Oct 26, 2023 Xamara Binet Case Studies, Marketing 0 Comments

Operation Name: “Building Blocks”

First Class Services (FCS) had failed to market MSC Cruises in Puerto Rico in a way that resonated with the local market, so they called us.

BACKGROUND
First Class Services is a local GSA with over 30 years of experience in providing the latest travel products and services to travel agencies in Puerto Rico. However, they were having a hard time adapting to the digital era and their digital brand equity was nonexistent. With other agencies that had years ahead in the social game and a shrinking market share, they had no brand awareness.

Under their client portfolio they had multiple brands that were more on the luxury side, however, we were aware that there were other opportunities we could explore. In this particular case, we chose to double our efforts with one of the most intriguing brands, MSC Cruises.

*Insights from May 30, 2021 to May 30, 2022 period, a year before our social media management job began. Source: Meta.*

challenges

Misconceptions about the market. Most people think that booking their plans through an agency will be much more expensive than booking it themselves through social media. They fail to see the value in saving time and money on possible inconveniences that can happen.
No brand awareness. This was, technically, a brand new company to the public. Their focus for 30 years was B2B, and they decided to make a shift to B2C whilst transitioning into the digital space in a very late period.
Budget restraints. The company relies heavily on the marketing budget brands under their portfolio can provide. This makes the future budget hard to decipher, therefore, makes it more difficult to strategize and consider more channels.
Unfavorable and mindless social media posting. There was no strategy nor design principle knowledge behind their posting, making it difficult for page visitors to be pulled in and understand what they’re offering.

*For year*s, FCS had been publishing content mindlessly without taking into consideration the psychological impact of the visual content they were uploading. This hurt greatly their brand because it failed to spark the interest of people **for years.**

our proposed solutions

Educate in a stylish manner about the benefits of booking your next vacations through a travel agency, how to book, and why traveling is important for cultivating a more meaningful life, vs. their old content, which was purely sales-oriented.

*Our main focus was to provide inspirational content and educate the public about FCS’ experience, all whilst promoting their products.*

2. Leverage the cost-effectiveness of social media to create an updated data base. Although they had 30 years in service (B2B), their B2C consumer database was empty. We needed to get their brand out there and perform lots of A/B testing during the first year to see who is interested in FCS, their products, and how we can get to them. We achieved this in record time.

We were able to perform lead campaigns on the Meta Platform from July 2022 to November 2022. By Black Friday 2022, we managed to nail down their audience’s behavior and optimize their campaign performance to increase cost-effectiveness. With a $35 investment, FCS was able to acquire 66 leads at $0.53/lead. The average cost of leads in the Meta Platform can be anywhere from $5-$15, with some of them reaching a whopping $25/lead.

3. Build a strategy around varied content. Before, there were only cruise offers available for the public. This was not necessarily enticing to people who are uneducated about the cruise industry. We needed to attract a greater number of people, therefore, started to incorporate aesthetically pleasing visuals and posting familiar faces.

BEFORE

AFTER

Under BMG’s social media management and content creation

4. Mindfully investing into a multichannel strategy. Thanks to our reporting and social media audit that proved our strategy’s effectiveness, our client was able to obtain a larger marketing budget that could help them in investing in hosting industry events, a weekly radio segment, and concert sponsorships.

Thanks to FCS’ improvement in the quality of their content, they were able to pitch and get a higher marketing budget approved. They now can start promoting their brand and building awareness through a **multichannel strategy.**

OVERALL RESULTS

Although we had a great FY2022 when it came to social media performance, we’ve opted to distribute the marketing budget in a multichannel strategy. With higher costs of advertising and lower quality inventory in Meta Platforms, we’ve figured it’s best if we stared to invest in higher-valued channels.

Below, you can see insights from May 30, 2022 to May 30, 2023 when compared to the previous period. These results show the consistent application of our social media strategy and execution have resulted in YOY growth. Ad spending for FY2023 has been reduced to < $100 (YTD: October 2023) vs. the ad spend that took place in FY2022 of approximately $800.