic revenue
Paid Search Advertising
The Challenge
As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, Shore Excursions Group paused their previous paid search advertising spend to reallocate their investment into longer-term efforts, like SEO.
But, when it came time to relaunch the campaigns in late 2021, they turned to Inflow’s expert PPC team to develop a strategy that would adhere to the new Google Ads landscape and ramp up their results in a competitive industry.
The Solution
Keeping SEG’s unique ROAS targets in mind, we restarted the brand’s Google Ads campaigns with a few crucial steps:
- Reviewed historical data and current industry performance to identify trends and business opportunities
- Updated old Google Ads campaigns by:
- Replacing Expanded Text Ads with Responsive Search Ads
- Updating ad copy and assets
- Adjusting demographic and custom audience modifiers
- Identifying and incorporating high-return automated bidding strategies with A/B testing
- Launched Performance Max campaigns and targeted competitor campaigns
- Updated Google Analytics 4 tracking and reporting to avoid major interruptions in account data and performance
Our team also provided recommendations to test YouTube advertising opportunities for the brand.
The Results
With the benefit of a flexible budget and SEG’s willingness to test, our team rapidly scaled their accounts’ growth:
149%
increase in ad revenue YoY
1,333%
increase in profit margin
(157% increase in spend)
70x
ROAS for Performance
Max campaigns
Paid Social Advertising
The Challenge
With the success of their other paid advertising channels, Shore Excursions Group turned to Inflow to test out a new opportunity for the brand: paid social advertising.
The goal: Determine whether the channel could provide the return on investment SEG needed — and, if so, continue scaling revenue growth and brand awareness through targeted campaigns.
The Solution
Using our established knowledge of Shore Excursions Group’s brand strengths, as well as our team’s experience in the paid social space, we launched SEG’s first campaigns with a few strategized approaches:
- Retargeted site visitors with tailored ad copy and creative
- Developed and segmented ad messaging to maximize engagement and conversions
At the same time, our team continually researches and recommends new paid social advertising opportunities for the brand, including Reddit ads.
The Results
With Inflow’s help, Shore Excursions Group’s first foray into social advertising is generating great returns, including:
73%
increase in ad revenue YoY
198%
increase in conversion rate YoY
87%
increase in ROAS YoY
Search Engine Optimization
The Challenge
Since our partnership began, SEG had seen significant organic traffic increases every year — that is, until 2020.
With the abrupt shutdown of the travel industry at the onset of the pandemic, our client’s site traffic dropped like a rock. But, knowing that the right organic traffic would eventually return when cruises launched again, SEG wanted to use this downtime to undergo some serious SEO work.
The Solution
Without the risk of losing organic traffic (since it was already at zero), our SEO strategists recommended and implemented some much-needed site improvements:
- Completed a theme migration to redesign their outdated website
- Optimized existing content to maintain top rankings for cruise-related searches
As post-pandemic travel returns, our strategists continue to help SEG take advantage of popular demand by:
- Recommending strategies to boost brand awareness and D2C bookings
- Creating video and blog content briefs for specific location services
- Analyzing competitor performance for content gaps and opportunities
The Results
With Inflow’s help, SEG was able to maintain its top positions in the SERPs, as well as set the stage for future growth, including:
231%
increase in organic revenue YoY
97%
increase in organic sessions YoY
What Our Clients are Saying
“I feel like the Inflow team works hard and really understands the business and the business goals. The ability to, of course, show strong performance results, track and measure everything, tell a story that helps us drive the business and make marketing decisions from the results and data.”
Jeff Cohen
