Factsheet: Advertising is only one part of Marketing
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Advertising is a general term that includes all promotion of goods and services.
You should remember that your paid advertising is only one part of your overall strategy for promoting and marketing your business.
Other aspects of your marketing and promotional material will include, for example, general publicity and 'word of mouth' recommendations and personal selling to friends and relatives. Some general ideas include:
- Tell everyone that you know that you have a holiday rental property, show them some photos
- Tell them about your new website (rather more subtle - tell them it would be a help if they could please give you some feedback about the site).
- Take the opportunity to show people around your property when it arises.
- Have a party for all the neighbours at the property, so that when they have friends coming to stay in the area they will think of you.
- Send christmas cards to people who stayed at your property during the year
- Some people offer discounts to returning customers
- It is possible to offer a 'reward' to people who recommend you to others - perhaps 2 - 5% of the rent received as a result
Everyone will have different thoughts on how best to do their own personal marketing. The important thing is simply that there is an awareness of you and your property, that people remember you, and that people are happy about calling you up if they are looking for somewhere to stay - which is more likely if they already know you and your property.