Case Study: Run The Numbers® Helps The Alnwick Garden Achieve a Record 63,000 Visitors Through Strategic PPC Campaigns

Industry: Tourism & Events, Charity, National Attractions

The Objective

Drive record-breaking attendance for the 2024 Light Trail event, positioning it as the UK’s leading light trail experience.

Challenges

• The Alnwick Garden Light Trail had strong regional awareness but needed to expand its national reach.
• Strong competition from other Christmas light trails across the UK.
• Ensuring an efficient marketing spend while maximising ticket sales.

RTN’s Approach

Our PPC team collaborated closely with The Alnwick Garden marketing team to create a multi-pronged campaign strategy, targeting both local and national audiences.

Local Domination: Leveraged hyper-targeted Google Ads campaigns to capture intent-driven searches.

National Expansion: Broad targeting across the UK, focusing on key cities with high visitor potential.

Audience Layering: Used a mix of interest-based, remarketing, and lookalike audiences to maximise conversions.

Conversion-Focused Copy & Creative: A/B tested ad creatives to emphasise FOMO, unique experience highlights, and urgency messaging.

Budget Agility: Optimised spend dynamically, shifting budgets towards the highest-converting audiences and keywords throughout the event and to the climax of ticket sales.

Results

• Record-breaking 63,000 visitors – the highest attendance in the event’s history
• 40% increase in ticket sales compared to the previous year

Conclusion

By combining hyper-local intent targeting with a broader national strategy, Run The Numbers® helped The Alnwick Garden solidify its Light Trail as the UK’s must-visit Christmas event.

Looking to scale your event with high-impact PPC? Get in touch today.

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