Building a Brand & Marketing Strategy for The Smugglers Inn, Pub & Cafe

February

24

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Branding The Smuggler Inn's 200 Years of History into a New Hotel Website, Pub Brand & New Cafe

With an ambitious chef, a world class golf course on its doorsteps and located along the beautiful Kerry Coastline a story and brand capturing the history and potential of this 180 year old restored farmhouse was to be crafted and brought to life. 

About The Smugglers Inn

● Restored in 1980 The Smugglers Inn now offers 13 rooms, Restaurant and Bar
● www.smugglersinn.ie

Goals

● New brand image for the Smugglers Inn, Smugglers Cafe and Smugglers Pub
● New websites for both Inn and Cafe.
● New Signage for both Inn and Cafe.
● Discover, develop, design and implement additional revenue streams into each business and website.
● Input a simple and streamlined in-house booking system.

● Design and print all hotel, restaurant and bar promotional material, print marketing and signage.

Approach

● A carefully crafted brand was developed to cement the Smugglers name into the area for now and forever.
● Sales pages with campaigns, automation & tracking were built to generate leads year round.
● A solid SEO foundation was implemented.

● Blogging was utilised to generate traffic.

Tasks Undertaken

● Brand Identity
● Naming
● Logo Design

● Web Design
● Copywriting
● Sales Page Design
● PR
● Signage

Results

● Page 1 of Google search results captured for key search terms.
● Golf sign ups increased by over 200%
● Traffic increased by over 120%
● Onsite bookings increased by over 250%
● Overall sales increased by 25%
● Wedding package sign ups increased by 43%

Taken over in 2017 by chef Henry Hunt (The fifth generation of Hunt's to run the family owned establishment) the Smugglers Inn, pub and new cafe had huge potential to expand in many avenues. From online bookings to golf packages, weddings to an increase in restaurant bookings; the Inn, pub and cafe had much potential. However, with no brand, online presence or marketing strategy in place everything had to be built from scratch.

Starting at the Start

For both Inn and cafe the name and narrative chosen was 'The Smugglers Inn' and 'The Smugglers Cafe'. Two separate identities were created but designed similar in structure to help customers link their stories and brand. The narrative behind both was the history behind Smuggling and that of the famous local smuggler Theobald Magee, to whom the local area of PortMcGee was named after.

The pub within the Inn was not within our initial contract but as the contract progressed I felt it beneficial to brand the pub as a separate entity. After local research of potential revenue streams and an analysis of local demographics the pub was named 'The Payne Stewart Pub' with a tagline 'Seafood, Steaks & Whiskey'. With the pub adjacent to the world famous Waterville golf course I focused heavily on the 'American Golfer / Golf Tourist Market'.


New Brand(s), New Vision

With stories in place for Inn, Cafe and now Pub - brands and graphics were developed for everything from signage to menus, marketing material to website(s).

Developing Revenue Streams

The main focus of this particular contract was brand development but building a foundation of lead-generation and revenue generating sales pages were also important. Sales pages focusing on additional revenue streams such as wedding packages and golf packages were developed. The pub and restaurant menus were also analysed to maximise selling potential, up-sells and cross-sells.

● Golf Packages

Strategy, sales pages, signage and packages were researched, designed and implemented to increase the footfall of golfers into the restaurant and bar. Sales pages and "Golfing Packages" were also created to move online bookings from booking engines (such as booking.com) to direct booking's via the website.

● Wedding Packages

With the Smugglers Inn being located in a unique location, it offered us the ability to host a unique wedding. The Smugglers Inn had not focused too much on the wedding market in years gone by, but with new ambitions, I wanted to put Weddings at the forefront of its revenue stream potential. Tracked Sales pages, menus and packages were written and designed.

The Payne Stewart Pub

After an analysis of the overall business I realised the pub had more potential then was being utilised. This resulted in a unique and separate identity being designed for the Inn's inhouse bar. This would help position and market the pub to the local demographic as a stand alone pub (and not a hotel bar).

It also (more importantly) begin a long-term growth strategy of branding the pub as a "golfers" pub. The pub was called "The Payne Stewart Pub" designed to chase the American golf tourist market. Golf memorabilia was purchased to give the bar more of a 'golfing feel' with print marketing advertising golf tours, golf deals and more designed, printed and placed throughout the pub. Online golf packages were also designed and implemented.
 

SEO and Cementing Local Search Results

A selection of keyword rich blog articles were added to the Smugglers Inn website to boost local rankings and cement the Smugglers Inn and Cafe onto page 1 of Google. A solid SEO foundation in terms of Google tools and search results was also implemented.

The Smugglers Cafe

A brand image linked to the overall brand architecture of "The Smugglers" was also developed for the (now called) Smugglers Cafe. Branding, colour scheme, Signage, print marketing, menus and more were designed to ensure a clean launch of the cafe aimed at the correct demographic.

New Brand Identity for newly named 'Smugglers Inn'

New Brand Identity for newly named 'Smugglers Cafe'

New Brand Identity for the newly named 'The Payne Stewart Pub' after the famous Golfer Payne Stewart

With each establishment targeting very different markets, each Brand Identity had to be unique and tailored to its customer demographic. However, I wanted each identity to also be similar enough to ensure customers linked each business to the overall local brand architecture of 'The Smugglers'.

Menu Design for The Smugglers Cafe. Items were carefully placed to encourage up-selling

Print marketing material for The Smugglers Cafe and The Smugglers Inn

Print marketing material for The Smugglers Cafe and The Smugglers Inn

Table Tent Menus designed and printed for The Smugglers Cafe

New Website design for The Smugglers Inn bringing more customer attention to specific sales pages

westport website design agency mayo

Visitor attention directed to in-depth sales pages, not only describing the services of the hotel, but "story-selling" revenue streams such as 'Wedding Packages', 'Golf Packages', 'The Smugglers Restaurant', 'The Payne Stewart Bar', 'Local Attractions and more

Coffee cup designs promoting The Smugglers Cafe and The Smugglers Inn

Colours, Menus and Signage design

Signage design for The Smugglers Cafe aimed at tourists visiting Skellig Islands

Signage design for The Smugglers Inn

Signage design for The Smugglers Inn

About the author, Paul Feeney

Hi, I'm Paul Feeney, Founder of The Bodhi Business Academy, based in Westport, Co. Mayo. Over the past 15 years I have worked with hundreds of company's in relation to research & strategy, brand development, offline and online marketing, SEO, graphic and web design and much, much more. My job has always been to help my client's gain more clients and increase sales.

I founded Bodhi and developed The Bodhi Business Academy as I am passionate about helping businesses overcome their challenges using a blend of creative branding, lead generating web design, conversion-focused sales pages and automated email marketing systems.

My mission is to develop the West of Ireland as a Global Centre for Business Development, investment and a Startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation.

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