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Community-first marketing: How visitor attractions drive growth through loyal audiences
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Discover how community-first marketing helps visitor attractions build loyalty, boost repeat visits, and grow sustainably through stronger connections.
Lasting growth starts with relationships, not just transactions.
Why loyalty matters more than ever
Marketing today isn’t just about visibility - it’s about connection. For visitor attractions, sustainable growth increasingly depends on the emotional bond between your brand and your audience.
Community-first marketing offers a powerful way forward. Rather than relying solely on one-off promotions, it focuses on building long-term relationships = creating loyal audiences who return, recommend, and actively engage.
Rethinking what marketing can achieve
Community-first marketing shifts the focus from one-time transactions to ongoing connection.
At its core, community means a group of people who feel they belong - sharing experiences, values, and emotional ties. For visitor attractions, this could be families who’ve been returning for years, members who proudly flash their loyalty cards, or locals who feel invested in your story.
💥 Examples we’ve seen work well:
- A soft play centre featuring weekly “mini artist” drawings from visiting children
- A museum emailing behind-the-scenes sneak peeks to subscribers
- A farm park that live-streams lambing season to thousands of engaged followers
These aren’t big-budget efforts - they’re consistent, personal touchpoints that make guests feel like insiders.
Top tip: A monthly email with stories, sneak peeks or Q&As can go a long way toward keeping your brand front-of-mind.
How community-first marketing works
Attractions that build strong communities tend to:
- Stay present between visits - via newsletters, social content, or member updates. For example, gardens might send seasonal planting tips or wildlife highlights that align with what’s blooming on site.
- Offer early access or sneak previews - such as a zoo giving email subscribers first dibs on holiday tickets, or a museum inviting members to co-curate exhibits.
- Feature real people and stories - from volunteers and staff to your most loyal guests. This builds emotional familiarity.
Some go further still - sharing daily videos on Instagram, hosting Facebook Lives, or even running animal webcams that visitors check habitually. These low-barrier formats can significantly deepen ongoing engagement.
Top tip: Celebrate user-generated content. When you repost a visitor’s photo or story, you show you’re listening - and encourage others to engage.
Loyalty builds marketing momentum
Community-first marketing pays off in more ways than one.
When people feel emotionally connected, they:
- Return more frequently
- Share their experience with others
- Spend more on upgrades or memberships
This kind of loyalty also reduces reliance on paid promotion. We’ve seen providers who prioritise ongoing engagement steadily grow repeat bookings and reduce their cost per acquisition year over year.
For example, one attraction saw their email list become their top source of sales after prioritising authentic updates and exclusive offers. Another farm park saw engagement on social media increase by letting followers name newborn animals via polls.
Top tip: Ask: “How can we make our visitors feel included before and after their visit?”
What this means for your attraction
Community-first marketing isn’t about changing everything. It’s about small, consistent steps that shift your relationship with visitors from transactional to emotional.
Practical starting points:
- Run a regular newsletter with previews, offers or stories
- Add light behind-the-scenes content to your social schedule
- Offer members first-look access to seasonal events
- Include visitor-generated content in your posts and emails
It’s not about doing everything - just doing something, consistently.
Top tip: Start with what’s already working. If a social post gets great comments, build a follow-up series. If your newsletter sees high open rates, double down.
What we’ve seen work
Across the visitor attractions we support, we’ve seen the impact of community-first marketing firsthand.
From soft play centres building loyalty through social shout-outs, to gardens growing email sales through engaging seasonal content -providers who focus on long-term connection consistently perform better on repeat visits, referrals, and cost-effective marketing.
It’s a strategy that takes time - but it’s worth it.
Ready to grow your community?
Building loyalty takes time, but the results are worth it - stronger engagement, repeat visits, and lower reliance on paid promotion.
If you’re looking for tools to support community-first marketing - from automated emails to visitor insights and feedback collection - get in touch with our team to explore how Beyonk can help you build stronger relationships and boost repeat bookings.
