Digital Marketing Strategy Make The Surf Coast See What’s Already Here
The Beach Willow is a stunning nursery, homewares store and cafe just out of Torquay, and the single biggest opportunity is this: every customer who walks in is blown away, yet too many locals still don’t know it exists. The playbook is to project the in-store experience online, grow the social following, and turn the new WooCommerce store into a real revenue channel.
Torquay, VIC
Surf Coast Destination
3-in-1
Nursery • Homewares • Cafe
2.5yrs
Established & Loved
$50 to $200
Average Spend
New Store
WooCommerce Just Launched
Situation Analysis
Where The Beach Willow Stands Today
Based on the discovery call with Carolyn and Steve on 27 May 2026 and independent research, here’s the current landscape for The Beach Willow.
“Every day we have comments of ‘oh my god, this place is so beautiful, I can’t believe I haven’t been here before’. We hear all these amazing positive comments, but we’re not selling ourselves to the public as we should be. We want them to know it’s an amazing space before they get here.”
Carolyn Truscott, Co-Owner, The Beach Willow
Strengths
Beautiful venue that wows every first-time visitor
Three businesses in one + landscaping
2.5 years established with loyal locals
New WooCommerce store ready to scale
Daily in-house social content
Two audiences: locals + holiday makers
Current Gaps
Locals still don’t know the venue exists
Online presence doesn’t show the real space
Instagram growth has stalled
No local SEO (“nursery Torquay” etc.)
New store has no promotion plan
No clear strategy, unsure where to spend
Market Opportunity
The Beach Willow has the rarest thing in retail, a product that delights people the moment they experience it. The gap isn’t the offer; it’s the projection of it. Waldecks proved the ceiling with ~100k followers built purely on aspirational plant & lifestyle content. The Beach Willow can own the same lane for the Surf Coast, positioned as a destination experience, not just a shop. Capture the real-world “wow” on camera, distribute it well, and the awareness problem solves itself.
2
Audiences (Locals + Visitors)
~100k
Waldecks Follower Benchmark
3+1
Revenue Streams to Cross-Sell
New
Ecommerce Channel to Grow
A realistic outcome in 12 months: The Beach Willow becomes a recognised Surf Coast destination, ranking top-3 for local searches like “nursery Torquay” and “homewares Surf Coast”, a fast-growing Instagram & Facebook following fed by immersive walkthrough content, and a WooCommerce store generating consistent online orders alongside foot traffic. The strategic imperative: show people online what already wows them in person.
Where We’d Start
Start Lean. Prove It. Then Scale.
You told us you’ve never done this before and want to see what the money buys. So here’s our honest recommendation, not a hard sell. We’d begin with the fast, high-impact fundamentals, prove the lift in 90 days, and only scale spend once you can see it working. The big near-certain win is foot traffic to the venue; everything else builds on top.
First, Get Found
Google Business Profile, reviews, local SEO & Maps. Cheap, fast, high-impact. After 2.5 years, this is the quickest fix for “locals don’t know we exist”.
Quick Win
Second, Capture The Wow
One proper content shoot, reels, drone, photography, that finally shows the scale & beauty people only see in person. This is what fixes stalled growth.
Highest Leverage
Then, Scale What Works
Once 90-day results are in, layer paid reach, ecommerce growth & collabs, spending where the data already shows a return, not on guesswork.
Earn The Spend
A Straight Word On The Online Store
Steve, we know you’re keen to push the new store, and we will. But honestly: for a venue this beautiful, the biggest, fastest return is getting more people through the door. We’d treat the online store as a steady grower that builds over time, while foot traffic does the heavy lifting now. We’d rather under-promise and over-deliver than sell you an ecommerce dream that takes years to pay back.
New From Our Call: A Month-One Landscaping Test
On the call you reminded us landscaping is a genuine arm of the business, and it changes the maths. A typical retail sale is $50 to $200; a single landscaping job can be worth thousands. So in month one we’d run a focused test campaign for the landscaping division, backed by real managed Meta and/or Google ad budget (included in the one-month test below). Win just one or two jobs and it can cover a meaningful slice of your investment while the slower-burn brand work compounds. It’s the fastest path to revenue we can see, so we want to prove it early.
High-Value Quick Test
Our Honest Recommendation: A No-Risk 1-Month Test
Start with a one-month test at $2,000 + GST (instead of $3,000), with managed Meta and/or Google paid ads included, so there’s real budget behind the landscaping test and getting more people through the door from day one.
Prove the lift, then step up to Foundation ($3,000/month) or Growth when you can see it’s working. No lock-in. You stay because it’s working, not because you’re trapped, and we’d rather earn the bigger budget than ask for it up front.
Target Audiences
Two Audiences. One Destination. Both Within Reach.
The Beach Willow serves two distinct customer types, Surf Coast locals and holiday makers, with different motivations and different ways to reach them. Our strategy runs two parallel content tracks so every post, page and ad speaks clearly to one or the other.
Tier 1 • Surf Coast Locals
The repeat-visit backbone
Surf Coast residents who garden, decorate & brunch
Home decorators & plant lovers
Cafe regulars & landscaping enquirers
Channels & Message
Local SEO & Google Profile
Instagram & Facebook, reels, arrivals, cafe
Email & loyalty, offers & events
Tone: warm, local, lifestyle-led
Tier 2 • Holiday Makers & Visitors
High-intent seasonal spenders
Holiday-home owners styling coastal retreats
Day-trippers seeking a beautiful place to visit
Impulse homewares & gift shoppers
Channels & Message
Instagram & Reels, “must-visit” content
Google Maps & “things to do Torquay”
WooCommerce store, ship home
Tone: aspirational, immersive
Scope of Services
What We Deliver Every Month
Six workstreams built to project the in-store experience online: immersive visual content first, social growth & local SEO second, ecommerce promotion & paid as the engine matures. We make the Surf Coast see what’s already here.
1 • Immersive Visual Content
Walkthrough reels, drone footage & high-end venue photography that capture the scale & beauty people only see in person. This is the core fix for the awareness gap.
High Impact
2 • Always-On Social Management
Manage & grow Instagram & Facebook with your in-house content folded in. Daily posts, stories & reels mixing nursery, homewares, cafe & landscaping, ending the stalled follower growth.
Core
3 • Local SEO & Google Profile
Own “nursery Torquay”, “plant store Surf Coast”, “cafe Torquay”. Optimised Google Business Profile, reviews & Maps presence so locals AND visitors find you first.
Long-Term Moat
4 • Ecommerce Growth
Promote the new WooCommerce store, Google Shopping refinement, product feed optimisation, retargeting & on-site conversion tweaks to turn the new channel into real revenue.
Revenue Driver
5 • Content Strategy & Email
Plant-care guides, styling tips, blog & email campaigns that build authority, repeat visits & online orders. Positions The Beach Willow as the Surf Coast lifestyle authority.
Included In Every Package, Starting From Foundation
This is the part most agencies charge extra for, or skip entirely. For The Beach Willow, we think it’s the most important thing we deliver. Carolyn told us plainly: “we’re not sure exactly how to go about it… we don’t really know what we want.” You’re not just buying social media posts, you’re buying a strategic partner who works out how to project the in-store experience online, which audience to chase in which season, and how to turn a stalled following into a growing destination brand.
What It Means Practically
Every month, a senior strategist (Katryn Fremlin, Head of Strategy) actively works on your marketing, not just in it. You get strategic direction, a destination-brand playbook, competitor intelligence (starting with Waldecks & The Fives), and a roadmap that evolves with The Beach Willow. No extra fees. No separate engagement.
Quarterly Strategy Sessions
90-min review with Carolyn & Steve
Performance vs goals
Seasonal prioritisation
New initiative recommendations
Positioning & Messaging
A destination, not just a shop
Tone: warm, beautiful, lifestyle-led
Messaging for locals vs visitors
One story across all four offers
Market & Competitor Intel
Waldecks deep-dive (~100k followers)
The Fives watch, new local rival
Wombat Gully & Van Loons benchmarked
Local search-intent trends
Ecommerce & Conversion Strategy
Store journey: browse to checkout
Product feed & Google Shopping
Bridge online & in-store
Attribution on sales & visits
Campaign & Seasonal Planning
Seasonal campaigns (spring, summer, gifting)
“Discover the destination” for locals
Online store promotion
In-store event amplification
Always-On Advisor Access
Direct line to your strategist
Ad-hoc advice when needed
Coaching for your in-house creator
Partnership & local-collab review
Why This Matters For The Beach Willow
Carolyn told us: “we’re open to discussion on what you think might be necessary, we’ve never done this before.” That’s exactly why strategy sits at the core of what we do, not tacked on at extra cost.
You already have the hard part, a beautiful venue people fall in love with the moment they arrive. The job is to project that online: capture the experience well, distribute it to the right audience, and grow a following that turns into foot traffic and online orders. Full Marketing Strategy Consultancy means senior strategic thinking applied to your business every single month, with a direct line to the Waldecks playbook, a destination-brand roadmap, and seasonal planning across both your audiences. That’s how a hidden gem becomes a known destination.
Content Approval Workflow
Nothing Goes Live Without Carolyn & Steve’s Sign-Off
Your brand is your beautiful space, every post, photo and reel shapes the first impression for people who haven’t visited yet. Our formal approval workflow makes sure every piece of content represents The Beach Willow properly, matches your aesthetic, and feels authentically you before it goes live.
Trigger
121 Group Action
Client Review
Publish
1. Plan
Monthly calendar
2. Draft
Copy + visuals
3. Review
Carolyn & Steve
4. Approve
One-click sign-off
5. Publish
Scheduled live
Built-In Safeguards
Brand & Voice Guidelines
The Beach Willow look & tone captured in a living document, warm, beautiful, lifestyle-led.
In-House Content Folded In
We work alongside your existing content creator, their footage plus ours, all to one consistent plan.
One-Message Pause
Carolyn or Steve can pause all scheduled content with one message if anything in-store changes.
Surf Coast Destination Playbook
Show Them The “Wow” Before They Arrive
Carolyn nailed the core problem: “people drop in who don’t know we’re here, or don’t realise how big we are… we want them to know it’s an amazing space before they get here.” The fix is a repeatable content engine that captures the real in-store experience and projects it to the right audience. Here’s the 4-phase playbook we run continuously.
Phase 1 • Month 1
Capture The Experience
A proper content shoot, walkthrough reels, drone footage of the full site, hero photography of the nursery, homewares & cafe. We build a library that finally shows the scale and beauty people only see in person.
Phase 2 • Month 1 to 2
Get Found Locally
Optimise the Google Business Profile, win reviews, and target local searches (“nursery Torquay”, “homewares Surf Coast”, “cafe Torquay”). Make sure anyone within range, and every visitor planning a trip, finds you first.
Phase 2 to 3 • Ongoing
Grow The Following
End the stalled Instagram growth with a proper content strategy, reels-led, aspirational, distributed for reach. Borrow what works from Waldecks’ ~100k-follower playbook and adapt it to the Surf Coast.
Phase 4 • Month 3+
Convert To Visits & Orders
Layer paid social & Google to amplify the best-performing content, retarget engaged audiences, and drive WooCommerce orders & foot traffic. The awareness compounds month over month.
Applied Across The Whole Business
The Nursery
Plant care, new arrivals, seasonal planting, the authority & selection content that turns browsers into regulars.
Homewares
Styled flat-lays & in-situ shots that drive impulse purchases, in store and through the online shop.
The Cafe
The reason to linger. Cafe content gives people the “come for the day” reason to make the trip.
Landscaping
Before/after project showcases that generate higher-value landscaping enquiries.
The Online Store
Every piece of content quietly drives the new WooCommerce store, ship anywhere, or “see it in person”.
The Destination
Above all, the unifying story: The Beach Willow is a Surf Coast destination worth the trip.
Content Strategy
Five Pillars Driving The Monthly Mix
A content calendar built to grow a destination brand: show the space, inspire the buy, build the local love. Every post hits at least one audience, locals or holiday makers, and quietly supports the online store.
Pillar 1 • The Destination
Walkthrough reels, drone shots & venue beauty content that capture the scale & atmosphere. The “you have to see this place” pillar that fixes the awareness gap.
30%
Pillar 2 • Product & New Arrivals
Plants, homewares & gift styling that drive in-store and online sales. Styled, aspirational, shoppable, the WooCommerce engine room.
25%
Pillar 3 • Expertise & Plant Care
Plant-care tips, styling ideas, landscaping how-tos. Builds authority & saves & shares, the content that grows the following.
20%
Pillar 4 • The Cafe & Lifestyle
Cafe moments, the “spend the day here” vibe, seasonal coastal lifestyle. The reason holiday makers & locals make the trip.
15%
Pillar 5 • Community & Proof
Customer love (“I can’t believe I haven’t been here before!”), Google reviews, events & the people behind The Beach Willow.
10%
KPIs & Reporting
How We Measure Success
Clear 90-day and 12-month benchmarks. The real measure is more people through the door, a growing engaged following, and consistent online orders, everything upstream (reach, rankings, content output) is optimised toward those outcomes.
90-Day Foundation KPIs
Building the awareness engine
Content library built (reels, drone, photos)
Posting cadence: 100% to calendar
Google Profile optimised + reviews live
Top-10 local ranking for 3 to 5 searches
Tracking live: GA4 + Pixel + sales
Reach & follower growth back on the rise
12-Month Growth KPIs
Destination status & growing revenue
Top-3 local ranking for 10+ searches
Instagram following materially grown
Store delivering consistent monthly orders
Lift in new-customer foot traffic
A repeatable content engine you can sustain
A known destination, not a hidden gem
Roadmap
From Friday’s Call to Live In Under 2 Weeks
A clear, simple path from alignment to launch, with the content shoot booked, first social posts live, and the Google Business Profile optimised inside 2 weeks of sign-off.
Fri 29 May • 4:00pm
Strategy Walkthrough
Walk Carolyn & Steve through this proposal via Google Meet. Confirm scope, preferred package, and answer any questions.
Week 1
Agree & Sign
Engagement letter signed. Package, start date and content approval process confirmed.
First content live inside 10 to 14 days. Weekly rhythm established. Google Business Profile optimised. Online store promotion switched on.
Day 30
First Performance Report
Reach, rankings, follower growth, online sales. Honest read on what’s working, and what we adjust for month 2.
Day 90
Foundation KPI Review
First full strategy review against 90-day KPIs. Rebalance pillars, scale the content that’s growing reach, double down on what’s converting.
Your Team
Melbourne-Based Experts, Dedicated To Your Growth
Every channel is managed by a senior specialist out of our Melbourne office, an easy trip down the highway from Torquay. No offshore outsourcing. No juniors learning on your account. Direct access to the people doing the work, with a team that’s grown destination, retail & lifestyle brands before.
Adam Ducquet
Managing Director
Your main point of contact
Kate Lawrence
Account Director
Day-to-day partnership lead
Katryn Fremlin
Head of Strategy
Content & pillar strategy
Michael Potts
Paid Social Director
Meta boosts & paid reach
Chris Castellano
Senior Growth & SEO Manager
Google Business Profile & local SEO
Scott Campbell
Head of Design & Development
Graphic systems & approval dashboard
Pip Tyssen
Graphic Designer
Daily post & reels creative
Steven Pythas
Strategic Account Director
Quarterly strategy reviews
Our Commitment To The Beach Willow
No lock-in contracts. Month-to-month. Full strategy consultancy contractually included.
We keep your business by delivering results and respecting your brand, not by trapping you in a contract. Most of our clients have been with us for 5+ years because they choose to be.
Packages
Choose Your Engagement Tier
All packages are month-to-month with no lock-in contracts. As we said in Where We’d Start, our honest recommendation is to begin on Foundation, prove the foot-traffic lift in 90 days, then step up to Growth when the results are in. Growth is shown as “recommended” because it’s the best long-term fit, but there’s no rush to start there.
Best Way To Start: A 1-Month Test, $2,000 + GST
Rather than commit straight away, begin with a single one-month test at $2,000 + GST (instead of $3,000), with managed Meta and/or Google paid ads included. We put real budget behind the landscaping test and driving foot traffic, you see what the spend actually does, and you step up to Foundation or Growth only once it’s working.
Foundation
Get the engine running. Channels managed, consistent beautiful presence, local SEO set up.
To give the month-one landscaping test the best possible chance, we’d build a dedicated, conversion-focused landing page for the landscaping division: a single page designed to turn ad clicks into real enquiries, kept separate from the main site so the message stays sharp. It’s a one-off $900 + GST and it’s yours to keep. A couple of recent landing pages we’ve built for clients:
