BIG ROOTS
MARKETING
The gap
Most tourism marketing starts months too late
Everything visible from the pavement — the A-board, the window display, the smell of freshly cooked food — only works on someone already standing there. The visitor who never walks down your street was lost weeks earlier, to a search you didn't appear in and a review page you weren't on.
That's the bit we fix. We help you show up at the right moment — so you're easier to find, contact and book, and impossible to forget.
90%
of holidaymakers research online before they travel
The decision is made at home, not on the seafront.
81%
always or frequently read reviews before booking somewhere to stay
Reviews aren't a nice-to-have. They're the shortlist.
78%
pay most attention to the most recent reviews
Which is why a good review from 2023 isn't working for you.
Holidaymaker research: UK tourism research. Review figures: TripAdvisor with Ipsos MORI, 23,292 users across 12 markets including the UK, 2019 (the most recent study of this size).
Reviews & LIstings
Are you on the list they're looking at?
TripAdvisor, Google, Booking.com, Facebook. A visitor planning a trip opens two or three of these and builds a shortlist. If you're not there, or you're there with four reviews and no photos, you're not on the shortlist. And you will never know it happened.
"We're on TripAdvisor, I think. Somewhere."
A half-finished listing with no photos and the wrong opening hours is worse than none — it tells a visitor you're not really bothered.
Claim and complete every listing that matters for your trade
Proper photos, hours, facilities, menus, accessibility
The details visitors filter by — dog friendly, vegan, parking, step-free
Consistent name and address everywhere, which search engines check
“We get lovely comments, but nobody leaves a review.”
They would, they just forget by the time they're home. Asking works, and there are ways to ask that don't feel awkward for either of you.
A simple, repeatable ask that fits how you actually serve people
QR codes, receipt prompts, follow-up emails, table cards
Timed for when they're still pleased, not three weeks later
A steady trickle rather than a burst, so the recent ones stay recent
“Someone left a bad one and I didn't know what to say.”
A calm, specific reply to a bad review sells you to everyone who reads it afterwards. Silence doesn't.
We monitor and reply, or write you a set of replies to work from
Every review answered, not just the difficult ones
A tone that reads as a real person, not a policy
Patterns flagged — if three people mention the same thing, that's data
The one most businesses skip
Don't start from scratch every season
The first visit is just the start. Someone discovers you on holiday, has a lovely time — and then goes home, and you never hear from them again. Every visitor, customer and subscriber is a future opportunity, but only if you can still reach them in November.
An email list is the only marketing asset you own outright. No algorithm sits between you and it, and it is one of the cheapest methods of marketing.
Step 01
Collect it on the day
Wi-Fi sign-in, booking form, checkout, a prize draw, a card by the till. Whatever fits how you actually work.
Step 02
Thank them properly
One warm email a few days later, with the review ask built into it. Two jobs, one message.
Step 03
Stay on the radar
Four or five emails a year (not a newsletter nobody asked for). Give people a reason to think about you.
Step 04
Sell into the quiet
Gift vouchers in November, early-booking offers in January, a winter midweek deal in February.
What that turns into over winter
A list of two hundred people who've already paid you once is worth more in February than any advert you could buy. We'd use it for:
“Book next summer now” emails sent in January, when people are actually planning
Gift vouchers as Christmas presents — income in December with no footfall required
Winter midweek offers to people who already know they like you
An online shop or digital product they can buy from home in March
Filling a specific quiet week rather than discounting the whole season
Working to a seasonal calendar
Your quiet season is your best marketing season
A seasonal business can't be marketed like a year-round one, and most agencies don't get that. You haven't got time in August and you haven't got money in February, so the work has to land where it fits.
Here's the thing about SEO: it takes months to move. Work done in November is what gets you found in May. Doing it in spring is already too late for that season — so the quiet months aren't downtime, they're the perfect time to do the background work ready for the new season.
Oct - Dec
Refresh & rebuild
Website updated, new photos, listings tidied, SEO groundwork laid. The season's over, you've got time, and search engines need the run-up.
Jan - Mar
Reach the planners
This is when next summer gets booked. Content, campaigns and emails aimed at people deciding now for July.
apr - jun
Convert the traffic
Everything's ranking, the enquiries come in. Bookings, offers, and making the site easy to buy from.
jul - sep
Capture & coast
You're flat out. The only job is collecting details and reviews while they're here. Everything else waits.
An honest word about social media
Social media won't build your business. It'll help people remember it.
Posting three times a week is not a marketing strategy, and anyone telling you it is hasn't run a business with a season. Social is good at reminding people you exist and showing what a visit actually feels like. It's poor at reaching someone who's never heard of you and is planning a trip from Leicester.
So we treat it as what it is — a supporting act. It works best when it has something to point at: a new page, an offer, an event, a review worth sharing.
A realistic posting rhythm you can actually keep up in August
Content that gives someone a reason to save or share it
Local and visitor groups, where your actual audience already is
Paid promotion aimed at people planning a trip, not just your existing followers
Templates so you can post without starting from a blank screen
Ideas that actually work on the yorkshire coast
Campaigns we'd actually suggest
Not a strategy deck. Things that could be running within a fortnight.
The January booking push
An email to last year's visitors in the first week of January, when people are cold, skint and planning something to look forward to. Best-performing email of the year for most seasonal businesses.
Dog-friendly, step-free, parking
Visitors filter by these and search for them by name. A page that answers one specific need well will outrank a general page every time.
The shoulder-season couple
Retired travellers, couples without school-age children, walkers. They travel in May and October and almost nobody markets to them.
Gift vouchers for Christmas
Sold online in November and December, redeemed the following season. Money now, a booked customer later, no extra covers to serve.
Review-to-content loop
A great review becomes a social post, a website quote and a line in the next email. One piece of goodwill, used three times.
The trail listing
Getting featured on the local walking, dog-friendly or independent-shop trails visitors actually use to plan a day out.
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What's working for tourism businesses on this coast, and what isn't. Plus one thing you could put in place this week.
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