What a 10-Week Ad Campaign for a Local Fair Taught Me About Cross-Channel Marketing
In the fast-paced world of event marketing, timing is everything. This past summer, I had the opportunity to run a full-funnel, cross-channel ad campaign for a large seasonal community event. Tens of thousands of people attend this event every year, but the promotional window is tight, competition is fierce, and budgets — like always — aren’t infinite.
Every ad, email, and webpage had to work hard. This is the story of how it all came together.
The Starting Line…
This wasn’t just a digital campaign. It was a live, moving machine with lots of real-world pressure.
We had 10 weeks to go from “let’s promote” to “we’re sold out.” Our audiences were diverse, from families looking for weekend fun, teenagers drawn to concerts and midway rides, seniors interested in local tradition, and tourists planning day trips. We targeted the Ottawa region and surrounding areas.
We focused our energy across four main channels: Google Ads, Meta Ads, website content & analytics, and email campaigns.
Google Ads: When People Are Ready to Act
Google Ads became our engine for intent. People actively searched for things like “fair near me this weekend” or “things to do in Ottawa with kids.”
At the start, we cast a wide net using broad match keywords to learn how people searched. But we quickly saw wasted spending. By week three, we tightened match types and added negative keywords. That’s when performance took off.
CTR rose to nearly 7%, and our CPC dropped to just $0.49. Local extensions were a quiet hero as well, showing users directions, hours, and other key info directly in search results.
Our display ads didn’t deliver the same impact. Impressions were fine, but intent was low. Search was where conversions lived.
Meta Ads: Building Buzz and Energy
Meta (Facebook & Instagram) played a different role. Here, we weren’t waiting for people to search; rather, we were stepping into their feeds.
We leaned on visuals: bright, bold single-image ads that showed happy families, live concerts, and candy apples. These ads hit over 500,000 impressions, with CTR averaging 6.5% and CPC as low as $0.08.
Carousel ads? Surprisingly underwhelming. People preferred clarity over options: One message. One image. One CTA.
And we also noticed something interesting: many users who saw the ad on Meta later searched for the event on Google. It was the kind of cross-platform synergy you hope for.
The Website: Our Silent Salesperson
Behind every ad was the website. And we watched it closely.
Over the campaign, we saw more than 55,000 sessions, with 85% on mobile. Pages like the event schedule and ticket info drove most of the engagement.
Using web analytics, we:
- Tracked drop-offs and tweaked CTAs
- Prioritized mobile optimizations
- Monitored how traffic from Meta and Google behaved differently
More than 25,000 users viewed our forms, and over 1,300 completed them — whether for ticket purchases or inquiries.
Email Marketing: The Quiet Workhorse
If Meta was the hype and Google was the closer, email was the reminder.
We ran 8 email campaigns, timed throughout the 10 weeks. The first few focused on early bird promotions. The middle ones built excitement with entertainment lineups and sneak peeks. The last few pushed urgency — “just days left!”
Open rates peaked at 32.7%, and click-throughs hit 12.7%. Most of those clicks? Straight to the ticket page.
And yet, unsubscribes stayed low (under 0.3%). That told us that our list was healthy and our messages relevant.
What I Took Away
This campaign wasn’t flawless. We adjusted constantly. But we kept learning, watching, and iterating.
Some lessons that stuck:
- Meta drives curiosity. Google drives action.
- The website has to hold the weight of all campaigns.
- Testing early saves budget later.
- Email is often underestimated — but it quietly delivers.
Mostly, I learned that every piece — every ad, every subject line, every landing page — is part of the same conversation. If you treat it that way, it all connects.
Thanks for reading.
If you’ve ever run campaigns for live events or seasonal promotions, I’d love to hear what surprised you — or what always works.
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and share your thoughts below.
