5 Tips to Market Your Vacation Rental Like a Pro
5 Steps to Niche Success
Marketing is an important part of running a successful vacation rental, but what if you have no idea where to start when it comes to advertising your business? Whether you’re a newbie to the vacation rental world or just someone who wants to improve your knowledge of the best practices in the industry, there’s always something new to learn when it comes to marketing. And best of all, when you identify the right strategies and bring a proactive approach to your marketing, it’ll be far easier to attract your target audience, stand out from the competition, and earn more revenue from your short-term rental business.
Today, we’ll take a dive into 5 different ways that you can improve your marketing to make your short-term rental a success in the long run.
#1: Showcase Your Unique Selling Points
Every vacation rental has its own set of unique features, selling points, and amenities that can be used to highlight it. In order to market your property successfully, one of the first and most important steps that you can take is to identify what sets your short-term rental apart from the rest. This can be anything from mountain views to a rooftop hot tub that allows guests to gaze into the starlit night–anything that you can think of that makes your rental different from the competition, be sure to make note of it when creating your property listing.
When you’re working on your property description for listing sites like Airbnb and VRBO, try to work in these unique selling points whenever possible to entice and attract potential guests. Use language and professional photos so that you can paint a picture for guests of what staying at your property will be like, highlighting anything that you think they will enjoy.
#2: Utilize Online Platforms and Social Media
In today’s technology-infused digital age, almost all marketing is done online. So if you haven’t put the effort into leveraging online platforms and social media, now would be the perfect time to start. Ensure that you are using all of the popular listing platforms, like Airbnb, VRBO, and the like, in order to get the most bookings possible, but in addition to that, it’s vital that you market your listing on social media as well. It may take a bit of time and effort, but when you utilize every online platform and social media channel available to you for marketing purposes, you’ll see it bear fruit when you take a look at the revenue pouring in.
#3: Prioritize Positive Guest Experiences
Guest experience should be one of your number one priorities not just for the health of your vacation rental business, but also for marketing purposes. Positive guest experiences can then be turned into material that you can use to advertise your business, whether that’s by creating testimonials or just by boosting your visibility by gaining a ton of great reviews on listing platforms.
To get those great reviews, it’s essential that you show your guests the time of their lives. This means being as communicative as possible and answering all questions in a timely manner as well as ensuring that the rental is tidy and refreshed between each stay.
#4: Implement Dynamic Pricing
Another important aspect of marketing your rental like a pro is making sure that you can provide the best price possible for your guests, so we highly recommend that you implement dynamic pricing for your vacation rental.
Dynamic pricing is different from other types of pricing in that it changes in reaction to a ton of different factors, including competitors in your market, historical pricing, seasonality, and other things that affect a rental’s average price on each day of the year.
Implementing dynamic pricing can be as simple as taking a look at your average daily rate and comparing your price to other competitors in your market, or it can be as complex as using a custom-built algorithm that analyzes every factor you can think of, like we do at LocalVR. Whatever fits into your budget is a great opportunity to offer a pricing-based strategy that is effective in marketing your short-term rental.
#5: Create an Effective Listing That Attracts Guests
Our final tip for marketing your vacation rental is to take the time to create an effective listing that stands out and can help you to attract more guests. Put lots of effort into crafting your headline, summary, and property descriptions or, if your budget allows, hire someone who knows how to write a listing that will draw in your desired audience. Your property photos are not to be forgotten, either, and hiring a professional photographer can go a long way in helping your property to set itself apart from the rest. Be sure to highlight the unique features and amenities that your property offers.
More Ways to Help Your Vacation Rental Stand Out
To effectively market your short-term rental property, you have to tackle the issue from all angles. That’s why we recommend that you showcase your unique selling points, use online platforms to your advantage, make great guest experiences your goal, implement dynamic pricing strategies, and put a ton of effort into your listing.
If you’re on the hunt for more ways to make your property stand out from the crowd, we’ve got a great guide for you. Or, if you want to get a better idea of how to create an amazing guest experience, here’s some tips that will help you earn the positive reviews you’ve been looking for.