Blue Ridge Scenic Railway Case Study

SUMMARY

The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway is a charming passenger railway located in the mountains of North Georgia. Think small town America with a historical take on adventure. The attraction has always been a fan favorite due to its unique offering and location but this historic railroad was in dire need of an updated appearance and a digital advertising strategy.

How We Helped

Website Development
Brand Architecture
Content Creation

Social Media Management
Social Media Advertising

THE CHALLENGE

As a North Georgia staple, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway was able to sell tickets in spite of its dated presence. However, to truly take their brand to the next level and increase sales, the BRSR team needed to update their online strategy and brand.

The existing website was cluttered with information and the path to purchase was cumbersome, causing an increase in customer calls and potentially lost sales. Outside of aesthetics, the real problem of the website was the fact that it was incapable of driving organic traffic through SEO.

The existing website lacked a lot of things, but the two major concerns were the absence of an SEO strategy and an exhaustive customer pathway to purchase. A redeveloped website, brand refresh, and the addition of a robust digital marketing strategy proved to be valuable; revenue growth was the goal, and that’s what we achieved.

OUR APPROACH

Our approach with this project, and every project we take on, is to begin by defining the critical path of a project and communicating that path to the client to control scope creep and save the client time, money and stress. We planned from the result backward and never began work until we vetted every micro-task of the project.

A couple of things were very important to the decision makers at the BRSR:

1

Prove to executive management that the marketing efforts directly contributed to revenue growth.

2

Provide professional marketing guidance with a great deal of autonomy.

THE SOLUTION

Web Development

A bottoms-up white hat local SEO strategy was implemented from the first day of development to ensure that the site would have a high organic page rank within major search engines.

We structured the website to decrease the purchase path from 6-8 clicks to only 2. Part of reducing the steps to purchase included a complete overhaul of the existing ticketing page.

Like all of our sites, brscenic.com is more than responsive. This site was completely designed around the mobile user.

Branch Architecture

Generations of riders have enjoyed the historic Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. Our goal for the BRSR brand was to refresh it for the next generation of riders while maintaining its legacy as a North Georgia staple.

Our team refined elements of the existing branding, then incorporated new touches packaged within an easy to reference style guide. We didn't want to overwhelm long-time patrons. However, it was important that those engaging for the first time experience a seamless look across all marketing channels.

Social Media Mgmt

It was time to take this new branding, content, and website to the market. A sound social media strategy was essential for sharing the value of Blue Ridge Scenic Railway and gaining new riders.

Before Fable Heart Media stepped in, the BRSR team was posting inconsistent content without time and day in mind.

We implemented a three-pronged strategy. First, we developed and delivered engaging content to followers. Second, we created a mix of engaging content and assets to support marketing initiatives and drive profitable actions. The third prong, development of a consistent voice and look, served as a binder to hold the strategy together across all channels.

We believed that tickets could be sold through organic engagements on daily posts. The results from our strategies appeared quickly and were astounding.

Social Media Ads

The BRSR didn't have a digital advertising strategy prior to our involvement. Early on, we noticed that most of their customer base was spending a lot of their time on social media. So we knew that's where they needed to push sales.

The most logical channels to reach the target customer of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway were Facebook and Instagram. We created both high-level and train trip specific campaigns with the goals of staying top of mind with existing customers and reeling in new target demographics.

After conducting detailed A/B testing, we implemented a dynamic campaign structure that leveraged micro-targeting to ensure that we experienced high conversion rates for each customer segment. These ads drastically increased sales for new events.

The best part? We were able to track every user's demographics that engaged with the ads and remarket to those individuals for future events.

BRANDING

Old Logo: No Logo Variants, Not Scalable, Dated Design

New Logo: Horizontal Lockup, Classic Design, Scalable

New Seal: Minimalist Style for Simplified Printing

Abbreviated Logo: Simple Mark for Small Scale Uses

WEB DESIGN

Old Website: Non-Responsive Dated Design

New Website: Fully Responsive SEO Optimized Design
Every design element was custom made to maintain brand cohesion.

Results

The infusion of Fable Heart Media’s creative and strategic planning has proven to be a revenue growth driver for the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. This increase is not only affecting the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway’s native state of Georgia. Surrounding states Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina are all posting improved visitor traffic at a near or above 50 percent clip.

These visitors are not only learning about the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway – they’re converting. Check out the Stats to get deeper insight as to the impact Fable Heart Media has made on the growth of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

Stats

+27%

Online Ticket Sale Revenue Growth 2019 vs. 2018

+22%

Facebook Followers. 8,000 in only seven months

+270%

Instagram Followers. 2,800 in only seven months

+299%

New website visitors

1,578

Average daily visitors vs. 543 prior to site launch

“Fable Heart Media is a fantastic marketing partner. Not only did they help us build a world-class brand and website, but they also do an excellent job managing our social media and advertising. When we call, they answer. Their attention to detail and out of the box thinking has helped our business grow.”