● 02 · the starting point · October 2023
October 2023. The calendar stops moving.
Robin Balhan and Charles Viellevoye look at their schedule. Robin for venue rentals, Charles for team building activities. Domaine de Bronromme fills its weekends. Château de la Louveterie too. Inquiries come through Ardennes Étapes, Casa Pilot, word of mouth. On quality, it holds.
But the two venues live in parallel. The Brasero brand does not exist. The château and the domaine do not speak to each other, people do not connect the two. No one to link one to the other, no one to push further.
The team building activity was launched a year earlier to fill the venues during the week. It stagnates. No SEO, no Google Ads, no newsletter, no inbound. The company holds on service quality, plateaus there, with direct outreach from Robin.
Two venues that hold. But not as a single house. The weekday calendar does not move..
↳ team building launched · 1 year · weekdays to fill
● 03 · mission identity card
Tactical identity.
- Callsign
- BRAVO-01
- Client
- Brasero Group
- Squad
- jérôme · camille · rémy
- Dates
- October 2023 · ongoing
- Direction
- Co-founderCo-founder
- Day-to-day
- Event ManagerTeam Building Manager
- Targets
- corporate retreats 12 → 200 ppl
- extended families
- signature weddings
● 04 · the briefing in three steps
Build the acquisition engine. Month after month.
- Étape 01
What existed
Three clean EPIC sites. Inquiries via Ardennes Étapes, Casa Pilot, word of mouth. No SEO pilot. No Google Ads. No newsletter. New team building activity (1 year), barely known.
- Étape 02
The initial plan
Build the Brasero brand linking both venues. Measure cleanly (server-side tracking). Launch multi-country paid acquisition. Push weekday team building. SEO pillar pages on the Ardennes terroir.
- Étape 03
What stands today
Brasero brand established. Server-side tracking live on all 3 sites. 7 Ads markets tested (BE-FR, BE-NL, NL, LU, DE, North FR), all driven from a single Google Ads account. Core active on BE + LU + NL. Team building sells across Belgium. CRM (Mailchimp + Odoo) + automations + monthly FR/NL newsletter in place.
⚠ data to refine with the Brasero team
● 05 · the field journal
Thirty months. Year 1 to set the frame. Years 2-3 to refine.
● M01 · Diagnostic + Tracking
We audit the three EPIC sites: no Ads accounts, partial GA4. We restructure GTM first before deploying server-side tracking. Funnel.io plugged in for cross-channel consolidation, first analysis dashboards built to surface current CPAs and traffic sources. Measurement moves from partial to clean.
phase metric
92 % conv. trackées
« We lost six weeks deciding on broken tracking. The rule we keep: clean tracking BEFORE any campaign. Otherwise we decide on data that does not exist. »
Jérôme · squad
● M04-06 · Acquisition test
Structured Google Ads launch across 5 markets (BE-FR, BE-NL, NL, LU-FR, DE). Branding Search + Generic Search + Performance Max. Meta retargeting plugged into past high-NPS clients. Lookalike audiences built.
phase metric
7 marchés Ads
« We rebalanced 70 % of the budget toward B2B retreats. Corporate basket changes everything. »
Jérôme · squad
● M07-09 · CRO funnel
Inquiry funnel rebuild: retreat / wedding / family pages restructured by typology, lighter instant booking form, social proof brought up. A/B test on the inquiry form.
phase metric
+24 % conv. funnel
« We had a form asking fifteen things. Too early, it kills inquiry. We cut to three questions, the rest comes via follow-up email. Groups answer. »
Robin Balhan · event manager Brasero
● M02 · Scale + Connection party
Ads budget doubled on off-peak seasons. Launched Meta Ads + LinkedIn Ads lead forms with Brasero catalog download: surface the activities, feed the FR/NL newsletter. Connection party with Lucas Begin hosted at Domaine de Bronromme: his network discovers the venue, strong brand search halo.
phase metric
×22 Paid Search
« The connection party pulled the brand out of the local circle. The Search Console peak was visible. »
Rémy · squad
● M13-15 · Server-side + Automation CRM
Major gap between funnel-side inquiries and GA4 readings. We deploy server-side tracking at Brasero level. We plug it into Odoo to recover real quote values. In parallel, review-request automation and post-stay sequences via Mailchimp + Odoo. Monthly newsletter activated FR/NL.
phase metric
Delta GA4 réduit
« The post-stay sequence turns a client into an ambassador. The NPS that comes back is our next quarter pipeline. »
Charles · team building manager Brasero
● M16-18 · SEO long terme + Une brique dans le ventre
Pillar pages built (retreats, weddings, Ardennes terroir) + internal linking. The architecture show A Brick in the Belly films a feature at Château de la Louveterie. Belgian TV broadcast. Public validation of the château’s editorial positioning.
phase metric
×2,3 trafic SEO
« A Brick in the Belly moved the château into a different league. SEO took over from there. »
Camille · squad
● M19-22 · Pilotage à la marge
Project margin now flows up automatically from the knowledge base. Team building inquiries are steered by gross margin, no longer by revenue. Much more efficient for arbitrating Ads budget. Monthly KPI committee + custom Looker Studio dashboards for marketing & exec. New geo-targeted markets and queries tested in parallel.
phase metric
Pilotage marge brute
« We switched from revenue to margin. Our delivered time at Brasero dropped. Good sign: the internal pilot took over. »
Jérôme · squad
● M23-30 · Amazing Belgium + Phase 2026
Château de la Louveterie was a bit behind on bookings: we set up a partnership with content creator Amazing Belgium. Strong creatives, venue back in the spotlight, funnel properly fed again. Holding occupancy on both venues in parallel. Belgian terroir & Ardennes foregrounded on SEO.
phase metric
+18 % complétude annuel
« +18 % occupancy in 2 years isn’t a peak. It’s a trajectory that holds. »
Jérôme · squad
M02October 2024 · connection party
Lucas Begin walks in.
M16-18spring 2025 · A Brick in the Belly feature
The château welcomes the press.
M22-30April 2026 · two years later
+18 % occupancy. Not a peak. A trajectory.
● 07 · visual proofs
Three dashboards. Three turning points.
▶ 3 reconstructed dashboards · horizontal scroll
09 · the tools
What we set up at Brasero.
Ads
Google Ads
Meta Ads
LinkedIn Ads
Tracking · data
Google Tag Manager
GTM Server-Side
Google Analytics 4Funnel.io
Looker Studio
SEO · CMS
SemrushSearch Console
WordPress
Email · CRM
Mailchimp
Odoo
- WebEPIC
- Photo & videoCocobolo · Greg Bugny
- Digital marketingHeySquad
13 · margin notes
Three honest method takeaways.
- Note 01 · method
On brand: the Lucas Begin connection party, the A Brick in the Belly TV feature at Château de la Louveterie and the Amazing Belgium partnership did more than ten months of SEO for awareness. Long-term SEO holds the ground, but press moments and good partnerships mark the pivots. That’s why marketing strategy must know how to seize those windows.
the squad · brasero notebook - Note 02 · method
On steering: our delivered time at Brasero dropped in year 3. Good sign. Google Ads algos are fed on net margin pulled directly from Odoo, the internal team now decides on gross margin. The engine holds without constant push. That’s the signature of well-built marketing automation.
the squad · brasero notebook - Note 03 · method
On partners: we are not alone on Brasero. EPIC holds the sites, we hold marketing, the image lives elsewhere. Visuals come out of the lenses of Cocobolo and Greg Bugny. No one does anyone else’s job. That lets each do theirs fully. Same rule applies on our other missions.
the squad · brasero notebook
so? shall we settle in?
You have a similar case (hospitality, holiday rentals, residence, B2C experience)? Let’s see if we can help.
Write to the squad