How I Would Spend a $1 Marketing Budget

The first step to marketing is deciding on a budget.

Most rental operators stick with a fancy round number that sounds good. Usually that number is too high.

I like to set my budget at 10-25% of profit. Minimum. This should be money you are okay losing or "playing with" when starting out.

Don't get me wrong. You'll make it back. But, you need to take time and find credit card swipers first.

I'm not sure what your budget is, so today we're going to do something fun. I'm going to show you how I would spend $1 vs $10 vs $100 per day on marketing.

Are you excited? I'm excited. Let's dive in.

Spending $1 per day

I would do two things here.

1) Update my listings

First, I want to make my listing look like the best in the area by browsing the top performers and copying their headline and descriptions into a Google Doc for later.

Afterwards I'm going to pay our little AI friend (ChatGPT) a visit and have him/her rewrite mine using the Google Doc I provided as reference.

Cost: FREE

2) Work with small influencers

Let's gear up Meta Ads at $1/day to my market with an ad that says "Are you a hospitality creator? Work with us!"

The ad would send traffic to a landing page that only has a form where creators can "apply" to work with me.

Each week, I would sort through each application and collect a couple I want to work with.

Goal: Get small creators (<10K followers) to visit my stay and promote it. They are still trying to build their credibility and may not charge anything.

Cost:

• Ad spend: $1/day

Spending $10 per day

Excellent! I just got a raise.

With $300 per month, I would work to build:

• Brand awareness

• An email list

All $300 would go towards a leads campaign with Meta or Google ads.

Then, I would send 2-4 emails each month sharing:

• Upcoming deals or promotions

• Things to do

• Best dates to book

I need these emails to be good because it's where my bookings will come from.

Cost:

• Ad spend: $10/day

• Email tool: FREE

Note: Find out if Google or Meta ads is right for you with this quiz →

Enjoy!

Spending $100 per day

Now we're cookin with oil.

I'm going to start by investing in really good content. Photo and video.

If that eats up my full budget for a month. So be it.

Then I would use that content for - you guessed it - ads.

My efforts would be focused on Meta, Google or both. Here's the game plan for each:

Meta ONLY:

1. Hammer my markets with awesome photo and video of my stay

2. Send people to my website where they can browse, book or sign up for my email list

3. Feed almost daily [retargeting] ads to people who visit my website

Google ONLY:

1. Find 20-40 words I know people are searching that I should pop up for (lake house vacation rental near me)

2. Pay to pop up for those words

3. Send them to my website where they can browse, book or sign up for my email list

Google + Meta

1. 70% of my budget towards Meta. 30% to Google

2. Hammer my markets with Meta ads

3. While also paying to pop up for 20-40 words I know people are searching related to my business on Google

4. Anyone who visits my website from either channel would get fed almost daily ads from Meta

5. Everyone goes to my website where they can browse, book or sign up for my email list

Behind the scenes, I would be sending 2-4 emails per month to close the booking.

Cost:

• Ad spend: $100/day

I'll finish with a disclaimer

Obviously, I'd spend a lot on ads.

They're the quickest way to get any kind of result.

You could take free routes. Posting on Instagram and creating blogs is free. That takes longer.

Maybe it's just me and I have the patience of a squirrel on smelling salts. But, this article was about spending money. So you betcha bottom dollar I'm gonna spend it.

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

P.S. 74 degrees on Tuesday. SEVENTY. FOUR. Pickle-ball paddles are in the Amazon cart, jacket is put away for the season, Crocs are in sport mode and gas station sunglasses are hanging by the door.

Let’s hope I didn’t jump the gun. We’re back, baby!

Before you go

I spend about 10 hours writing this newsletter each week. The rest of my time is spent running $100K Stay and Lodge Social.

1) $100K Stay — Learn how to make $100K for your Airbnb or hotel from social media in 90 days.

• This hybrid-live training program is everything you need to get your own guests from the internet. Even if you have zero audience, experience, or marketing skills.

• Enrollment is currently open. Book a call to join the next one →

2) Lodge Social — Our marketing team will help you get more guests to like, share and book. Work with me and my team here.

Links you might like:

1. How to get bookings during low season (Anastasia Tara)

2. Quick notes on Airbnbs Q4 2025 earnings call (LinkedIn)

3. How to make $61,673.79+ BEFORE opening a new Airbnb or Hotel (The Lodge Social)

4. Are there too many hotel brands? (LinkedIn)