Over the past three years, LCI has been working with the Shaw Festival on many online initiatives. Our main objectives have been to exhibit the Shaw and Niagara-on-the-Lake, and bring their audience closer to the theatrical experience online. Beyond this, LCI has developed many audience acquisition and retention strategies that have been driving online traffic numbers, sales, and conversion rates higher than ever before. Each year, LCI audits the Shaw Festivals’ main website for user experience improvements and Search Engine Optimization. The changes have been showing powerful results.
Over the years LCI has built various forms of online collateral for the Shaw. Each year we produce 4 – 6 commercials that cover each play: bringing the audience closer to the storyline and leading them to buy tickets directly after the production.
LCI has also developed a Package Builder so visitors can plan their visit around the play. They can choose from all that Niagara-on-the-Lake has to offer before they get to the town. LCI has designed and built an original blogging application to get the voice of the Shaw out to the audience more regularly. We also develop monthly newsletters and micro-pages for specifically targeted promotions.
We have been marketing in multiple channels online and continue to introduce new marketing initiatives as the channels mature per sector. We look after Social Marketing and Search Engine Marketing for the Shaw and have had amazing results over the past few years.
Through combined marketing efforts, the Shaw has achieved an impressive online conversion rate of over 11%. Their main sales season revenue is up to 30% this year and has shown similar impact over the last few years. People are staying on their site longer, an average of almost 6 minutes! Traffic numbers continue to climb and online revenue will continue to grow into the next season and beyond.
