The rise of the internet has created more choice for consumers and businesses than ever before and as so often happens, giving people all the choice they could ever need, does not make things easier.
The first major problem with “online” marketing is that we now only have one place to market our products – Google. So, the old days of having several newspapers, magazines, radio, posters etc, etc still exist but the effect of these mediums has all but vanished. If people are looking at their PC’s or phones to find what they want, they are almost certainly looking at Google. Once you have identified your market then you have to work out how best to reach your target audience on Google. With the recent increase in popularity, you are competing with literally everyone and every company from a single cottage owner to the largest agencies and directories in the world, because the internet and Google is a global marketplace. It is vital to understand how to compete with a fraction of the budget that everyone on page 1 of Google will have and still get seen.
If you decide to do the marketing yourself, then you could design and build your own website but the chances of that website getting beyond page 50 on Google, without significant investment in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) are zero. You have two choices, hire a holiday cottage rental agency like MFC or do it yourself.
Even though the internet offers a huge selection of online advertising directories or using Google Adwords, do individual owners really know what they are doing and which platforms are any good and how best to use them?
Also, over the past 10 years many of the good sites like Owners Direct have been bought by the large American companies like VRBO, so the choice of good, effective sites has diminished dramatically, and in reality, there are only a handful that work.
When using websites such as Airbnb or VRBO one of the ranking factors to the host score is how quickly you respond to guests queries, therefore it is important to respond promptly and professionally. Providing your guests with the correct information and being helpful can help to encourage them to book as they will feel more comfortable parting with their money. The same goes for responding to emails if you have a website and responding to phone calls.
Managing an online marketing campaign is not easy and needs attention everyday as Google has a knack of changing the rules. There are multiple paid methods of advertising on the internet that enables you to bypass the competition and providing you pay enough you can get your website on page 1. Google analytics is a useful tool to better understand your audience, using data from your website you can learn about who is visiting your website, the best time of day for traffic and where they are coming from. Data that is captured and reviewed can be the most powerful asset in improving your website and your efficiency so that you are not wasting your money on small audiences at the wrong time.
If you hire an agency you will be paying around 20% commission (or 18% in the case of MFC) to manage and pay for all of this for you, but if you consider the cost and time involved in getting this right isn’t paying 18% whilst you receiving 82% of the revenue for doing nothing worth it?