A playbook for hospitality growth: how Oxford Group climbed to page one and beyond

Hospitality is a competitive industry that’s only becoming more so as the cost of living rises, and people struggle to justify a night out on the town or a weekend away. Drinks and holidays are inevitably the first expenses to be cut when purse strings are tightened.

But the right marketing strategy can ensure a business thrives in the most challenging conditions. If a hospitality venue (whether hotel, restaurant, bar or pub) can increase its online visibility and earn more bookings, it can not only navigate choppy waters, but grow its market share.

If you live in Christchurch, you’ve more than likely frequented the Oxford Group; even if you don’t know it.

The organisation is behind some of the city’s most iconic hospitality venues (Fat Eddie’s, Original Sin, The Bog, Bealey Quarter and more) and played a leading role in Christchurch’s post-earthquake revival.

With 230 employees spread across seven bars, restaurants and accommodation providers, business was going well. But Oxford Group has never rested on its laurels, so leadership wanted to craft a plan that would ensure growth no matter what the broader economy was doing.

With this aim in mind, and with help from Traction, a set of key goals were formed:

• Increase direct bookings: In terms of accommodation, sites like Booking.com charge huge commission fees of up to 30% of the total booking value. To ensure margins weren’t eaten away, the aim was to earn more commission-free direct bookings.
• Get on page one: The guaranteed revenue offered by event bookings is particularly valuable to the Group’s bars, pubs and restaurants. Local SEO, SEO and GEO would be used to push every venue to page one of Google for key terms like ’[cuisine] restaurant’, ‘venue hire’ and ‘function hire’ as well as turn up on AI engines.
• Secure earlier bookings: The goal was to get venues booked out early: ideally six months in advance. Initially, the focus would be on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, before switching to earning top-up corporate bookings on weekdays.

Goals set, Traction and Oxford Group got to work.

The strategy began by building a foundation of local SEO. Taking it one venue at a time, region-specific keywords were added to websites and content, and Google Business Profiles were optimised.

Millie Bremner explains: “Original Sin wasn’t ranking at all for ‘Italian restaurant’. We managed to get it ranking within a massive perimeter of the city centre, which increased foot traffic, particularly for off-peak times like early dinner bookings.

“It was really rewarding seeing a venue like Original Sin climb to page one, inching higher each month. That work made me appreciate the real value of SEO, especially when it led to an increase in foot traffic.”

“We wouldn’t have known to focus on getting better conversions through display ads or SEO, or even using keywords like ‘Italian’ in reviews. Those little things just weren’t in my skill set, but Traction made them clear and impactful.”

Winning more direct bookings, and securing them early, formed another area of focus. Traction helped Oxford Group use SEO and ads to target group bookings from school groups, sports teams and businesses. International ad spend was also used to bring in high converting individuals who landed in Christchurch.

It worked.

Having implemented the strategy across all of Oxford Group’s brands, the results soon started to show. Each venue earned a spot on page one of Google, but more than that, this high ranking drove real growth.

Take Bealey Quarter restaurant, which saw:

• A click through rate (CTR) 3x above industry benchmarks
• A 3x increase in website visitors
• A 2x increase in conversion rate
• An SEO conversion rate of 14% (far outpacing the industry average of 1-2%)

Millie says she and the Oxford Group team had full clarity from (and confidence in) Traction from day one.

“Traction gave us an understanding of how marketing adds value to a business like ours. It’s such a complex world, but Traction made it clear: if you invest more money into X, it could give you a return like X.

“The difference with Traction compared to agencies we’ve used in the past is that they felt far more personal and personable, rather than transactional. We worked directly with the business owner, and there was more care, communication and connection”.

“The information we received was more in-depth and focused: instead of a 20-page report filled with random numbers, we got a succinct document that was explained in a monthly meeting. They were clinical in terms of the strategy.”

When asked to describe the experience of working with Traction in a few words, Millie is glowing.

“They’re the ultimate experts in all things marketing, who help businesses understand its importance in clear and easy to understand terms, and who are really easy to work with.”