3 Steps - Make Your Stay The Main Attraction

If you have a unique rental in a not-so-popular area without easy access to:

• Major airports.

• Big cities.

• National parks.

• Anything else cool that people like to visit.

This article is for you.

Have you ever wondered, "Could my property be the main attraction in my area?"

A.k.a, the shiny object that attracts visitors to your area without the help of local tourism organizations.

I think yes. Here's how:

• Own a subject matter guests are familiar with.

• Focus on awareness.

• Capture and extend attention.

There is a whole demographic of people that like to travel for travels sake. These frequent travelers love simple, unique stays with:

• Quiet.

• Nature.

• Freedom from everyday life.

They don't like the popularized popular places and won't come looking for you.

So, we have to find them. And once we do, they'll tell all their friends about your stay. Making you the main attraction.

Let's dive in.

Own a Subject Matter

If I owned a couple dome tents in Plum City, Wisconsin - no one will search for me.

I live 30 minutes from this town and I literally never have heard of it.

But, if I positioned myself as a "Glamping Stay Near Minneapolis", now I have a market.

You have to find a subject matter - or concept - people know, and own that in your area. Here are some other examples that come to mind:

• Basecamp.

• Farm Stay.

• Beachfront Villa.

You want to market towards people who are familiar with your concept rather than the area you are in.

• Identify your uniqueness first. (Dome tents).

• Find a popular concept people are familiar with that fits your uniqueness. (Glamping).

• Focus on awareness and market towards people interested in that.

Focus On Awareness

The best way to do this is Instagram ads.

Instagram Ads are interruptor ads. You pay to interrupt people online whether they're thinking about you at that moment or not.

Which is perfect, because they won't be thinking about you.

Two reasons Instagram ads work well for awareness:

1 / Instagram ads offer the option for people to follow you.

This is free advertising because:

• When you post.

• A guest see's it.

• They become inspired to book a trip.

• And move closer and closer to hitting that "book now!" button.

2 / People will search for you directly when they're ready to book

Since you are exactly what a guest will be looking for, they won't go searching for you on OTAs. Instead, they'll come looking specifically for you. This starts the brand loyalty snowball right away.

While you run Instagram ad campaigns, you want to make sure all the ads are on topic. Using my "Glamping Stay Near Minneapolis" example, I would always talk about:

• How close to the city I am.

• What people could do during their short weekend stay.

• Who my guest is (I.e. Couples).

Even if I say those things, I will always lead back to the concept my perfect guest knows. Glamping.

Capture Attention

The longer someone is engaged with your business, the more likely they are to book.

There are two ways you can extend the amount of time someone is thinking about you after they see an ad.

1. Create good content.

2. Lead magnets.

Create good content

I won't spend a lot of time here but I'll say this:

Find a stay similar to yours on social media. Watch the content. Then, try to recreate it. If they do it, it probably works.

Lead magnets

You'll get a fraction of people who go to your website from an ad (roughly 3-5%).

Offer them something amazing in exchange for their email address.

I like to offer:

• % off nights.

• $ off nights.

• BOGOs.

This is important for three reasons:

• Email marketing is free.

• You can control when they see a promotion from you.

• Conversion rates from email can be 400% higher than any other channel.

Lead magnets are the best way to capture attention.

So, Can You Be The Main Attraction?

I think yes.

But there's an issue. Guests don't know about you - yet.

Become the main attraction by:

• Owning a subject matter people are familiar with and search for.

• Focusing on awareness using Instagram ads.

• Then, capturing attention through quality content and lead magnets.

There are plenty of people who love your stay. They just don't know it yet.

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

Before you go

If you think your stay is cool and need more direct bookings, keep reading.

Lodge Social is my new agency that helps rental operators get more guests to like, share, and book.

If this article made sense - and you want to do something about it - apply to work with me and my team at getlodgesocial.com

Links you might like:

1. You might want to start email marketing. Here’s why.

2. Data is a boring topic. So, I attempted to gamify it. 

3. This is still one of my favorite marketing conversations ever.

4. Guests don’t like to guess. (Instagram).