Their ‘Surprise yourself” campaign launched in March with a TV ad spot, website and other marketing initiatives, and by the end of October had generated £89.9 million in additional economic benefit for the region – VisitScotland’s best-ever results for a domestic campaign.

So how did they do it? Vicki Miller, VisitScotland’s head of local marketing, says that segmented customer profiles and targeted marketing – with direct mail an essential part of the mix – was key to its success.

‘The UK tourist market is very important to Scotland – local visitors make up 83% of the total number of tourists visiting the country,’ she told the Mail Media Centre in an exclusive interview.

‘Also, this market sees Scotland very much as a destination for a short break – on average three nights. International tourists generally stay for longer; around two weeks, and while they typically tend to spend more, they count for much less volume.

‘However, we’ve determined that those people we build a relationship with tend to stay for longer and spend a little more. Targeted and more personalised direct mail plays a big part in fostering that sense of loyalty.’

Key objective

VisitScotland promotes the country all year round, but ‘turns the volume up’ at key times of the year.

‘Our core objective is to continue to ensure people visit during quieter months, such as in early spring and autumn,’ Vicki continues. ‘Targeted communications, especially with appropriate content, are key to this.’

A key factor in the success of the campaign was an exceptionally well-segmented customer database.

‘Five years ago, we divided our customer database into different segments, based on geographic and demographic profiles that we discovered after conducting a lot of in-depth research about people’s holiday habits,’ Vicki says.

‘There are five ‘cold’ segments and four ‘warm’ segments, cold being those who are harder to reach, ‘warm’ being those who’ve been to Scotland on maybe more than one occasion.

‘With the warm segments, we’ve a great depth of information about them – what sort of media they consume, when and where they’ve visited, and so on. They’re our major focus – we try to build a relationship with them and increase loyalty.’

Mail effectiveness

Direct mail also plays a central role in updating customer details for the VisitScotland database.

‘We capture information about customers through offering vouchers or through competitions – direct mail is very effective at driving people online in order to access these offers,’ says Vicki, who’s been with the VisitScotland team for 10 years and in her current role for three.

Mailouts generally take the form of letters, either accompanied by brochures, or vouchers or special offers.

Of course, the current economic climate is proving challenging for everyone, but one might imagine that the tourism sector is suffering more than most. However, Vicki points out that leisure is still on the agenda for many people, with an increase in “staycations” and more people taking holidays closer to home.

VisitScotland has different themes each year for its campaigns, and all its creative reflects this. This year, the theme was ‘Surprise yourself’, so the emphasis was on highlighting aspects of Scotland that people might not know about, as well as original twists on familiar Caledonian sights.

‘This is at the heart of our communications, and is integrated into everything we do visually and in the copy,’ Vicki says. ‘It’s designed to produce a powerful and emotionally enriching personal experience.’

Impressive results

The results so far have been a 6% increase in domestic visitors and a 13% increase in tourist expenditure in the first six months of the campaign, compared with the same period in 2010 – meaning that Scotland outperformed the rest of Britain in attracting UK visitors. In 2012, the theme will focus on the more contemporary and creative aspects of Scotland.

So what does Vicki see as the major advantage of direct mail within marketing campaigns? ‘In my opinion, definitely its ability to help you target and tailor your marketing message,’ is her reply.

‘For us, content is king – knowing who you’re talking to and getting to send a message that will motivate someone to book a holiday. The huge returns we’ve got for the ‘Surprise yourself’ campaign are down to our success in targeting and tailoring our key market.’