5 Vacation Rental Marketing Fundamentals
Not sure if you've got this whole marketing thing mastered?
Well, nail down these five components and you're golden.
I have been studying successful vacation rental listing and hosts for several years now, and also really learning from my own experience as a vacation rental host for five years.
After really understanding what works well for a listing and for a house, I have boiled down these top five components to really a successful marketing framework. In this video I'm going to share what those are.
I love this topic, so let's dive in!
Fundamental #1: Know your ideal guest
You may already know who that is, and if you don't, really dig deep to understand who your ideal guest is.
I'm sure you've had lots of different types of guests come in through your home, but take a second to reflect back on which ones are the ones that you get the best reviews from.
Which type of guest is your home perfectly suited for? Whether it's families with young children or couples looking to get away for a weekend. Whoever that is, zone in on who your ideal guest is and who your home best serves.
Fundamental #2: Connect with your ideal guest
Once you know who you truly best serve, then you want to make sure that your listing is speaking to this ideal guest through the headline that your using, your photos and which amenities it's capturing, and, of course, your description.
For example, if you are really best suited for a family with young children, then you are going to want to make sure that your listing is addressing their needs, desires, fears and questions.
You're of course going to want to make sure that you have the amenities that speak to them. For example, you might state, "For your convenience we have a high chair and we have kids life jackets," be sure to point out conveniences that will be important to this guest.
But then you might also want to think about what is a family with young children going to be fearful about. Maybe if it's a pool, you want to assure them that it is a gated pool.
Put yourself in your guest's shoes, think about what kind of questions they're going to be asking and what they're going to need a property to deliver, and then make sure you're showing them that you deliver against those desires, fears, amenities, and that your listing clearly communicates this.
Fundamental #3: Stand out in your market
Of course, the first thing you'll want to do is make sure you have professional photos taken of your place. There are still so many owners not utilizing professional photography, so it is a really great way to stand out in the feed and it really makes sure that your home is presented in the best light.
Then, also, you can stand out in the market by really providing some amenities that are great for your ideal guest and that you know a lot of others in the area aren't providing. Figure out what that might be and what is going to get that extra special notice or attention because you're providing something included in your listing that your competitors are not. Think about that so that you can stand out in your market.
Fundamental #4: Conversion
Fundamentals one, two, and three was really more focused on attraction and getting eyeballs on your listing and making sure that you're attracting your ideal guest to your listing, but now conversion is all about going from the view to the booking.
So they've landed on your listing, but now is your listing doing everything it needs to do to covert them?
The first step here really comes down to description. You want to have a really nice skimmable description that addresses all of those common questions. Don't be afraid if this is on the longer side. As long as it doesn't read like a novel and you've made it skimmable, meaning you're using headlines and you're breaking the text out into just a couple sentences and really using bullets, it's okay to have a longer description.
I have found that it really helps with the conversion because I'm answering their questions upfront and they can very easily skim my description and pinpoint the question that they have. Then they don't even need to send me a question and wait for a response.
The next really important component here, is all about timely responses. If you are getting questions before they book, make sure you are answering them as quickly as possible. I always say under an hour if possible, but definitely under 24 hours because that's what the listing sites use to determine if you're a responsive host or not.
Fundamental #5: Deliver
Deliver the experience you promised in your listing description. You want to make sure that you were 100% accurate in your description of the home and the photos that you presented, so that when they come to visit their expectations are met.
But then to take that one step further, go above and beyond. Have some kind of surprise and delight factor, whether that's a welcome note or a gift basket, or just something really unique and personal that you can offer that they don't know about prior and that you can really surprise and delight them.
Then, of course, your home is very sparkling clean. That is going to be a key component of delivering upon the expectation that your guest has.
Ultimately, a great the experience is what is going to drive a wonderful review. The more glowing reviews you have, the harder your listing can work for you and the better your listing is going to perform.
It all comes full circle, as long as you are really delivering upon the experience that you outlined in the profile and ideally going above and beyond.
Conclusion:
Those are the five marketing fundamentals that I have found to be extremely important to vacation rental marketing success.
If you're just getting started with your vacation rental, or you're really just starting to focus on the marketing side of things, I have the perfect resource for you.
It's called The Vacation Rental Marketing Roadmap, and it will be your guide of the most important areas that you should focus on and the most common mistakes that I have seen when rental homeowners are first getting started.
Be sure to grab your free marketing guide here!
