The vacation rental industry has exploded in recent years. While this means there are greater opportunities for property owners, there is also plenty of competition.
To make sure that consumers choose your rental over others, you need to advertise properly. Here are some tips for promoting your property.
1. Determine Your Audience
First, you need to decide what types of customers you want to rent out your property. After all, marketing your rental to millennials requires different strategies than advertising to families does. You should base your target audience on the location of your property. For instance, if the premises is near an amusement park, you should primarily market the rental to young families.
2. Tailor Your Ads
Whether you are creating a print ad for a local magazine or an audio commercial for a radio station such as La Mega, the message should be tailored to your ideal customer. If you are targeting families vacationing during the summer, your ads should emphasize the available pool and grill. If you want remote workers to book long stays at your rental, highlight the fast Wi-Fi within the property.
3. Use Multiple Websites -- Including Your Own
Websites should be a key part of your marketing strategies. Do not just stick to one site. The more platforms on which you advertise, the greater the chances of someone seeing the ads.
You should not just rely on other websites, either. Create your own website to show off your property. You can even add a calendar to help customers book their stay right from your site. Be sure to include guides to nearby attractions and restaurants, as well. A website will give your property added credibility and let you control how you market the premises to customers.
Of course, your competitors will likely have websites too. To help your site stand out from the pack, post lots of high-quality photos of the property. One study found that guests are 20 percent more likely to book a rental if its website has at least 20 quality images. This could earn you an extra $2,200 per year. You may thus want to consider hiring a professional photographer to capture the best possible pictures of the premises.
While photos are powerful, text is also important for bringing in customers. Your website should thus include at least 300 words describing what guests will experience when they enter your rental.
Potential customers may not take your word for it, which is why reviews are essential for any property website. Guests are understandably wary of rentals that do not have readily accessible reviews. In fact, travellers are 80 percent more likely to book a vacation property that has available reviews.
After a renter leaves your premises, ask him or her to rate the experience. You can then post the best reviews either on your website or alongside postings on other websites. When you contact these past customers, you can also ask them for referrals.
You may also want to include a blog on your website. The blog should include articles about fun activities to do in the city where your rental is located.
The blog can also help you improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of your website. Many people look for rentals simply by searching Google. If your website uses good SEO strategies, it will show up high on search results lists. You can use online resources to learn more about SEO techniques or simply hire an SEO specialist for your website.
4. Leverage Social Media
You should also post both links to your website and rental advertisements on social media. Instagram and Facebook, in particular, let you target your ads to individuals who recently looked up vacation-related information online. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter additionally make it easy for you to interact with potential customers.
Renting out your property to vacationers is a great way to earn some extra cash. To make the most money possible, you need to keep the premises constantly booked. The above suggestions should help you promote your rental to travellers from around the world.
