The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has worked with E11 on paid media since 2024. We produce the creative and run the campaigns end to end across Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, with a Google Ad Grant managed alongside a paid account.
The Challenge
From March through May 2026, the museum’s Ad Grant averaged a 4.75% search click-through rate, below the 5% minimum Google requires. A grant that stays under that line risks suspension. Part of the budget was reaching people browsing Balboa Park museums in general, and one campaign was only buying clicks on the museum’s own name, which people would have found anyway.
What We Did
On June 23 we rebuilt the Grant’s ad copy around real ticket and visit intent, cut the general park-browsing traffic, and paused the branded campaign. The Grant has cleared Google’s minimum every month since: 6.71% in June, 8.55% in July, and 6.42% in August. Compared with summer 2025, visit-intent actions (like checking hours and tickets) nearly doubled, from 331 to 651, on 37% less grant spend.
On the paid side, the creative is built in house: ad imagery, carousels, and event graphics, refreshed as exhibits rotate. Campaigns follow the museum’s calendar, from Polar Express and Thomas Family Day to Ales and Rails, summer and winter camps, membership drives, and the annual appeal, with retargeting built from the museum’s own email lists. About $450 a month now buys roughly 5,900 ad visits, and the paid account’s click-through rate rose from 1.69% to 3.29% year over year.
For how we approach this work, see PPC and paid media and Google Ad Grants management.
