If you manage vacation rental properties, you know how important it is to reach a targeted audience. If you’re a property manager, for example, you may want to market to both prospective property owners and potential and returning guests. While there are many ways to market your business and engage with your customers, not all are equally effective. To get the best ROI for your lodging, vacation, or other property rental business you need to keep specific marketing tips in mind.
Types of Engagement Strategies
Here are some of the ways that you can reach a wider audience.
- Email – Email marketing is a cost-effective way to reach a broad audience. You can email previous customers as well as prospects in your target market.
- Calls – Calling previous customers as well as cold calls to prospects is another time-honored strategy that still works if you’re persistent. Combining email and calling works even better. You can start with one and follow up with the other.
- Direct Mail – Even in the digital era, direct mail is very effective. Sending out brochures, postcards, or letters to a targeted audience is still a powerful prospecting technique.
- Social Media – Staying active on social media sites that are popular with your customers is an excellent way to stay in touch and find new clients. Facebook and Instagram are especially useful for showing off beautiful images and videos of your property.
Tips to Improve Your Results
There are quite a few methods of outreach, and you probably have your favorites. What really counts, however, is using the right strategy at the right time. Here are some tips to keep in mind to get more customers for your vacation rentals.
- Don’t give up on old leads. Just because someone didn’t book with you last month or last year doesn’t mean they won’t book in the future. Continue to follow up with people unless they specifically ask you not to.
- Study and segment your customers. Not everyone responds to the same outreach tactics. Some people prefer talking on the phone while others like email, direct mail, or social media.
- Track your results, so you learn the best way to contact each prospect or client. You also need to track customer behavior such as when and where they’re most likely to book with you.
- Ask previous customers for referrals. If someone has enjoyed spending time at one of your properties, why not ask him or her for a referral? This can help you expand your list of hot prospects.
- Offer attractive deals and packages. If people aren’t responding to a particular offer, try making changes. For example, offer lower rates during the week. Create packages that partner with other local businesses such as restaurants and tourist destinations (e.g., include a meal or tickets to an attraction with the package).
If you manage vacation properties, increasing your reach requires you to learn as much about your customers as possible and adapt to their needs. Keep these tips in mind and think of methods of your own to better serve your prospects and clients.
To learn how Vacation Rental Marketers can help you generate more bookings from your website, contact us.