Free Vacation Rental Marketing Tips

 

When Is It Ok To Use The F-Word With Guests?

Some of you guys have probably wanted to use the F-word with a few of your guests but were maybe afraid to.

Nevertheless I think there are times when it’s OK to use the F-word. Wait…… what do you think we’re talking about here?

This blog is all about using the power of the word FREE in your vacation rental sales and marketing strategy. Now, let’s get your mind and profits out of the gutter.

There are owners who really do think of free as a foul four letter word and would never let the word be uttered out of their mouth.

If that’s you and you’re not offering something for free you probably have your reasons. But, I can confidently tell you without a twitch in my eye that whatever those reasons are, your vacation rental marketing is missing something!

So, why are you not using the power of free to promote your property to guests?

Using Free Is Played Out!

Some may argue that they won’t use the word free because its cliché, it’s lost its luster and has been over played more than that Gangnam Style song.

Truthfully they have a point, BUT, if you choose not to use free in your marketing strategy to avoid appearing passé, you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Don’t throw away your profits and disappoint your prospects! Learn how to use free properly in this new economy.

The rules of marketing have changed. Welcome to the Free economy! In 2014 marketing is more about free than ever before!

The Internet has made so much information available for free, people have become spoiled with free stuff and almost expect it.

People Don’t Trust The Word “Free”

There are those who don’t believe “free” therefore you could protest that people do not trust “free”.

This too would be true because free has been over used and abused in just about every gimmick you can think of, making people skeptical when they see the word, “free”.

I was reminded about this when a customer asked me yesterday, “is your free vacation rental booking calendar REALLY free?”

There is high skepticism around the word free because we’ve all been suckered into something that claimed to be free but ended up costing us something.

However this feeling of skepticism can easily be crushed. The feeling that you’ll lose trust is quite the contrary, marketing studies reveal that using free in your marketing can help you build trust with potential customers.

I mean…. at first customers may be skeptical about your free offer but once they realize that you’re really offering something of value for free, their guard goes down…way down.

Allowing you to get to second base with your potential guests, getting you closer to scoring than your competitors.

Free Costs ME Something.

This objection is a big misconception about using free in marketing. Just because you use free in your vacation rental marketing strategy, doesn’t necessarily mean it has to cost you something but it’s definitely costing you if you don’t.

A vacation rental owner may say that their rates are so competitive that they can’t afford to give away stuff for free.

If I hear something like this, a red flag goes up letting me know there are other issues going on that need to be addressed first.

However I am going to go over some great ways to use free in your selling and marketing to help those owners on the tightest of budgets, so there is no excuses.

Gving Away Free Stuff Makes Us Look Cheap

Its true that free could make your vacation rental look cheap, cause you to look desperate or even make your home look inferior, IF you’re not doing it right.

This one I hear often from owners not wanting to appear cheap to travelers, they think it lessens their brand. I hear about this particular concern often from luxury property owners and agencies.

I busted the myth that “the wealthy doesn’t look to save” in an article I wrote about marketing vacation rentals using coupons.

The article reveals not only do higher income households use coupons but they are 200% more likely to search for savings.  Now you know!

When Should You Use Free In Your Marketing?

You should use the power of free in all your vacation rental advertisements like Homeaway.

Are you presenting something for free on your VR listings? Very few actually do, but that’s good for you.

Vacation rental listing sites like VRBO  are very crowded with properties that look as similar as the offers owners present.

Want to make your listings REALLY stand out?  Give travelers a reason to notice something different about you and your offering by giving visitors an exciting freebie.

Use FREE in every piece of marketing your using. I’ll break down all the points where and how you can use free and what free offers have the biggest results in this series.

Now that we’ve covered all the objections you may have had about using free in your vacation rental marketing, I’m going to use this blog to kick off my “ Free Vacation Rental Marketing” Series.

 I will regularly release a free vacation rental marketing tip you can carry out, or I’ll post something being offered for free. This new blog category will be all about free!

I’m also going to share with you an interesting study about free and the pschology of why it works so well.

I’ve got over 25  practical tips in store, that you can use in everything you do.

How Do You Use Free In Your Vacation Rental Marketing Strategy?

Join My Newsletter & Never Miss A VR Marketing Tip!

 

Want To Mazimize Your Rental Income? Contact Us – We Can Help!

 

1-800-856-8641

villamarketers.com