As a holiday rental owner, small or large, we know you have a lot of tasks to juggle to ensure the smooth-running of your business. Marketing your self-catering properties and the guest experience you offer is one of many. With new platforms cropping up regularly, major communication platforms (such as Facebook or Twitter) changing the way they work almost daily and the need to provide new and shiny content to entice guests to book direct it’s no wonder companies employ whole teams of people to carry out this part of their business. Don’t worry, this blog series isn’t going to advise you to hire a whole team of people to do your marketing – quite the opposite actually.
We have created a series of articles to help make the hectic world of holiday rental marketing more manageable. This blog provides a general synopsis of what’s to come. Blogs further on in this series will really delve into what your potential guests want to see, and what will convert them from potential guests to repeat visitors and your biggest fans!
Blog 1. Structure structure structure
This is a biggie. Sitting down one day each week and thinking about what sort of messaging you want to put out that week, where you want to put it and when is super important. This doesn’t have to be time consuming. One hour per week is plenty of time to plan and schedule a whole week of content. Every business works differently, and ultimately you will find something that works well for you, however give this content planner a whirl.
Scheduling content means you can focus your attention on it, then put it out of your mind for the rest of the week. Allowing you to focus on the other important parts of your business. This blog will discuss the importance of structure, and guide you through planning your content.
Blog 2. Identify your target audience
This is the easy part, no doubt you know they type of guest that your holiday property attracts. Getting this down onto paper, and researching what your target audience responds well to is really valuable.
For instance, if you are looking to attract young people you might want to consider using more informal language. If you are looking to attract business travelers, short and snappy communication is key. This blog will cover types of guests, target markets and how to attract and engage with your key audience.
Blog 3. Define your messaging
Gaining followers and retaining followers are two equally difficult things. Even after you’ve built an impressive number of followers, keeping them engaged can be challenging. One way to do this is to create a good variety of posts, whilst ensuring you are meeting your key goals.
For example, lets say you want to generate more bookings, ensure your previous guests stay interested and engaged in the holiday experience you offer, portray important updates to your guests and generally entertain your followers. You could create 4 content categories:
- bookings from new guests
- repeat bookings from previous guests
- updates
- entertainment
Decide what the general split between the categories should be as well. Too many ‘sales’messages generally don’t encourage post engagement, and if you don’t have many ‘updates’ about your holiday rental it can be tricky to to generate an equal split of content. Throwing in a few entertaining posts (e.g. video tours around your property and things to do in the local area) will satisfy a few categories at once.
Again, the categories chosen and proportion will vary per business. A top tip is to re-evaluate this monthly to ensure you are getting the right engagement from your posts, and revamp if required. This blog will assist you in finding the right categories and achieving a successful balance.
Blog 4. Use tools to help you automate your marketing
Marketing is important, but it doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Here is a small list of products that can help you.
- SuperControl – we are more than a property management system. Our reporting functionality will allow you to evaluate your data and act accordingly, taking the guessing work out it.
- Hootsuite – this is a content scheduling tool. There is a free version of this available, which is perfect for small businesses.
- Bit.ly – this tool shortens your links. This makes them tidier for social media posting, but also allows you to track the click rate.
The final blog will take you through the best tools on the market, and will help you to make a decision on what tools to use.
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