Need help with marketing strategy please

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
PB & James
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 11:34 pm

Need help with marketing strategy please

Post by PB & James »

Can anyone offer some ideas on a marketing strategy for me? It's clear from reading all these posts that vacation rental listing sites are effective, and that I'm going to need a personal website, but does anyone have a suggestion for alternative locations to advertise on the internet?
I've learned that in the city in which I wish to operate the vast majority of traffic comes from within the province, stays in hotels, or with friends or family and arrives by car. I would like to attract some of that traffic which is not even considering a vacation rental for their stay, but can't think of how to reach them.
Any thoughts?
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vrooje
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Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Have you read the thread(s) on AdWords? You might be able to target the type of search that locals do to find accomodation -- though it might be quite expensive per click. I don't know much about AdWords, so I can't give much advice. But you could certainly start with your personal website, using the text to emphasize that your apartment is an excellent (and possibly cost-effective) alternative to a hotel.

Other than that, I suppose the same advice I gave before applies -- try to put yourself in the position of the type of renter you described. How do they find their accomodation? What types of advertising are they exposed to in their daily lives? To be exposed to them, that is where you need to be.
Brooke
A-two
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Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:05 am
Location: USA

Post by A-two »

First and most important, build the personal website and give it a memorable domain name. Second, design and print a stylish brochure and some simple business cards. Third, join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend a few networking meetings. Arrive with a big smile and stack of brochures to leave by the door for people to pick up on the way out, also hand out as many business cards as you can, explaining how different your place is to everyone elses. Put another way, you're not trying to take business away from anyone, you're adding value to the community.

If you don't meet the smaller boutique hotel owners while there, then walk through their door one day when you're passing. Ask for their rate card and a few copies of their brochure to give your overflow inquiries whom you can't accomodate. Show them your own brochure and ask them to pass these on to people who are looking for self-catering accomodation or something else they don't offer. Recommend these hotels whenever appropriate and ask the people you send there to mention your name when they call.

I did all of these things and they work. What doesn't work is running anonymous classified ads in the local rag. Local business is about who you know and it needs face to face contact and personal referrals.

All of the above is supplemental to a strong internet presence, for which there is no substitute. That takes time, but in the meantime, you can usefully promote yourself by word of mouth in the local community, referring people for more information to your domain, so you need to make sure that your domain name can be understood easily in a noisy crowded room, without having to spell it out.

If you would like to see a sample brochure, feel free to send me an email.
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mpprh
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Location: Languedoc, France
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Post by mpprh »

Hi

In my area, the local tourist office produces an accommodation brochure for renters. They also have a website here : http://www.ot-sommieres.fr/sejour.aspx .

They produce a checklist for owners. Owners have to be rated by Clévacances before the brochure is printed.

I understand that significant last minute business is generated via the tourist office.

Peter
The Languedoc Page
www.the-languedoc-page.com
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PB & James
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Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 11:34 pm

Post by PB & James »

All great ideas. Thanks.
A-two
Posts: 2091
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:05 am
Location: USA

Post by A-two »

James,
I was only 20 years old when my bank manager told me that he worried if he met another bank manager who had not lost money. Of course I asked him why. Because if they haven't lost money, he said, it means they haven't taken any risks. As you can tell, I have never forgotten it.

Don't be scared. Nobody is going to give you cast iron guarantees, but if you do your homework, then take a step back and it all makes sense, go for it. If it doesn't make sense, then cut and run, knowing that another opportunity will present itself in the future.

I think the question you need to ask yourself is why is nobody else doing what I am doing? When you have the answer to that one, you'll know what to do.

Good Luck!
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