BOB AR 2021 singles

Annual Review 2021

A word from the Chair Welcome to the Best of British Annual Review for 2021 I hope this review finds you and your families well after a highly unusual 18 months and an exceptionally hectic 2021 season. The desire to ‘holiday at home’ shows no sign of slowing down and we have been keen to affirm the notion that staycations are for life, not just for Covid! You’ll read later in this review the measures we It has been a very hard decision to make, as I have taken to remain active and improve our thoroughly enjoy the work that I do with Best of offering to both member parks and consumers British, but I must now re-focus on my family life, during these worrying times. We restructured the my own park Hidden Valley Park, and my other digital marketing side of our work; our provider, voluntary work. our social media and enewsletter content. We have continued to develop the website and forge links I’d like to thank my fellow Directors for their hard with like minded organisations. work and support during my tenure, and also the contacts I have made among the park owners. The Board of Directors have had an very busy I have thoroughly enjoyed steering the Best of time during lockdown. We have worked hard to British ship, and being part of the board for the ensure Best of British is positioned well to meet the last 6 years! challenges ahead of us. Economic recovery and the remaining challenges Covid presents are at the I look forward to catching up with you all soon! forefront of our decision making processes. Richard Legg On that note, following an exceptionally busy 2 years, through the website re-launch, the launch Rich Legg of the online booking platform and the work load Chairman the pandemic has brought, it is time for me to step Best of British Touring & Holiday Parks Group down as volunteer Chairman. October 2021 Front cover images: 2 | Best of British Annual Review 2021

Welcome to our new park The Best of British Touring & Holiday Parks Group is delighted to welcome Donkey Creek Farm in Lancashire. Just 3 miles from the coastal town of Lytham, Donkey Creek Farm offers touring pitches in the quiet village of Freckleton. Ideal for relaxing or for exploring the diversity of the Fylde coast. The Directors welcome Jane and the team to the Group. Congratulations If by any chance you haven’t kept Jon Boston, who deals with PR for the to all of our award winners! Group, or Emma Fontaine who looks As we’ve come to expect, many of the Best of British member after the social media side of things parks have won awards over the last twelve months. for Best of British, in the loop about There are too many to list so well done to everyone who has your award success in 2021, make received an award. Thank you for helping to raise the profile sure you do in 2022! of the Group through your success and for highlighting the impressive quality of its member parks. They can be contacted at jon@ jjbpr.co.uk 01768 895 225 and [email protected] 07870 915 374 Best of British Annual Review 2021 | 3

Headlines for the holiday parks providing Britain’s very best Never was there a more important year for Best of British parks Jon Boston to be putting across their quality message – and with the help of PR, that’s exactly what they did. News stories about the achievements of members And in another national press release, BoB chairman appeared in online and printed media, and were Richard Legg made the point that staycations were not featured too on the television and radio. just a pandemic phenomenon: So why was the “quality” angle so important? Simply “Every season we find more and more people trying a because the many people unable to travel abroad this UK holiday for the first time in years, and then becoming year had no intention of settling for second best. regular guests after realising what they’ve been missing”. With Mediterranean sunshine off the agenda, they were “Not going abroad means fewer hassles, less determined to enjoy a first-class holiday experience uncertainties, and the realisation that best countryside during their week or fortnight in this country. and coasts all happen on this side of the English Channel,” said Richard. Which is precisely where BoB came in. Pick a park in membership, families were assured, and you can expect BoB members can help sustain the momentum in 2022 unfailingly high quality standards from start to finish. by coming forward with their news so that they and the consortium can remain in the editorial spotlight. Delivering this message was a regular flow of press releases and images to the media, emphasising aspects BoB’s PR consultant Jon Boston writes the press releases, of member parks which ticked these boxes. and also handles their issuing to the media and dealing with journalists at no cost to the park concerned. Quality awards, investments in additional facilities, new accommodation such as luxury glamping units, and Published articles will almost always include a link to the environmental initiatives all helped spread the word. park’s website, and can also of course be used across their social media channels. And there were also stories issued to editors on behalf of the Best of British as a whole. For example, the fantastic news that no fewer than 26 BoB parks were featured in the Top 100 Sites Guide published by Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome. Take a look at some of the recent stories on the next page, and if you’ve an idea you would like to discuss, please get in touch with Jon on 01768 895 225, or email him at [email protected] 4 | Best of British Annual Review 2021

Landslide for Best of British Parks in vote for star sites Fens fishing park celebrates new lake with a splash Old Oaks Touring and Glamping Park, Glastonbury Fields End Water Caravan Park, Cambridgeshire Hot tubs put heat on bookings at New Forest holiday park Booking boom is good news Hereford park in clover as bees Green Hill Farm Holiday Park, Landford for all, Devon park tells MP help it gain green award Ladram Bay Holiday Park, Poston Mill, near Peterchurch Budleigh Salterton Family gives warm welcome to its new Yorkshire park Devon park rolls out the barrels for holiday home buyers Ord House Country Park, North Yorkshire Oakdown Holiday Park, Devon Somerset holiday park set for its Cornwall holiday park gains “world-class” Dorset park marks 50 years with £100k cracker of a Christmas status in awards fundraising quest Bath Chew Valley Caravan Park, nr Bath Hendra Holiday Park, Newquay Highlands End Holiday Park, Bridport. Best of British Annual Review 2021 | 5

Pitched Digital Marketing: BoB website, e-newsletter and Facebook ads review Website performance summary Organic 2021 2020 % CHANGE Direct USERS USERS 22.4% Pitched began with working with Best Of British in the Social Media 107% Spring with a strong initial focus on assisting with digital (Organic) 50458 41230 28% marketing activity to drive traffic and conversions on the Email BoB website. Paid Search 29400 14203 (Facebook / 2021 has possibly been one of the strangest years on Instagram Ads) 23767 18561 record for the UK Staycation industry with Covid playing Referral a huge part in the decision making of potential guests. Other 16322 6193 163% After a slow start to the year, interest (and bookings) Display 3810 2 190,400% surged following the announcement of an easing of restrictions in March. But a recent rise in Covid infections 2903 2488 16.7% has likely curtailed the season a little, with plenty of focus 606 7 8557% now already on 2022 bookings. 82 113 -27% Looking at website stats, we can see that the BoB Organic rankings website has had a very successful year to date (Jan 1 – Sept 13) compared with the same period in 2021, with We use specialist software to help analyse BoB’s organic a 54% increase in users and a 52% increase in website rankings for the core keywords the website targets. sessions. The table below outlines the average position over the past few months. We don’t have access to the previous However, comparing year on year data is always a agency’s software, so cannot compare rankings against difficult, especially when 2020 was such a challenging 2020 unfortunately. Keywords ranking 1-10 will usually year, where UK holidays were hugely impacted by Covid, be on page 1 of Google (highlighted in green), 11-20 on except for a few months over the summer. Having page 2, 21-30 on page 3 and so on… said that it is still encouraging to see the BoB website performing so well. This is in line with lots of our other It is important to note the ‘monthly searches’ column. clients in the holiday park / campsite sector. This is the average number of monthly searches in Google, by all users, for a particular keyword. A slight Users 2021 2020 increase in average position for a keyword with a Sessions 124,792 81,119 large search volume can have a huge impact on your Page Views 168,104 110,465 website’s visibility and overall organic traffic numbers, 1,296,811 849,195 so it makes sense to spend most time working to improve your position for these. However, many of How do people find the BoB website? the large volume keywords will also be the most competitive, with dozens of other websites potentially We can split out the source of traffic to the BoB targeting them too – so there is always a balancing website by using Google Analytics to analyse the data. act here to make sure the site is targeting achievable Encouragingly, this shows us that there has been a keywords. big increase in organic traffic from search engines against 2020 (22%) as more and more customers found Overall, the BoB website performs well, ranking on page the website via search engines such as Google. This, 1 of Google for lots of its core keywords. There’s always however, may not necessarily indicate that the website work to be done and keywords such as ‘holiday parks in itself is performing ‘better’ – merely that the number Cornwall’ and ‘holiday parks in Wales’ currently on page of people searching for UK Staycations increased – and 4/5 for both would be one area where there should be therefore the number of impressions and clicks to the renewed focus to try and improve. BoB website also increased. 6 | Best of British Annual Review 2021

Bob the bird was born from the inspiration that birds can easily travel across the UK, which could aid itself to the exploring aspect of Best of British. It provided us the opportunity for a different tone of voice to their audience once based on a lovable bird going off on adventures. KEYWORD MONTHLY GOOGLE SEARCHES AVERAGE RANK Best holiday parks 210 13.75 Touring caravan sites 6.25 UK’s best touring caravan sites 12100 2 UK’s best holiday parks 0 12.25 5 Star caravan parks 3.25 5 Star holiday parks 1900 8.5 5 Star touring caravan site 260 1 Best campsites in the uk 170 20 Motorhome Holidays UK 4 Best Holiday Parks for Motorhomes 0 1 Award-winning holiday parks in Cornwall 6600 76.25 Camping Pod Holiday Parks 480 7.5 Lodge holidays N/A 5 Star Caravan Park Holidays UK 0 6 Glamping Holidays 0 90 Holiday Caravans To Hire 0 28 Holiday Parks in Cornwall 22200 48.25 Holiday Parks in Devon 0 88 Holiday parks in the South West 2900 9 Holiday parks in the south east 170 15.5 Holiday parks in East Anglia 27100 16 Holiday parks in Central England 14800 3.5 Holiday Parks in Wales 2400 46.25 Holiday parks in North England 170 9 Holiday parks in Scotland 390 42 Coastal Holiday Parks 70 10 Countryside Holiday Parks 5400 1 Dog Friendly Holiday Parks 320 55.5 Child Friendly Holiday Parks 6600 50.5 Adults Only Holiday Parks 170 4.5 Holiday Parks For Trailer Tents 0 1 1300 10 140 0 Best of British Annual Review 2021 | 7

What marketing activity has Email marketing been undertaken? One of our first projects with BoB was to overhaul to When Pitched began working with BoB in the Spring the look, feel and content of their emails, which were a we performed a full website audit, which flagged a little basic in their design. A new template, with various number of issues with the website both from a User new layout options was put together in the spring and Experience point of view and an SEO perspective. incorporated a host of new features (some of which linked through to blog content) such as Holiday Like As part of plan for the winter, we will aim to work A Local, Off The Beaten Track, Meet The Owners, Park through some of the SEO issues identified (broken links, Focus, and Visitor Guides to specific regions. missing meta, page speed issues) and we have already presented the directors with some plans for visual This new content was designed to inspire potential improvements to the site to help enhance the user guests – and get them to consider new regions and experience and customer journey. ‘discover’ new holiday destinations. Blog posts Since our first campaigns were sent, more than 8,000 people have clicked through to the BoB website from Working to an agreed marketing plan, spanning an email campaign. three months at a time, we have worked alongside Emma to produce and optimise blog content for The table below shows the number of goal conversions the BoB website. from the campaigns – this is a total figure of the number of brochure requests, loyalty card requests, Alongside Emma, we have implemented some newsletter subscribers, individual park page views and new regular blogs features, including ‘off the those who initiate an online availability check. beaten track’ and ‘holiday like a local’, which give a more informative and conversational element to the blog content, which is perfect for sharing on social media platforms (rather than the content written more for Google’s purposes). DATE CAMPAIGN SENDS OPENS GOAL 14/05/21 Take a fresh look at BoB 25853 12745 OPEN RATE CLICK RATE COMPLETIONS 25870 10258 49.30% 12.48% 365 25932 28/05/21 Looking for some holiday 25989 39.65% 7.82% 198 inspiration 25852 The UK’s Finest 5-Star 25951 11604 44.75% 12.64% 316 13/06/21 Touring & Holiday Parks 11375 43.77% 12.63% 332 26316 11974 46.32% 12.64% 319 27/06/21 Try Something Different 26277 8 Best Views - Jul 9 09/07/21 (shorter email) 25/07/21 Are you ready for 11240 43.31% 11.29% 282 summer? Welcome Autumn in style 12883 48.90% 14.66% 459 08/08/21 (shorter email) 22/08/21 Autumn inspiration 11290 42.90% 14.75% 337 (longer email) 8 | Best of British Annual Review 2021

Social ads Graphics Another important part of the marketing mix for BoB We approached the Board with the concept of has been social media advertising, across Instagram ‘Bob the bird’, with the aim that the new character and Facebook. would warm their current tone of voice, and unify their visual image across platforms. Primarily using graphic and videos (which generally engage better than static images), these campaigns Bob the bird was born from the inspiration that have been targeted at the following groups of people: birds can easily travel across the UK, which could aid itself to the exploring aspect of Best of British. Families with young children It provided us the opportunity for a different tone of voice to their audience once based on a lovable Couples or those with grown up children bird going off on adventures. People who like similar brands Best Of British / other We have introduced BoB The Bird on our email holiday parks/touring parks/Hoseasons campaigns to introduce certain sections of content and this is something we’d like to expand Remarketing -> those who have previously visited across to the website in the future. with BoB website We have provided graphics for banners on Campaigns aimed at a remarketing audience will fare social media. better than those aimed at a colder, more unfamiliar audience. Remarketing campaigns will generally yield Video more conversions and cost less per click – but these audiences take time to build and we were effectively Working with Emma, we’ve also helped create an Off starting from scratch in the spring as, due to the way The Beaten Track video for YouTube (and for sharing on the previous agency set up the account, this data could social media platforms) that introduces guests to new not be transferred over. BoB parks and destinations that they may not have considered before. However, we now have a strong pot of remarketing data and this is a primary focus of our activity to drive quality We plan to do more videos this winter if possible. traffic to the BoB website. You can see the video here: Social Ads have sent over 3,800 people sent through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gLag1LiLFw to the BoB website since Mid May, with over 1,000 goal completions coming from this activity, broken down as follows: 582 online bookings initiated / availability check 403 individual park views Best of British Annual Review 2021 | 9

Social media A new direction New beginnings What are the most engaging social posts? In early 2021, the Directors decided that harnessing social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, It is very easy to see that the posts that reach the was an essential part of our future direction. With most people, and often result in the all important little cost, we can reach holidaymakers direct and engagement, fall into the following categories: quickly. Introducing Parks – when it comes to ensuring Having someone within Best of British who knows everyone gets their fair share of coverage on our our member parks, is aware of your news and social media, we regularly post features about parks, keeps an eye on reviews was essential. Therefore, the facilities they offer and nearby places to visit. A Emma was tasked this role. We immediately recent post about Wareham Forest attracted a record began to focus on our member parks, holidays at number of comments from people who had visited, home and the reiteration of our focus; 5 star rated, or wanted to. family and independently owned holiday parks. Holiday At Home Inspiration – using the same Improving Our ‘Reach’ technique utilised by the Tourist Boards in the UK, we regularly contact photographers and ask to use their Facebook ‘reach’ simply means the amount of people images, with appropriate image accreditation. These who viewed content from our social media pages. images often provide a breathtaking glimpse into what holidaying in England, Scotland and Wales has REACH % to offer. CHANGE PLATFORM 2020 2021 Meet The Owners – introduced in the summer of Facebook 171% 2020, we really wanted to bring the stories behind the Instagram 339,272 920,373 parks to the attention of potential visitors. These posts 554% regularly engage our audience. Using The Plassey in 8,529 55,847 Wrexham as an example, their post reached almost half the page audience and many comments from We cannot accurately compare two years of data, due to happy visitors were left. The more people click ‘like’ the impact of Covid, but we can see that utilising social and/or comment on a post, the greater the reach. media more regularly, and being more in tune with our parks and the content our audience wants to see, has If you would like a specific piece of news from your park helped our reach considerably. to feature on our social media, please contact Emma at [email protected] YEAR FACEBOOK August 2014 PAGE LIKES August 2015 14,280 August 2016 26,281 August 2017 32,336 August 2018 37,725 August 2019 42,973 August 2020 44,036 44,517 10 | Best of British Annual Review 2021

Noteworthy news Would you be interested in Best of British 2022 brochure becoming a BoB Director? Our brand new 2022 brochure has been 2022 If you are passionate about the ethos behind printed and is in the process of being EDITION the Best of British Holiday Parks, and can distributed. As a reminder, we are a group spare some time, please consider becoming a marketing (not for profit) organisation. We Director of Best of British. work best by working together! When the brochures are sent to With the resignation of Richard Legg, we you, please distribute are looking for committed individuals who them via your could help with our strategy and direction at Reception area. It Board level. helps promote the brand and shows Please contact Emma if you’d like more unity among our information at [email protected] member parks. Camping • Touring • Glamping • Lodges www.bob.org.uk • Holiday Homes Loyalty card We are actively working to make our loyalty card options digital. As part of your Best of British membership, we ask member parks to offer a small discount to loyalty card holders. Please ensure, until the point at which we update you on new loyalty card options, to keep your profile on the BoB website updated with your offer. Stock photo Best of British Annual Review 2021 | 11

Other online activity E-shots to their databases Given the success of previous Best of British enewsletter marketing campaigns, we again opted to access Warners Publications subscriber databases. Starting on Christmas Day 2020, we sent a series of enewsletters that all achieved above average opening rates. Our partnership with Warners Publications has always led to impressive results and we will continue this into 2021/22 membership year. Lead generation campaign BoB page and competitions Early in 2021, we commenced a lead generation with The Group has continued to advertise with the popular our brochure fulfilment partner, Catalink. Their holiday UKCampsite website and have run four popular brochure websites provided valuable data leads for us to competitions with them this year with the prize utilise in our enewsletter marketing and increased our winners receiving a break on a member park of their Mailchimp ‘audience’. choice up to a value of £175. General Meeting The 2021 Best of British General Meeting will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 9th November at 2.00pm Again, the safest and most practical option this year We market ourselves together and therefore your is to hold our annual meeting on Zoom. This will be input is welcomed and encouraged. We hope to a functional meeting, allowing us to vote on matters arrange either a park visit and/or some social events such as the election of Officers and confirmation of before long. our budget. We do need members to attend to vote and would be delighted to ‘see’ you there! 12 | Best of British Annual Review 2021