Background - Dion Marketing Company Sought-after Influencer Marketing Strategy

Dion Marketing Company has been the agency of record for Daytona Lagoon for four seasons, and each year our goal is to outperform our marketing efforts from the previous year. We stay up to date on the hottest marketing trends and apply them effectively. We've incorporated influencer marketing in our marketing plan for several years. Many organizations look to us for our expertise in this area and we have been featured in multiple news outlets. Most recently, Dion Marketing Company was featured in the Business Insider where we discuss how impactful influence marketing is for waterparks. The key to using waterpark influencers is simple, first we develop a plan, then we review our efforts, and finally we refine and improve. For this case study we will evaluate how influencer marketing impacts Daytona Lagoon's bottom-line and if using this marketing channel provides an opportunity to expand the reach of our clientele on a limited budget. Daytona Lagoon is a waterpark and family entertainment center located in Daytona Beach, Florida. It has twelve different rides, including thrilling waterslides, a lazy river, and a wave pool. There’s also an 18-hole miniature golf course, go karts, laser tag, and an arcade. And if that’s not enough they offer a variety of food and drinks. Daytona Lagoon is not just a summer destination-the park open year round for dry attractions.

Framing the Challenge - What is Influencer Marketing and how is it implemented?

Daytona Lagoon not only targets the local population, but also Orlando, Jacksonville, and Southern Florida regions. With a limited budget, Dion Marketing Company aimed to expand customer reach through influencer marketing. This involved giving influential individuals access to the Daytona Lagoon Park with their families free of charge, with them posting video content, photos, and messages on their social media about their fun experiences at the park. We targeted local moms and the same outer markets that we advertise in to reinforce the marketing messages from those who have social influence in those areas. They created “native ads” that enhanced our entire marketing strategy and improved overall conversion. From experience, we know that this type of influencer is typically easy to work with and will accept barter in exchange for a day of fun! For the guaranteed exposure and depending on the number of followers and engagements each influencer had, we offered the influencers either admission tickets, admission tickets and lunch, or admission tickets, lunch, and a cabana. The goal of this study was to see if providing selected influencers, with little to no monetary investment, could positively impact revenue, head counts, and social media engagements during the months of July and August 2022.

Uncovering Insights - The Impact of Implementing Influencer Marketing Statistics

The results of the study involving influencer marketing were undoubtedly positive and they highlight how beneficial this marketing strategy can be. When comparing August 2022 with August 2021, coupled with our other marketing efforts, a 21.76% increase in revenue was gained. Attendance also improved in August 22 when influencer marketing was used, with the difference of a 5.74% gain on total head count. While other factors may have also played a role in this data, there is an overall positive result, with revenue increasing in both months studied, and head count increasing as well.

With our goal to increase the reach of our audience to outer markets we can attribute that 20% of traffic came from Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida. These were our targeted locations when developing our influencer marketing plan.

Another data point to be noted is that Daytona Lagoon’s social media impressions increased by 10% in August 2022 compared to 2021. Daytona Lagoon’s total social impressions for August were 3,735,982, engagements were 105,992, and post link clicks were 21,253.

Building Opportunity - Opportunity Applying Influencer Marketing

The data provided via the case study conducted using YOY comparisons for August 2022 vs 2021 shows that Influencer Marketing can be heavily impactful when it comes to generating more revenue and attracting engaged customers. At Dion Marketing we have recognized that influencer marketing is a marketing channel that benefits both the clients and the influencers. We focus on building and maintaining relationships with our influencers for long term collaboration. In the IAAPA 2022 Fun World article, it states that Julie Dion-President of Dion Marketing Company- “likes to do multiple sponsored posts with each influencer rather than one-offs so she can build deeper relationships.” Going forward we are strategically planning to do a case study where we implement Influencer marketing during off-season months to see how that impacts capital gain.