How we helped grow Big Church Festival by 40% Year On Year.

The Brief

The Approach

• Digital Strategy: What were we trying to achieve, and how were we going to achieve it? Within that: who is the audience, what are the channels to reach them, what are the motivators, and what are the blockers.
• Digital Tracking FoundationsHow were we going to track our progress and ensure we were equipped with the right information to understand what was/wasn’t working along the way and inform the strategy as we went.

• Organic Social: The beating heart of the BCF community. We crafted a fresh organic social strategy that significantly boosted BCF’s social media performance. By focusing on engaging content and consistent management, we achieved a remarkable 400% uplift in key social media metrics compared to the same period the previous year.
• Paid Social: This channel was the biggest driver of reach and new audience acquisition resulting in a significant amount of their growth.
• Google Grant Activation: We activated a Google Grant for BCF, giving them access to free advertising on Google’s search network. This helped further expand their digital presence and increase discoverability in search engines.
• Data & Analytics: We needed to understand what was and wasn’t working and how the channels were working as a whole. Begging with configuring tracking we then continued to support BCF by providing building out dashboards and writing reports.
• Paid Search: To supplement the grant account, we also activated some paid search ad spend in peak periods to ensure the discoverability of BCF across all relevant generic search terms like ‘Christian festival’.
• YouTube: YouTube offered a unique opportunity to reach key Christian audience segments who were also watching specific music content. A killer mix for a Christian music festival.
• Email Marketing: Big Church festival benefits from a wealth of first-party data after years of people purchasing tickets. We revamped BCF’s email marketing approach, implementing a data-driven strategy with enhanced segmentation. This ensured that communications were more personalised and relevant, leading to higher engagement rates.
• Website Optimisation: The ultimate goal for BCF was to drive ticket sales which means that all traffic will ultimately end up on the site. Having an on-going and iterative approach to the website allowed us to understand blockers, opportunities and prioritise rollout based on a priority score.
• Creative & Content: Being an annual event, the event weekend is crucial to capturing content that would be used on digital channels throughout the rest of the year. As we were managing these channels it made sense that we also took over management of content capture at the event. This included briefing, sourcing and managing videographers/photographers at the event.

Key Results

• 40% Year-on-Year Growth in Attendees: The shift to digital marketing resulted in a substantial increase in festival attendance, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new strategy.
• 50% New Customer Acquisition: The reallocation of ad spend to paid media channels enabled BCF to reach a new audience, with half of the attendees being first-time visitors.
• 400% Increase in Social Media Performance: The new organic social strategy drove a dramatic improvement in key metrics, including engagement, reach, and follower growth.

What We’ve Done Since

• CRM Migration: We assisted BCF in moving over to a new CRM system, ensuring seamless integration and improved customer data management.
• New Website Development: We are currently building out a new website for BCF, designed to enhance user experience and support future growth.
• Rebranding Support: We played a crucial role in BCF’s rebranding efforts, helping them find the right individuals to activate their new brand identity.
• TikTok Strategy Development: As part of our ongoing efforts to expand BCF’s digital presence, we developed a TikTok strategy aimed at engaging younger audiences and diversifying their social media reach.