Leveraging Google Performance Max to Boost Newsletter Subscribers & Website Engagement for Visit Berkeley

Learn how utilizing paid media flipped Visit Berkeley’s subtle subscriber gains into meaningful growth, while also sending measurable waves of engagement through their website.

Berkeley, California, is perfectly bookended by the gorgeous waters of the Pacific Ocean and the lush flora of its botanical gardens and the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. What lies between these natural wonders is a series of rich, multicultural neighborhoods that brew up bold flavors in every corner of the city and are speckled by Berkeley’s huge arts scene.

From its impressive outdoor Greek Theater and multitude of museums, Berkeley stands as a blossoming, lively destination, with the University of California, Berkeley, at its heart. Though an already established and well-defined city in the vast state, Berkeley is still growing.

Seeking Growth

Visit Berkeley’s newsletter has established a symbiotic relationship between the destination and its audience. For those looking to learn more about Berkeley — including things to do, deals, and upcoming events — the newsletter is a useful tool which visitors and locals alike can opt in to receiving via their Tempest-designed website. For Visit Berkeley, it’s a key instrument for increasing the volume and quality of first-party data collected from subscribers to further refine destination promotion efforts.

Despite its clear value, organic subscriptions waned. Though they had a clear call to action on the website to subscribe, Visit Berkeley knew that integrating targeted, paid media efforts into their advertising strategy would drive more signups.

To achieve this goal, Visit Berkeley collaborated with Tempest’s Growth Marketing team, who had long supported VisitBerkeley.com with SEO and GEO services to improve its visibility on organic platforms. Tempest designed a campaign that would complement the destination’s unique identity and take advantage of Google's ecosystem using the search engine’s AI-powered advertising tools to boost destination awareness and newsletter interest.

Creative Paid Marketing Backed By AI Tools

Central to Tempest’s paid advertising strategy were responsive ads with strong CTAs that highlighted the newsletter’s value — local deals, timely news, and partner spotlights.

Tempest launched a goal-based Google Performance Max (PMAX) campaign to grow interest in the leisure newsletter. Leveraging this program, Tempest utilized Google’s AI systems to optimize placements across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps, focusing the targeted program on in-market travelers who were looking for city and local guides, California/bay area vacations, and previous website visitors.

The first-party data collected by new newsletter subscribers spurred by the campaign would be used to further refine lookalike audiences and optimize retargeting efforts for other destination advertising campaigns.

The Growth Marketing Effect Sent Shockwaves

Following the deployment of the PMAX campaign, Visit Berkeley witnessed immediate growth in newsletter subscribers, with over 340 new subscribers over the course of 3 months. In the first year, the destination witnessed an increase of 489% in newsletter subscriptions.

As newsletter subscribers boomed, healthy traffic grew, helping boost overall website performance and engagement. As a result, visitor guide orders rose 592% YoY, and sitewide engagement rates increased by 3% YoY.

Aiding these results was the continued collaboration between Tempest and Visit Berkeley to develop helpful, engaging content that balances authentic stories and DMO expertise alongside SEO and GEO best practices.

Connect with our team to discover how integrated Growth Marketing strategies can help your organization grow first-party data, introduce new audiences to your destination, and boost website visibility across emerging platforms.

Explore Our Solutions

Growth Marketing

At Tempest, we define growth as a broad, data-driven approach focused on ensuring visitors connect with your destination at every stage of the travel planning process.

Details