(05/17/21)

By Megan Wisecup, Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources

Iowa DNR was selected as one of four states to receive $50,000 in the 2020 R3 Marketing Multistate Grant through ACI. In this highly competitive grant process, ACI received 17 applications and said Iowa’s rose to the top.

Iowa’s project was the only one selected this grant round to focus on recreational shooting and providing that segment with information and resources to get started hunting.

In this “Pick Your Path” campaign, which launched March 15 and concluded May 15, the DNR focused on three target audiences:

1. NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) past participants and their families;
2. SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program) past participants and their families; and
3. General recreational shooters visiting DNR-owned shooting ranges, along with participants at privately owned ranges that have agreed to partner on this effort. 

We partnered with Brandt Information Services and Modern Legacy to create a marketing pathway that leads a recreational shooting enthusiast to buy a hunting license and/or pay the habitat fee. Highly targeted digital ads leveraged pixel-tracking and utm-tagging tactics to measure view-through and click-through conversions generated from users who saw Iowa DNR’s digital ads as well as click-through traffic generated from the landing webpage.

Our goal was to drive target audiences through the consumer life-cycle from recreational shooting participants to buying a hunting license and/or paying the habitat fee and ultimately to a hunting experience. Digital ads (live March 15- May 15) and video assets used imagery and messages most relevant to the specific target audience to create a personalized experience to connect with them on their terms.

The call to action of the digital ads drove users to an Iowa DNR webpage created specific for each target audience with imagery and video assets, a link to buy a license and tips to get started hunting such as places to hunt and shoot and season dates and regulations.

The DNR will work with partners to evaluate effectiveness and determine the most impactful strategies for future campaigns.

In the future the DNR will develop a tool kit for the digital media assets to be shared with partners for educational, marketing and communication efforts. The tool kit will be available once the campaign concludes. To view the videos and campaign elements, please visit: 

IowaDNR.gov/Things-to-Do/Pick-Your-Path
IowaDNR.gov/Things-to-Do/Pick-Your-Path/NASP-to-Hunting
IowaDNR.gov/Things-to-Do/Pick-Your-Path/SCTP-to-Hunting
IowaDNR.gov/Things-to-Do/Pick-Your-Path/Recreational-Shooting-to-Hunting