Small Town Zoo Wants to Become Regional Entertainment Favorite

ZooMontana has always been committed to providing exceptional care to animals and plants from their native region—along with spectacular grounds for event hosting, and a solid educational program. They had a large social media following but no idea how to capitalize on it. What’s a zoo to do? They entered our 1:1 non-profit contest where they would receive a team of experts to handle their email marketing for one year, for $1—and they won! By being able to spend their energy on their animals, guests, and conservation practices (instead of email marketing) they received their Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Accreditation in September 2019.

They Needed a Vehicle to Get the Word Out

Even with 70 acres of prime real estate for animal exhibits, weddings, concert venues and more, ZooMontana still needed help bringing people in. Our team used everything ZooMontana offered to design an email campaign that would help with the following goals:

Provide consistent messaging to their audience.
Increase admission revenue.
Support their thriving events program.
Grow their edZOOcational division.
Boost visibility.
Heighten reader engagement
Extend the zoo’s reach.

First Step in Their Campaign: A Bold Template

We started by designing a flexible email template to match their brand and website that was bold, had loads of texture, was highly readable on mobile devices, and reflected ZooMontana’s personality. As Email Broadcast team member Linsie Decker attests, “ZooMontana’s template is warm, fun, and inviting. Meet the people behind the message and you’ll understand why we designed it that way!”

Then we honed in on their unique voice—friendly, informative, high-energy, and positive—and produced captivating monthly emails like Bert the Bison’s dating profile (we’re pretty sure that guy’s hitched by now).

Lions and Tigers and Bears–Oh My!
The Results Are In!

NEWS FLASH! ZooMontana is seeing open rates of over 30%–substantially greater than the non-profit industry average of 24.11%–and their list keeps growing.

The campaign program we created for ZooMontana was so successful that when their free year was coming to an end, they chose to extend their stay with us as a paying client. They clearly saw the value of an email marketing campaign–it made them money. We’re thrilled to continue working with such a dedicated, playful, and creative team, who–like us–digs pics of baby otters and wants to make the world a better place.

What Our Customers Are Saying

“The folks at Email Broadcast took the time to understand our organization. After learning our values and personality, they created a template for our email messages that perfectly complements our brand, making for a seamless transition into the digital world. Using a professional email service is new to us, but Email Broadcast works so closely with our staff that it feels as though we’ve been doing this for years. All of us at ZooMontana, our visitors included, could not be happier with the results we are seeing.”

–Jeff Ewelt, ZooMontana Executive Director

Your Turn for Results

The next time you’re passing through Montana—or maybe you’re already lucky enough to live there—stop by ZooMontana for a day full of adorable animals, fun activity for all ages, and excitement. If you’re looking for ideas on how to engage your audience, collect new contacts, or sell out high-dollar event space please
book an appointment.