vacation rental marketing: customer acquisition tips to increase bookings
DESCRIPTION
Learn how to acquire new guests for your vacation rental through various marketing methods.TRANSCRIPT
Vacation Rental Softwarehttp://kigo.net
Vacation Rental MarketingCustomer Acquisition Tips
to Increase Bookings
Index• What is Customer
Acquisition? • Advertising• Portals/OTA• Channel Manager Advertising• Google AdWords• Travel Website Advertising• Search Engine Marketing• Link Building• Website Optimization
• Website Optimization• Social Media• Facebook• LinkedIn• Twitter• Pinterest• Google + • Content Creation• Blogging for Keywords• Long-tail Keywords
What is Customer Acquisition?
Customer acquisition is the process of acquiring new guests for your vacation rental through various marketing methods. There are many different approaches your vacation rental business could take to acquire new customers; • Social media• Multiple portal listings • Content creation• and much more…
Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-customer-acquisition/
Knowing the current market landscape will help you to create and effectively execute appropriate customer acquisition methods for your vacation rental. However big or small your vacation rental business is, retaining customers is just as important as acquiring new ones; demonstrating great customer relationship management and following a customer acquisition strategy will help your business to grow.
What is Customer Acquisition?
AdvertisingThe internet offers a plethora of customer acquisition marketing options. Here are some of the various advertising processes or platforms you could adapt your customer acquisition strategy to:
• Portals aka OTA (Online Travel Agencies)• Partner Agency Websites• Google Adwords• Travel Websites
Portals/OTA The internet offers thousands of vacation rental listing portals and large-scale online travel agencies (OTA) for holiday-home owners to create property listings e.g. AirBnB, HomeAway/VRBO, HolidayLettings.
They can be used as great customer acquisition platforms for increasing exposure to your vacation rental property and building a customer database.
Source: http://www.vrmintel.com/how-to-increase-your-bookings-with-portals/http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/passive_income/
Portals/OTA Since portals have large marketing budgets, their websites hold the potential to reach millions of customers looking for a vacation rental therefore you can expect an increase in booking leads.
Portals are a great starting point for gaining exposure and a powerful marketing tool but since they include thousands of vacation rental listings, the competition is very high. Find Out More
Source: http://www.vrmintel.com/how-to-increase-your-bookings-with-portals/http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/passive_income/
Channel Manager Advertising on Partner Agency Websites
For vacation rental owners, a channel manager is a valuable tool to manage multiple listings on portals/OTAs and keep property info up-to-date all from one platform.
Additionally, it is also a great window for connecting with partner agency websites and increasing chances of customer acquisition through referrals.
Source: http://www.letstalkseo.com/understanding-pros-and-cons-of-affiliate-marketing/
Channel Manager Advertising on Partner Agency Websites
It can boost your internet visibility and traffic; partner agencies can refer your property when they are fully booked and vice versa. However, do expect sharing a commission with your agency partner when you acquire a customer referred by them. Find Out More
Source: http://www.letstalkseo.com/understanding-pros-and-cons-of-affiliate-marketing/
Google AdWordsGoogle AdWords is a useful tool to consider when creating your customer acquisition strategy; businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on AdWords.
No matter what your budget, AdWords can be set up quickly meaning you will see an increase in traffic to your vacation rental website almost immediately.
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/13/google-adwords-factshttp://www.hallaminternet.com/2012/google-adwords-pros-and-cons/
Google AdWordsNot only does your vacation rental advert appear when guests are looking for what you have to offer, you are given the chance for ultimate exposure on the internet’s largest search engine.
However, you do pay for clicks regardless of whether a visitor converts, you are restricted on advertising space and although it is set up instantly, it does take time to ensure all your landing pages are relevant and to ensure your campaign is working. Find Out More
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/13/google-adwords-factshttp://www.hallaminternet.com/2012/google-adwords-pros-and-cons/
Travel Website AdvertisingThere are thousands of travel websites that you could advertise your vacation rental property on to maximise customer acquisition; TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia etc. Travel website HolidayLettings, from the largest travel community TripAdvisor, attracts more than 57 million unique visitors every month - a colossal exposure opportunity for your vacation rental listing to reach the millions of visitors on the TripAdvisor network. The downside to advertising your property on a huge travel website agency is that it can become when quite costly when there are other less competitive and effective customer acquisition marketing methods.
Source: http://sparkloftmedia.com/blog/resources/tripadvisor/
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of increasing visibility of your vacation rental website in search engines by producing SEO (search engine optimization) rich content. A marketers ultimate aim is to appear at the top of Google search and in turn, drive customers to their website. Two way vacation rental managers can effectively execute SEM are by:
• Link building• Website optimization
Link BuildingLink building is an important contribution to SEO for growing the link profile of your vacation rental website; the more links you have, the higher your page rank.
Link building is inexpensive yet effective. There are many ways you can link build and target your guests; from community forum participation to creating videos.
Source: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links/http://seo-writing-techniques.blogspot.com.es/2010/03/pros-cos-of-link-building-back-linking.html
Link Building
Achieving a high page rank will increase traffic to your website and in turn, acquire customers. However, link building can be a lengthy customer acquisition method; it requires continuous effort and could be months before you see any results. Find Out More
Source: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links/http://seo-writing-techniques.blogspot.com.es/2010/03/pros-cos-of-link-building-back-linking.html
Website OptimizationOperating an SEO optimized vacation rental website is essential for building a great customer acquisition platform; it will help you to present your properties professionally and therefore increase booking leads. Ensuring that your website is rich in appropriate keyword content, performs properly and is easy for your visitors to navigate around, will increase your chances of being referred by search engines therefore a rise in property bookings.
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2259693/SEO-Basics-8-Essentials-When-Optimizing-Your-Site
Website Optimization
Creating a seamless visitor experience can be time consuming especially when evidence of customer acquisition isn’t instant.
It can also be quite easy to fall into over using keywords; it is important to create fresh and informative content so that your vacation rental website holds authority. Find Out More
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2259693/SEO-Basics-8-Essentials-When-Optimizing-Your-Site
Social MediaAnother vacation rental marketing approach to consider when creating your customer acquisition strategy is social media. With most businesses nowadays, large or small, comes a social media presence on an abundance of networking platforms:
• Facebook• LinkedIn• Twitter• Pinterest• Google +
Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/master-social-customer-acquisition/
With 1.1 billion users, Facebook is the ultimate free marketing tool for businesses to create a social voice.
Share a mix of informative content and property information with your fans to encourage interaction and expand your reach.
Source: http://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-stats-studies
FacebookAlmost half of online customers now expect businesses to provide customer service through their Facebook page.
With this statistic in mind, it is worth implementing Facebook into your customer acquisition strategy.
Your own Facebook page can however be time consuming and a ‘like’ doesn’t necessarily constitute a booking lead. Find Out More
Source: http://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-stats-studies
LinkedInLinkedIn is the World’s Largest Professional Network where you and 225million members can build a professional identity. As a vacation rental manager, it is a great learning platform for engaging in discussion with other property owners and gaining an insight into the vacation rental industry.
Source: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3199-Using-LinkedIn-for-Your-Ecommerce-Business-Pros-and-Cons
In terms of customer acquisition, LinkedIn is a valuable social media tool for establishing and exposing your brand by sharing your professional opinions.
However, it does have its drawbacks; it is primarily a business-business network making it difficult to target your customers and acquire new booking leads.
Source: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3199-Using-LinkedIn-for-Your-Ecommerce-Business-Pros-and-Cons
TwitterAs of May 2013, Twitter has 500million users; a powerful social media platform vacation rental managers should utilize for customer acquisition.
An astounding 92% of engagement with a brand’s Tweets are link clicks – a great opportunity for vacation rental owners to share short informative bursts about the industry, connect with customers in real time and promote vacation rental properties.
Source: http://www.grosocial.com/blogposts/pros-and-cons-of-twitterhttp://expandedramblings.com/index.php/march-2013-by-the-numbers-a-few-amazing-twitter-stats/
The trick with Twitter is that you are limited to 140 characters so you are restricted on how much information you can send out to followers. Also it is quite easy to get lost amongst the 400million tweets sent per day so it is important to produce interesting click-worthy content.
Source: http://www.grosocial.com/blogposts/pros-and-cons-of-twitterhttp://expandedramblings.com/index.php/march-2013-by-the-numbers-a-few-amazing-twitter-stats/
PinterestAs of June 2013, the virtual pin-board social network Pinterest, has 48.7million users including vacation rental marketplace HomeAway.
Visual marketing generates more engagement which comes hand in hand with Pinterest’s primarily imaged based network.
Vacation rental managers can create informative and easy-to-digest photo boards for guests and drive traffic to their vacation rental website.
Source: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33513/Visual-Content-Trumps-Text-in-Driving-Social-Media-Engagement-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx
PinterestThe downsides to Pinterest for vacation rental owners are that photos are ‘repinned’ and often the original link gets lost which unfortunately means no traffic.The target audience is heavily uneven with 80% of Pinterest users being women.And, currently Pinterest is more lifestyle focused, not business. Find Out More
Source: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33513/Visual-Content-Trumps-Text-in-Driving-Social-Media-Engagement-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx
Google +Since Google + is the second largest social networking service with 359 million active users, it should definitely be considered when creating a customer acquisition strategy.
As it is a product of the most valued search engine, it is a great SEO tool for vacation rental managers to increase website visibility and acquire customers.
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/02/report-google-bigger-than-twitter-with-359-million-active-usershttp://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2013/05/20/six-ways-google-is-about-to-transform-your-small-business/
http://www.viralblog.com/online-marketing/6-pros-and-cons-of-google-for-small-business/
Google +Equipped with all of Google’s fantastic features, Google + enables you to expand your content distribution, tap into specific audiences and connect with others in the travel industry. Guests can even make payments to you via Gmail with Google Wallet.
However Google + is still relatively new and yet another network that takes time to manage – you can use this to your advantage though and establish your ground ahead of competition.
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/02/report-google-bigger-than-twitter-with-359-million-active-usershttp://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2013/05/20/six-ways-google-is-about-to-transform-your-small-business/
http://www.viralblog.com/online-marketing/6-pros-and-cons-of-google-for-small-business/
Content CreationA great way to increase traffic to your vacation rental website and acquire new customers is to create SEO rich content.Websites with more pages = more leads. Producing interesting and relevant content on a regular basis will attract new customers as well as retain existing guests. Vacation rental managers can do this by:
• Blogging for keywords • Using long-tail keywords
Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32985/20-Revealing-Stats-Charts-and-Graphs-Every-Marketer-Should-Know.aspx
Blogging for Keywords
Bearing in mind that almost 70% of blogs that post weekly have acquired a customer, it is a very useful customer acquisition tool for vacation rental owners to utilize.
Creating up-to-date content rich in relevant keywords to your vacation rental will increase chances of guests finding your website in Google search.
Source: http://www.inboundmarketingagents.com/inbound-marketing-agents-blog/bid/158057/Blog-Frequency-Impacts-Customer-Acquisition-SEO-Helphttp://serviceblogger.com/blogging-101/3-sales-lead-generation-blogging-tips
Blogging for Keywords
Offering information will encourage sharing of your blog posts, your insightful and interesting properties’ website and increase booking leads.
However, the key to successful blog posting is consistency. It is important for your business to invest time and creativity into researching and creating quality SEO content. Find Out More
Source: http://www.inboundmarketingagents.com/inbound-marketing-agents-blog/bid/158057/Blog-Frequency-Impacts-Customer-Acquisition-SEO-Helphttp://serviceblogger.com/blogging-101/3-sales-lead-generation-blogging-tips
Long-tail KeywordsLong-tail keywords are less popular keywords which have less search volume and less competition for Google search rank, but they are not to be undermined when creating your customer acquisition strategy.
Conduct keyword research using Google analytics to create a bank of long-tail keywords that you can build your vacation rental website landing pages and blog posts around.
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2255280/The-Resurgence-of-Long-Tail-Keywords-in-SEOhttp://www.calculatemarketing.com/blog/techniques/benefits-of-long-tail-keywords/
Long-tail KeywordsIf your vacation rental is based on a beach in Thailand, you will appear higher in search results, receive more website visits and increase chances of customer acquisition if you construct specific keyword content e.g. ‘Beach Villa Rental in Koh Samui’.Long-tail keyword research and construction of relevant content on your vacation rental is a long process that requires the upmost dedication. Still, it is an excellent opportunity to stand out from the competition. Find Out More
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2255280/The-Resurgence-of-Long-Tail-Keywords-in-SEOhttp://www.calculatemarketing.com/blog/techniques/benefits-of-long-tail-keywords/
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