To expand Visit South Jersey’s reach beyond its drive market, Orange 142 designed a data-driven approach to audience targeting.
Before partnering with Orange 142, Visit South Jersey’s marketing efforts focused on print and grassroots strategies, with a small amount of digital advertising. The results exceeded Visit South Jersey’s expectations and proved that even small DMOs with constrained budgets can succeed with digital marketing.
| 1,375,000 Impressions | 21,200 Clicks | 1.54% CTR |
About Visit South Jersey
Visit South Jersey is the tourism marketing nonprofit serving Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem counties, and the Outer Coastal Plain Wine Region. Working with the NJ Department of State Division of Travel and Tourism, county partners, and local businesses, Visit South Jersey creates awareness of tourism assets, converts awareness into visits, and turns visits into tourism revenue.
Visit South Jersey reaches residents and visitors through paid advertising, web marketing, a Visitor’s Guide, PR, social media, media partnerships, and event sponsorships. Visit South Jersey promotes all tourism assets in the region, including wineries and craft beverage producers, historic downtowns, landmarks, paleontological sites, and farmlands between Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore.
With a limited budget, insights were critical to making every dollar count. Visit South Jersey needed a clear understanding of who to target and where their visitors were coming from to ensure their advertising reached the right audience.
The Challenge: Big Needs, Small Budget
Before partnering with Orange 142, Visit South Jersey’s marketing efforts focused on print and grassroots strategies, with a small amount of digital advertising. The DMO wanted to make a more strategic investment in digital to reach a broader audience. “My total budget for the organization is under $300,000 a year,” explained Michael Snyder, Director of Operations for Visit South Jersey. “We had to ensure we were getting a strong return on investment.”
Limited Budget
With a limited budget, insights were critical to making every dollar count. Visit South Jersey needed a clear understanding of who to target and where their visitors were coming from to ensure their advertising reached the right audience. While the team had educated guesses based on regional proximity, they needed real data to refine their strategy and ensure ad dollars were allocated to the most valuable markets.
Visit South Jersey was traditionally viewed as a drive market, with visitors primarily coming from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. However, with significant events on the horizon—including the 2026 FIFA World Cup, America 250 celebrations, and the Fossil Park & Museum opening—Michael recognized an opportunity to expand beyond regional audiences. The challenge was determining where to focus their efforts and how to reach travelers outside their established markets effectively.
Needing Strategic Help
Michael knew he needed strategic help and knew just the right person for the job. He had previously worked with Cassandra Razzi, Senior Business Development Manager at Orange 142, and had complete faith in her expertise. With full confidence in her ability to guide the organization, Michael partnered with Orange 142 to create a strategic digital advertising campaign that would sharpen their audience targeting, make smarter use of their budget, and help them reach travelers beyond the immediate region.
“When I first approached Cassie, she listened to our challenges and worked with us to develop a program that met our needs. We’ve been expanding on it ever since.”
— Michael Snyder, Director of Operations, Visit South Jersey
The Solution: Experimentation & Optimization
To expand Visit South Jersey’s reach beyond its drive market, Orange 142 designed a data-driven approach to audience targeting. They began with a broad geographic strategy based on initial visitor assumptions, then analyzed early campaign performance to identify and refine the most responsive audience segments.
With these insights, Orange 142 crafted a multi-channel campaign showcasing South Jersey as a prime leisure destination. The campaign was strategically structured into two tiers:
- Tier 1: Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Lehigh Valley (Allentown DMA)
- Tier 2: Richmond, VA; Upstate NY; Montreal, Canada; Western and Central PA (Pittsburgh and Harrisburg)
The campaign was designed to drive engagement at multiple levels, including website visits, newsletter signups, and visitor guide requests. To achieve this, Orange 142 A/B tested messages, tactics, and channels to determine which content resonated most with different audience segments.
Meta (Facebook/Instagram Ads)
Orange 142 leveraged Meta to generate impressions and clicks, using visually engaging creatives that showcased South Jersey’s mix of history, outdoor adventure, and family-friendly activities.
Paid Search (PPC/Google Ads)
Orange 142 developed a search strategy to capture high-intent travelers seeking vacation experiences. They selected keywords that aligned with South Jersey’s core attractions, such as “camping New Jersey,” “hiking trails,” “wine tasting,” “fine dining,” and “local brewing.”
YouTube Ads
The team incorporated video to reach audiences in an engaging format, delivering South Jersey’s tourism message through dynamic visuals and targeted placements.
In-Need
Orange 142 incorporated InNeed to expand South Jersey’s reach through placements seamlessly integrated with travel and lifestyle content. These ads were designed to align with relevant editorial environments, ensuring the messaging resonated with audiences already researching destinations.
Instream Video Ads
Orange 142 leveraged instream video to engage audiences with immersive storytelling, reinforcing South Jersey’s appeal as a travel destination. These ads were strategically placed within relevant video content to capture attention and encourage deeper engagement.
This multi-channel approach ensured broad exposure while allowing tailored messaging based on user intent and engagement behaviors.
“It’s very rare for a larger digital company like yours to reach out or work with smaller organizations with lower budgets. It was just a really refreshing change of pace,” said Michael.
Key Insights: A Roadmap for Future Campaigns
Orange 142’s data-driven approach provided Visit South Jersey with valuable insights into audience behavior, leading to refinements in targeting and messaging throughout the campaign.
The campaign revealed clear differences in how Tier 1 and Tier 2 audiences engaged across platforms:
- Meta: Tier 1 audiences engaged twice as much as Tier 2 audiences.
- YouTube: Tier 2 outperformed, generating equal clicks with 40% fewer impressions.
- In-need placements: Higher engagement from Tier 1 audiences.
Paid search drove nearly 60% of all campaign clicks, with “camping New Jersey” emerging as the top search term. Other high-performing terms included “hiking trail,” “wine tasting,” and “fine dining,” while “brunch menu,” “farm to fork,” and “local brewing” achieved the highest click-through rates. This data helped align messaging with audience interests.
The campaign validated expansion beyond the traditional drive market. While Visit South Jersey typically focused on Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. visitors, data revealed unexpectedly strong engagement from Canadian travelers, prompting a dedicated awareness campaign for that market.
Perhaps the most surprising insight was the exceptional performance of camping-related content. Though Visit South Jersey had primarily promoted wine tourism and historic attractions, camping content outperformed expectations, revealing a growing demand for outdoor experiences and triggering a strategic shift toward featuring more outdoor activities.
The collaborative analysis between Visit South Jersey and Orange 142 transformed educated guesses into data-driven decisions. Through A/B testing of messages and creative formats, they identified winning approaches across channels, including a top-performing Meta ad: “Create lifelong memories with activities every family member will enjoy. Start planning the perfect getaway today.”
“Through this whole process, we’ve been allowed to meet with the Orange 142 team on multiple occasions. They’ve provided incredible resources- not just for me, but for my entire staff. We even have an educational lunch and learn coming up with the team, which has been a phenomenal resource,” Michael said.
Results: Big Wins
The results exceeded Visit South Jersey’s expectations and proved that even small DMOs with constrained budgets can succeed with digital marketing. “I’d tell any DMO our size that it’s absolutely possible to run an effective digital campaign- even on a limited budget- if you have the right partner,” Michael said. The Spring/Summer 2024 Leisure campaign generated 1.375 million impressions and 21,200 clicks, achieving an overall CTR of 1.54%.
“This has been a true partnership. We’re always working together, looking at trends, and making adjustments. It’s not just about placing ads; it’s about long-term strategy.”
— Michael Snyder, Director of Operations, Visit South Jersey
About Orange 142
Orange 142 is a digital marketing and advertising company with offices across the US. We service marketers and agencies. We are part of Direct Digital Holdings.
We help marketers of all sizes grow their reach and revenue through data-driven media strategies. We also partner with agencies and execute campaigns on behalf of their clients.
Our team of experts deeply understands the digital landscape and the latest advertising and marketing technologies. We work closely with our clients to develop and execute custom advertising and marketing campaigns that meet specific goals.
We are committed to providing our clients with the highest service and transparency. Open communication and collaboration are essential to the success of every advertising and marketing initiative.
