July 27, 2020 – The Covid-19 pandemic has without a doubt been a challenging time for all Floridians, Americans and as human beings all over the world.  The same has held true for all types of daily commerce, but the pandemic really hit the local tourism industry incredibly hard here in Sarasota, FL during the most crucial time of the tourism season.

As an agency that prides itself on helping small businesses, 81 & Sunny strived to dig deep and help pull our local client, Fun Boat Tours, out of the hole Covid-19 unfortunately put them in during their most lucrative time of year (February – August).  FBT was forced to shut down all operations in early March and were not able to resume until mid-May, which was catastrophic to their business.  During the shutdown, 81 & Sunny formulated a strategy that would set FBT up for their greatest chance of success once the shutdown was over.  The goal was to have this strategy ready to deploy the day the shutdown ended.  

From day one after the shutdown, the re-engineered digital media strategy began to pay dividends immediately.  Bookings on Google and Facebook began pouring in that put “butts in seats” and began to unfreeze the business.  After a few weeks, FBT was able to fund more of their boat fleet, which allowed adventure tours to run all day long.  By the end of June, FBT was pleased to see they had booked the most revenue in one month since being in business (5 years).  As a whole, the digital program generated 330% ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), generated 65% of sales and allowed FBT to purchase more boats to add to their fleet while also adding more services to the business.