How Splash City Strengthened Their Market Position with Strategic Marketing

Somewhere in Sioux Falls tonight, a couple is scrolling hot tub photos after the kids go to bed. In Rapid City, a runner is reading about cold plunges and contrast therapy. Outside Sioux City, a family is measuring a deck to see if a swim spa fits. All three shopping trips start the same way — on a phone, months before anyone walks into a showroom.

Splash City has been the right answer to all three since 1985. Premium hot tubs, swim spas, saunas, cold plunges, above-ground and semi-inground pools, Brunswick pool tables and game room furniture, Homecrest patio sets and fire tables — hand-picked, delivered, and serviced by their own crews out of four showrooms across South Dakota and Iowa. The expertise was never in question. The problem was that national spa brands and big-box patio departments were getting found first. That's where Complete Media came in.

About Splash City

Splash City is a family-owned specialty retailer serving South Dakota and Iowa for 40 years. They carry Jacuzzi®, Sundance® Spas, Kodiak, Doughboy, Brunswick, Homecrest and Oriflamme, with certified water-care technicians, in-house delivery and installation, and service on every brand — not just the ones they sell. Reach them at 877.289.2713 or splashcityinc.com.

• Hot tubs & cold plunges — a year-round backyard escape, with wet-test tubs in the showroom.
• Swim spas — swim, exercise, and recover at home.
• Saunas — traditional and full-spectrum infrared.
• Pools — above-ground and semi-inground, professionally installed.
• Game room — Brunswick pool tables, shuffleboards, and furniture.
• Outdoor living — patio furniture and fire tables.
• Service & water care — repair, maintenance, and free water testing for life.

What they believe is simple: test-soak first, then tune the model, jets, cabinet color, and site prep to the yard and the lifestyle. That standard became the spine of everything we built.

The challenge

Splash City had everything a backyard shopper wants, and much of it was invisible at the moment of search:

• National spa manufacturers and big-box patio departments owned page one for 'hot tubs Sioux Falls' and 'swim spas near me'
• Saunas and cold plunges — the fastest-growing categories — were buried behind hot tubs
• Four showrooms across two states meant four separate local search footprints to win
• Shoppers research for months on a phone before ever stepping into a showroom
• Brand presentation drifted between promo print, showroom signage, home show booths, and social
• No structured presence in ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity, where shoppers now ask 'who sells and services hot tubs in South Dakota?'
• Nobody at a family-owned retailer has an hour a day for a marketing dashboard during delivery season

The strategy

Big-ticket backyard purchases are researched for months and decided in a showroom. So the goal was never raw clicks — it was booked showroom visits and wet tests from people already close to buying, and being the obvious local authority the moment someone starts looking.

The work completed

Branding

The positioning was already true; we made it the spine of everything: family owned since 1985, wet-test before you buy, service on every brand. We tightened logo usage across the website, showroom signage, delivery vehicles, staff apparel, print promos, and social profiles, so the truck in the driveway matches the mark on the phone — then replaced generic retail language with specifics: four decades, four showrooms, certified water-care techs, in-house delivery and install.

Print marketing

• Seasonal promo flyers and sale sheets for hot tub, sauna, and pool events
• Category brochures for hot tubs, swim spas, saunas, pools, game room, and outdoor living
• Water-care and warranty leave-behinds handed off at delivery
• Business cards and financing sheets for the showroom floor
• Showroom, window, and vehicle signage consistent across all four locations
• Home and garden show booth materials that read the same as the website

Website development

We built splashcityinc.com around what a shopper actually comes to do: browse models, compare categories, check current promotions, and book a showroom visit. Fast and mobile-first, because most of this research happens on a couch at nine o'clock at night. Clear paths for hot tubs, swim spas, saunas, pools, game room, outdoor living, and service, plus product detail pages with real lifestyle photography instead of catalog renders — structured data, clean headings, strong Core Web Vitals, and descriptive alt text throughout.

SEO

Search work focused on real-intent terms — hot tubs Sioux Falls, swim spas South Dakota, infrared sauna Sioux Falls, cold plunge Rapid City, above-ground pools Sioux City, hot tub service and repair — each mapped to a page built to answer that search. Tighter titles and metas, internal linking between category, model, promo, and booking pages, and content that turns 40 years of water knowledge into pages a national brand page can't fake.

Local visibility

Google Business Profiles optimized for all four showrooms with accurate categories, service areas, hours, real photography, and regular posts for promotions and new models. Citations cleaned so name, address, and phone match everywhere. And a review habit built into the end of every delivery.

AI visibility optimization

More shoppers open ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity before Google. Those systems answer from clear, structured, well-cited content — so we made Splash City easy to quote: plain-language pages about brands and categories, real specifics with context, FAQs written the way buyers actually ask, schema markup on the business and products, and consistent facts across the site, Google, and directories.

Ongoing marketing support

A partnership, not a project: promotions on a calendar timed to spring pool season and fall hot tub season, Google Business Profile updates, social support, home show campaigns, print as needed, and reporting that shows what actually generated calls and showroom appointments.

The results

• A brand that finally matches the reputation — 40 years of backyards, presented like it
• More showroom visits and wet tests booked directly from search instead of a manufacturer locator
• Improved local search visibility across Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Sioux City
• Saunas and cold plunges positioned as headline categories rather than an afterthought
• Growing AI search presence — Splash City now surfaces in assistant answers about South Dakota hot tubs and swim spas
• Stronger brand recognition at home shows and across four showroom markets
• Time back for the team, which during delivery season is the highest-return result of all

Why it matters

When a family in Sioux Falls can find the local dealer instead of a national brand page, the delivery crew, the water testing, and the warranty help all stay here — and the person who sold you the tub is the person who answers when a jet quits in January. Strong marketing isn't about being loud. It's about making sure the best local option is also the easiest one to find.

About Complete Media

Complete Media is a Sioux Falls marketing agency that has partnered with 250+ local businesses since 2002 — retail, home services, construction and trades, insurance, real estate, hospitality, and non-profits. Branding, websites, print, SEO, AI visibility, and digital advertising from one local partner. See more client success stories.

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