HELPFUL HOLIDAYS
Find out how One PPC helped Helpful Holidays get better advertising results from Google and Facebook.
HELPFUL HOLIDAYS
Back Story & Challenge
Helpful Holidays is an award-winning holiday cottage company based in the small market town of Chagford, on the edge of rural Dartmoor. With nearly 40 years experience in holiday letting in the South West are ideally placed to help you find your next getaway.
Helpful Holidays were advertising on Facebook, however, they wanted to use Travel Ads and had not been able to get this to work. Facebook had mostly been used for brand advertising and top of the funnel marketing.
The goals were very much direct response, with return on ad spend for each holiday above 6.0 (600%).
Facebook had just launched Travel Ads and very few companies within the Travel sector were using it. Facebook ads had been used extensively in the past- but just top of the funnel strategies had been applied.
During our initial in-depth analysis, we identified three key weaknesses/opportunities:
- The Facebook Ads campaigns were getting very few conversions over a long period of time.
- The datafeed and catalogue and event tracking tagging of the website would need to be completed using an advanced Google Tag Manager set up.
- An inconsistent strategy across campaigns making it harder to follow a standardised approach.
Solution
To address this challenge, we researched competitor Facebook ads and landing pages, studied Helpful Holidays’ offering and target personas, and used Google Analytics to analyse Facebook traffic.
We then built a live Facebook Ads report in Google Data Studio, providing daily insights across a 30-page dashboard.
Next, we set up Google Tag Manager for travel-specific and standard event tracking, advised on data feed improvements, and launched remarketing with Travel (Dynamic) Ads.
Building on Facebook Ads success, Helpful Holidays asked us to audit their two Google Ads accounts (Helpful Holidays and West Country Cottages). We compared both, scored each setup, and provided task lists. We began by rebuilding ad group structures to improve relevance, CTR, and quality score—achieving higher positions and lower conversion costs.
To maximise sales, we built a large Google Ads account covering thousands of keywords and additional targeting (YouTube, Display Network, in-market, contextual, topics, managed placements, and similar audiences).
Initial revenue gains came from improved planning, testing, and review. Further refinements and new Google Ads features have since boosted ROAS from 4.0 to a consistent 7.0, driving millions in annual sales.
Other Steps
Dynamic Remarketing
We launched a dynamic remarketing campaign targeting users who viewed holiday pages in the past 14 days but didn’t purchase, showing them the exact packages they viewed.
This campaign immediately improved the conversion rate of past website visitors and quickly delivered ROAS over 7.0, and increased over time to above 10.0. To sustain success, we expanded to reach wider audiences at awareness and interest stages, aiming to unify campaigns under Travel Ads to promote exact holidays with pricing and dedicated landing pages.
Other Targeting Options:
We implemented a range of top and medium funnel campaign objectives and continued testing advert formats and brand assets with varying audience targeting and campaign objectives to increase click-through rate (CTR) and conversions while growing the brand of Helpful Holidays.
Engagement Audiences:
We launched an Engagement campaign retargeting users who interacted with Helpful Holidays’ Facebook page or ads in the past 365 days, excluding recent site visitors (last 14 days). The campaign met the 6.0 ROAS target, using Travel Ads alongside tested formats like single image, carousel, and canvas.
Cold Traffic/Top of Funnel Marketing:
To scale revenue and grow Helpful Holidays’ brand on Facebook, it was essential to reach a larger audience. Purchases have steadily grown across both lower and upper funnel campaigns. We continuously test ad formats, images, and copy to boost CTR and conversions.
Interests Audiences: We analysed Helpful Holidays’ Page Insights to identify key interest groups (e.g. holidays, vacations) and tested single and combined targeting, further refining audiences with demographic insights.
Lookalike Audiences: We set up a range of Lookalike audiences using value-based purchases by similarity and reach. We also tested audience ranges in order to continue increasing revenue.
Our next step was to create standard search campaigns targeting people searching in Google with keywords and text ads. We configured settings for each specific campaign to increase return on ad spend and set up a range of campaigns including:
- Each product category has its own Search campaign with an extensive list of keywords grouped into themed ad groups with relevant ads and landing pages.
- Competitors Search campaign for targeting known competitor names and their brand terms with specific ads & landing pages.
- RLSA (Remarketing for Search): Targeting past website users as they search again in Google, often with wider keywords that are not part of the main keyword list for increasing traffic.
- DSA (Dynamic Search Ads)- Combined DSA with search remarketing to increase the qualified audience.
Bidding Strategies:
It was important to achieve the required return on ad spend while increasing the number of leads. During the period of the project we tested, analysed and applied a range of bidding strategies to get to the optimum approach for each campaign.
In-house Google Ads script with bidding rules for achieving a target cost per lead(CPA), combined with bid modifiers.
Adjusting bids manually to maintain top ranking for all keywords.
Subsequently we also tested smart bidding such as target CPA
Keyword match type search
Introduced Modified Broad Match to reduce irrelevant search terms. Fixed conversion tracking by importing data from Google Analytics. Split overly broad ad groups into tighter themes to boost ad relevance and CTR.
Negative Keywords
Using single-word negatives (e.g. buy) helped reduce the negative keyword list. We also removed duplicate negatives across account levels. In an account lacking conversion tracking, we consolidated negatives and enhanced targeting with demographics, past website users, in-market, and similar audiences to improve ROI.
After strong Search Network results, Helpful Holidays expanded into Google Display to boost brand awareness and target a 600% ROAS. To drive more conversions, we launched Display campaigns reaching cold audiences beyond Google Search and Facebook.
Targeting all funnel stages enables faster sales growth, so we researched, planned, and implemented campaigns across the funnel, including:
- Google Ads Dynamic Remarketing: We created a remarketing funnel with tailored audience bids and ac copy. Dynamic creative was applied by linking to the holiday data feed, as well as standard Display Ads and uploaded banner ads.
- Contextual advertising: Using website topics and keywords to show on relevant websites to the travel industry and display ads that are relevant and topical.
- Managed Placements: Ads were run on all the UK online newspapers as placements. We also tested this combined with contextual (keyword) targeting to focus more on the target persona of holidays, and more specific types of holidays.
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In-Market Audiences: We focused on audiences with interests like holidays and travel, quickly scaling impressions into the millions. Campaign performance steadily improved, exceeding the target ROAS.
Similar Audiences: We tested narrow audiences similar to past purchasers, combining them with topics, managed placements, and in-market audiences on the Display Network.
Results
This approach has driven stellar results for Inscripture during the time we have been working together. Since working with Inscripture we have:
Improved ROAS more than 100% in 1 month.
Improved overall sales by more than 400% over 12 months.
Increased monthly revenues to the point where we are well on track to reach one million pounds annual sales.
Implemented advanced campaign strategies with diverse audience targeting and ads.
Expanded advertising internationally.
Scaled ad spend increasing significantly while improving ROAS profits.
Achieved a much improved ROAS above the target 4.0.
Setup a complete Facebook Marketing Funnel as well as using most Google targeting options
Google Display Network
After seeing significant success from the Search Network campaigns, Rattan Direct was keen to explore Google Display Advertising in more detail. The goal was to grow brand awareness with a much larger audience than just the Search traffic, and to achieve ROAS of 700%. To build a full sales funnel, we targeted cold, warm, and hot traffic. Reaching all funnel stages allowed faster sales growth than using only Google Search. We set up campaigns for each funnel stage, including:
Contextual advertising
Using keywords and website topics that show on relevant websites to display ads that are relevant and topical.
Managed Placements
Ads ran on UK online newspapers as placements, combined with contextual (keyword) targeting to better reach the target persona.
In-Market Audiences
We targeted interests like garden furniture and outdoor living, quickly reaching millions of impressions. Over time, campaigns improved and surpassed the required ROAS.
Similar Audiences
We created an audience similar to purchasers and ran ads on the Display Network, testing dynamic versus static ads.
Website Remarketing
We created a remarketing funnel with recent short-term traffic, as well as a separate campaign for long term traffic up to 540 days.
Gmail Ads
These we set up to reach the current email list as well as the above Display Targeting options. We also created ads with the range of the available ad formats to ensure optimum results.
YouTube Ads / Video Adverts
These we utilised to reach past website users with remarketing, as well as the above Display Targeting options. Ads exploring the available ad formats were examined and tested to ensure optimum conversions.
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Step One = 15-30-minute call to understand your business and provide more context before the screen share and written audits are completed.