Marketing Your Property

Marketing Your Property

To help you make the most of your holiday property, we have given some suggestions below on marketing ideas that could increase your bookings. Don’t forget to book in yourself - for a well earned break!

Advertising

The internet is now an established way of promoting your property, advertising on theholidaylet.com will increase your presence and could increase your bookings. Besides internet advertising, you could advertise your property in a printed publication; choose a monthly magazine rather than a newspaper, because this stays around for much longer. If your property appeals to a niche market consider advertising in a specialist magazine.

Image

Having a consistent image is the best way to create a professional look to correspondence, paperwork and advertising material. You could decide on a name for your property and create a simple logo using a particular typeface and colour scheme, alternatively, you could have a professional logo designed - but this may be expensive.

Publicity

You might want to produce a brochure, but this is largely dependant on the size of your property and the market you are aiming at. If you do get something printed - think about how long you will keep it and whether any variables such as the price list would be better printed on a separate sheet. A cheaper alternative to a brochure is a simple flyer incorporating 2 or 3 images. This could be displayed on notice boards at work, public buildings, your local newsagents, the tourist information centre etc.

Another option is to get business cards printed with a link to your advert on theholidaylet.com, these are easy to keep in your bag or your pocket and if you do start chatting with someone who might be interested you can give them an immediate reference point.

Postcards are an imaginative way of publicity, you could get some printed with a quality, atmospheric photograph of your property and leave them for guests to send to their friends or relatives.

Editorial

Speak to your local paper or magazine, they may be willing to do an editorial article on you and your property - especially if you have a story to tell, if you restored your property from scratch, or offer something unusual etc.

Word of Mouth

Tell everybody you can think of about your property, if they are not interested themselves, they might know of someone who is and pass the message on - and so the word gets around. Get to know other holiday homeowners, both in the holiday area and where you live. It’s good to talk and pick up useful tips, and if you receive surplus bookings you might be able to pass these on and vice versa.

Personal Website

If you have more than one property it may be worth setting up your own personal website. You could employ a web-designer to create a simple design but you should be aware that this could be expensive and a good search engine ranking is difficult to achieve. By advertising on theholidaylet.com you will be able to create a professional advert and link to your own website. Put your web address on all publicity material and standard letters that you send out.

Previous Holidaymakers

Keep in touch with people who have stayed at your holiday home previously. An email to make sure they enjoyed their stay is a nice touch. Update them on any improvements you make and email last minute offers, some people go back to the same place again and again if they had a good time. If they enjoyed their stay they are much more likely to recommend it to others. Keep a note of any people you had to say no to, because you were fully booked and email them at the start of the following year, to remind them of your property.

Out of Season Bookings

This is a large potential area where you can increase bookings. Many people take more than one holiday a year and you can promote your property as a year-round getaway, offering reduced prices for off-season bookings. Create a winter retreat by providing cosy heating, a good TV/DVD player with films and a CD player. If you have a skiing property, inform holidaymakers about local activities that you can do in the summer months.