The Gobbler Grind Marathon
The Study: Paid Media Unlocked More Race Registrations
THE CHALLENGE
The Gobbler Grind Marathon had strong historical loyalty for over 30 years but hit a growth plateau. Relying strictly on word-of-mouth, local running clubs, and the longevity of the race, it restricted registration to a tight regional circle.
To scale, the event needed a structured paid acquisition strategy to attract out-of-state endurance runners.
THE STRATEGY
Phase 1: Brand & Website Optimization
Aligned brand visuals, streamlined the website, and launched email campaigns to recapture previous runners.
Phase 2: Audience Expansion & Organic Growth
Managed end-to-end creative production, handling both graphic design and on-site content collection to keep the race top-of-mind via social media and email marketing
Launched a dedicated TikTok account to drive top-of-funnel organic growth and engage a younger demographic of endurance runners.
Phase 3: Hyper-Targeted Ad Scaling
Deployed hyper-targeted social ads using past runner databases to capture high-intent registrations.
THE RESULTS
Our multi-year funnel strategy proved highly effective across both brand visibility and direct registrations.
Registration Spikes: Year 2 optimization delivered a steady 8.72% organic increase. In Year 3, launching targeted paid media unlocked a massive 31.10% surge, adding 380 new registrants to the starting line.
Website Performance: The digital push drove high-intent traffic to the registration platform, resulting in a 27.9% increase in website views year-over-year and a 14.1% increase in active users year-over-year.
By combining brand alignment, organic content, and database-targeted ads, this campaign provides a proven, repeatable playbook for future event scaling.
