The Spokes on Your Marketing Wheel

The season is wrapping up (I’m sure that’s good news for a lot of you!) and it’s time to start thinking about your 2020 marketing strategies.

To help with that task, I’ve compiled the following list and explanations of some of the most popular marketing channels for distributing your content.

Hope you find this helpful and informative.

Wishing you full occupancy and happy guests!

Alissa

Have you ever wanted to just throw your hands up in the air and give up when it comes to choosing the best channels on which to deploy your marketing campaigns?

I get that. The list of marketing channel possibilities has dozens of items on it. That’s just too much.

If you Google “best marketing channels”, every answer you find will be different. Some will tell you video, some will say podcasts, others will say social media or PPC. I found one that advocates chatbots.

It’s maddening.

There are, however, several tried-and-true channels that the majority of marketers agree offer the best general bang for your buck.

In no particular order, they are:

Your Website

Many people don’t necessarily think of their websites as a marketing tool, but it is one of the biggest you have. This is your online real estate, where people come to know more about you and see what you’re offering.

Make sure your site clearly reflects your brand and your services.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & Content Marketing

These activities are your long-game marketing strategy. It will take a while to see results, maybe months. But if you post consistently great and original content, your site will develop authority, which drives you higher in the search engine rankings and brings in more business.

Be patient.

Video/YouTube

Did you know that YouTube is considered the world’s second largest search engine? That’s reason enough to get in the video game. If you need any additional convincing, consider this: of your millennial guests (who are the fastest growing vacation rental segment) 70% watch a company video while shopping online and 84% have been convinced to make a purchase after viewing a video online.

Those are powerful numbers.

Email Marketing

The “experts” have been predicting for years that email is on its way out as a lead generation and sales tool. Don’t believe them.

Email marketing continues to provide some of the greatest ROI for your marketing dollars. Depending on the source, between 3800% to 4400%. Those figures speak for themselves.

Continue regular email marketing campaigns.

Social Media

This platform affords you the opportunity to interact with your followers, which is a huge deal to Millennial guests. The important thing here to remember is that you should be focusing on creating relationships, not sales from your social media efforts.

Additionally, don’t stretch yourself too thin on social media. Better to have an active presence on two channels than a haphazard one on 5.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

Still very much a player in the marketing landscape, The three dominating forces here are Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram. Each has a learning curve, so proceed carefully, but definitely proceed. A recent study indicated that PPC converts 50% more traffic than organic search.

So, there you go. Next time, we’ll start delving into your overall marketing strategy and how to tweak it for the best results.

In the meantime, if you have any specific questions on any marketing channels, please reach out. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll get it for you.