Every successful marketing plan balances the long view with the day-to-day. For many visitor attractions, the distinction blurs during busy seasons. It’s easy to become reactive, chasing quick wins with tactical fixes while losing sight of bigger objectives. Yet the organisations that perform consistently are those that hold strategy steady while using tactics flexibly.

Strategy sets the direction: who you want to reach, what you want to achieve, and how your brand should be perceived. 

Tactics are the tools you use to get there: the ads, emails, and social posts that keep campaigns moving.

Seasonal campaigns reveal the real difference

Seasonal events like Halloween, Christmas or summer family programmes demand focused bursts of marketing energy. Tactics such as Meta ads, Google campaigns and last-minute email pushes are invaluable for cutting through in busy periods. But their real impact comes when they’re guided by a clear strategy. 

A strong plan ensures those bursts of activity build momentum rather than ending when the season does. If your goal is to grow memberships, for example, seasonal campaigns can encourage repeat engagement through exclusive offers or early booking privileges. If you want to strengthen your reputation with families, creative content can spotlight your facilities and storytelling, not just the event itself. 

Tactics drive attention in the moment, strategy makes sure that attention lasts.

Across the sector, late booking has become the norm. Families are waiting until the last moment to make decisions, influenced by weather, competing costs, and perceptions of value. For marketers, this can be frustrating. Campaigns may appear flat weeks in advance, even when demand is just around the corner.

This is where strategy matters. A strong plan helps you hold your nerve when early numbers look quiet. If your data shows most visitors book in the final 48 hours, switching campaigns too early risks wasting budget and confusing audiences. On the other hand, data may also reveal moments when adjusting tactics makes sense, such as refreshing creative to address barriers or pivoting spend to channels that convert more quickly. 

The art lies in knowing the difference: staying steady when booking patterns explain the lull, and making changes only when data suggests campaigns aren’t delivering as they should.

If you’re running live ads and wondering whether to hold steady or change course, the data can give you confidence. A few quick checks make the picture clearer: 

• Look at cost per booking, not cost per click. 
  A campaign that drives traffic but not sales may need new creative, targeting or a review of the user journey. 
  
  
• Check timing against past patterns.
  If families typically book two days before a holiday, don’t panic if numbers are soft earlier. 
  
  
• Monitor remarketing audiences.
  If visitors are browsing but not converting, strengthen your follow-up campaigns.
   
• Test creative in small steps.
  Refresh a headline or an image before overhauling everything; it shows what really makes a difference.
  
  
• Review your full funnel. 
  Seasonal ads should not only drive bookings but also build databases, newsletter sign-ups, and awareness for the next peak. 

With these checks in place, you’ll know whether campaigns are working as intended and when it’s time to sit tight or to refine.

Seasonal campaigns feel urgent, but attractions that succeed build them into a longer narrative. A well-designed strategy ensures that each burst of tactical activity supports future growth rather than distracting from it. 

That might mean planning live ads with multiple purposes: selling tickets now, yes, but also collecting data for remarketing, encouraging newsletter sign-ups, or building awareness for the next season. Tactics make the impact visible today. Strategy ensures those actions accumulate into something bigger.