home… What next? For new owners, advertising and marketing their holiday home is just one aspects of running a holiday cottage business. First of all it’s essential to identify what you want. Do you want someone to manage and take bookings for you? Or, do you want to market and promote your holiday cottage direct and take bookings?
AN AGENCY SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU? If you don’t want to get involved in bookings at first (many new owners opt to hold off until they are more confident with the workings of the business) then finding an agency service may make sense for you. Agencies charge different commission rates, so do your research and find out about which one suits you best. If you opt to go with an agency you may want to do some minimal work in advertising and promoting your cottage, as after all the agency is expected to promote your cottage on your behalf and obtain bookings.
you are willing to take the plunge and don’t mind being thrown in at the deep end then it’s time to brainstorm for ways and means to promote and advertise your own holiday home.
online channels available to help you market your holiday home. These include social media channels such as: Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram Using social media can help promote interest and help you gain feedback on your holiday home. It can also assist you in inspiring others to visit you and can be a great way to keep in touch with old and new customers.
search engine, it’s important to consider how people are going to find your holiday home in Google. Setting up a Google My Business Entry is a good place to start and if completed correctly can result in your having an entry on Google Maps. Your entry should include your phone number and link to your own cottage website. If you have your own website, you’ll want to ensure that this is content rich and optimised appropriately so you get found in Google.
have your own website where you can describe your holiday home in an appealing way and show a large number of photographs. It’s important to include a range of good photographs of your property, as well as ideas of places to see and visit nearby. Make sure you describe photos appropriately. Websites don’t need to be expensive, there are plenty of free sites out there such as Wordpress which allow you to create a website for free or at low cost.
own website you may want to find ways to promote this. Options include: Advertising with a Holiday Cottage Advertising Portal or listing website. Advertising in relevant magazines or newspapers. Advertising on social media or in the search engines. With whichever medium you choose it’s essential that you monitor costs and results. Using Google Analytics or other monitoring software to monitor where traffic to your own website is coming from is essential.
to successfully advertising and marketing your holiday home, there is no one- size fits all strategy or approach. You need to try things out in a budget-conscious way and find the advertising mediums that work best for you. It’s essential to use tools (many of which are free such as social media) to help you effectively do this. This resource was produced by Countrycottagesonline.net, contact us for information on holiday home advertising with us.
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