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A “Promo” or Promotion Calendar is a tool. A tool that identifies in advance your marketing events, media & pr campaigns and your merchandising efforts throughout the year. A document that visually displays when and where these events are happening AND a place to put your ongoing results in real time.
Also known as a Marketing Calendar (or Merchandising Calendar in the Retail world) – savvy professional Vacation Rental Managers should create one of these Calendars as part of your marketing strategy for your business as a whole and individual units to both keep track of what is going on and to be able to quickly see where you should turn your attention next.
NOTE: While the Marketing Calendar is definitely a “thing” – meaning a piece of paper that you can hold in your hand, see it more as an Activity-Plan-Of-Action. It is not just the planner – it's the PLAN!
Will creating and living a Vacation Rental Marketing Calendar take time and resources? You bet. Proper planning and execution does take time but it also produces benefits. If done well and consistently, a Marketing Calendar can increase your overall rental revenue and occupancy as well as improve your Vacation Rental marketing campaigns moving forward, especially the same ones for next year!
How-To
The focus of planning your calendar and activities is to first, take full advantage of all the holidays and special events in your local area throughout the year. Next, to exploit and leverage both internal and external global events. And finally, fill-in with unique events that fit your vacation rental business’s needs or the needs of your individual property units. (For example, a large ocean front beach home, great for weddings or family reunions, has different needs and a different calendar than a plain vanilla two-bedroom condo on the Golf Course.)
Step 1: Go out and buy a BIG calendar, the year-at-a-glance type. Or buy a software program that allows you to set-up and see your calendar in this way. The key thing here is to use the year-at-a-glance format so you can get the overall, integrated picture.
Step 2: What should you consider putting on your calendar? Start with all the holidays and special events in your local area, add in internal and external global events, and then get creative with unique events to fill-in.
The Holidays: You would be shocked at how many businesses in general fail to take into account the impact of holiday seasons on their business. In the vacation rental world, we always consider the big holidays, but don't underrate the significance of some of the smaller holidays, including religious holidays. TIP: Remember – every holiday is an opportunity for somebody to give somebody else a vacation, even a vacation to be taken later. Do you email your past clients in late October or early November regarding a Family Gift they can give at Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan or Kwanzaa? Like a terrific week in one of your wonderful Vacation Homes! They can gift it at Xmas for the following summer. Don’t forget to add in an incentive like a free family pass to a local attraction. Less than obvious is to create, for example, a special Valentine’s Gift Offer – a box of chocolates with a Long Romantic Weekend Coupon to be booked at a time of the recipients choosing! Get creative and have fun with holidays!
Internal and External Events: Think about what is happening in and around your vacation rental company that might impact your overall marketing and advertising strategy. Company holiday New Property coming on board Launch of a new product or service Company or Property birthday/anniversary Your Owner-Contracting cycle A new Mall or Shopping Venue opening in your area A new Attraction pening in your area Major Tradeshows you attend
There's lots going on in the world that could impact your business. Major elections Major sporting events Major TV events (e.g. academy awards) Local community or city celebrations and events Local expos and social activities Seasonal cycles Tax season Summer vacation Winter vacation School holidays
Can your suppliers help?? I think yes! How about working with your Travel Insurance provider on a special Secure Travel Event/Month or Program. They may have some advertising dollars in their budget as well! Ask and you may receive!
Step 3: You need to track your results. By doing this, you can discover what is working, what you need to work harder on, and what you need to stop spending time on. Also, you can and should use your marketing calendar for virtually all of your marketing efforts. It's more than just holiday and special event planning. Every week & month, the calendar can keep you focused on your regular and consistent marketing activity. Why not use it to tell you when you plan to blog, submit articles to local publications, give live presentations, attend important networking groups, send out another direct mail piece, etc.?
Want some help creating your first calendar? Want to chat about taking your current calendar to the next level? Would you like to see how the Control Panel and CRM in the Bookt Platform makes life easy for the savvy Vacation Rental Manager?
Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com.
There has never been a better time to create and live a Marketing-Promotional-Merchandising Calendar to Get Bookt!
Posted by Joel Fellman on 9/6/2009 0 Comments