Integrated Marketing Communications: Canal Quarters

INCREASING CANAL QUARTERS AWARENESS AND BOOKINGS

For years, the Canal Quarters program was one of the area's best-kept secrets. My goal was to change that! Through an integrated marketing campaign, I consistently grew awareness of the program, which translated into increased bookings and revenue. The Canal Quarters are seven historic lockhouses that have been rehabilitated into overnight lodging for guests. Each tells a different story of a period in the canal's history, are furnished with authentic pieces, and sleep eight people who can"step back in time" to live as the lock keepers did.

There is no other program like Canal Quarters in the the country, which makes it attractive to the press. I set up journalists from a variety of local, regional, and niche publications with visits or overnight stays in the lockhouses, and I also worked closely with the tourism organizations in Montgomery, Frederick, and Washington Counties, who included the lockhouses in their own fam tours and press trips. The Maryland Office of Tourism was also a big fan of the program. I achieved 33 major features in media publications on the Canal Quarters program over seven years, which helped to raise awareness and drive bookings. A list of media placements is included below.

Until 2017, I only had $1,200 a year to market the Canal Quarters program, so I relied heavily on media placement and promotion to our own constituency through print/email newsletters, direct mail to past guests, and social media. Signage in the park and word of mouth also performed well for us, as over 80% of traffic to the Canal Quarters site in 2018 was either from organic search or direct traffic. I put in place strategies to encourage word-of-mouth marketing, including training Park Rangers and volunteers, targeting audiences who thru-hike or thru-bike the entire towpath, sending post-stay emails, and promoting social media hashtags and journal entries. Two grants enabled us to create videos for Lockhouses 6 and 22, which experienced high engagement on social media.

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In order to continue increasing the occupancy of the lockhouses, I advocated for and received a $9,000 annual budget for Canal Quarters marketing, which I devoted to print and digital advertising campaigns. I also experienced success with email and social media campaigns and saw a bump in traffic with the addition of AdWords. We hosted open houses once or twice a year to raise awareness within the local community about Canal Quarters, which provide a unique staycation experience. Our seventh lockhouse, "Swains,"opened to great fanfare in June 2019, with coverage from WTOP, WAMU, Preservation Magazine, and several other smaller outlets. We gave tours of the new lockhouse to over 500 people during the two-day grand opening.

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During the pandemic in 2020, the Canal Quarters program was closed for several months, but upon opening, saw tremendous growth in bookings. Because the Trust committed to cleaning each lockhouse between guests, I was able to market the lockhouses as a safe, socially-distant vacation option. Bookings nearly doubled our pre-pandemic rates.

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Over seven years, I was successful in raising awareness of this award-winning program, increasing bookings, and attracting 15,500 guests for lockhouse stays, which also serves many as their first exposure to the work the C&O Canal Trust does in the C&O Canal National Historical Park. These guests were then incorporated into the Trust's larger awareness campaign, where they received our email and print newsletters and began to move up the ladder of engagement to become repeat Canal Quarters guests, volunteers, and/or donors.