IDEA: Vacation rental marketing is like the local pond where people catch fish. Take care of your pond today -- keep it clean, manage plants, control algae, and throw back fish that are too small) -- and the pond will sustain you all for a while. But forget about the pond's health and everyone's fishing eventually dries up.
ACTION: Do a quick 'audit' on your marketing portfolio to make sure that for each short-term activity that will generate bookings today you are doing one "smart fishin" activity that will keep you going long term. Some examples:
- For every dollar spent on listing site commissions, invest one dollar focusing on custom gifts to generate repeat guests
- For every hour spent in new guest correspondence, invest one hour reaching out to former guests via newsletter or hand-written thank you notes
- For each discount or promotion offered for new guests, invest in an even better discount or promotion to repeats or referrals
NOTE: If you've ever admired VRMBs graphic design, I wanted to give a shout-out to my beloved graphic designer Jonathan Ford ([email protected]) who created this fishing scene, the 2018 and 2019 TRENDS pieces as well as all my graphics always. His prices are reasonable, he's ultra thoughtful, and he works by the hour. Feel free to hit him up if you want to get creative with your branding visuals.
