Welcome back to the Savvy Host Podcast, the show where I dive deep into all things vacation rentals and help you level up your hosting game. In today’s episode, titled “Creative Marketing Ideas For Seasonal Bookings,” I’m going to explore seasonal marketing and how you can make your property stand out during the upcoming fall and winter months.
Even thought it is still August, and still hot in many places around the world / country, people are already beginning to think about and buy for fall. So, it’s the perfect time to get ahead of the game and capture the attention of potential guests.
In this recording, I’ll share various strategies to enhance your listing, including adding enticing amenities, updating headlines and calls to action, and utilizing eye-catching photos and videos.
I’ll aslo show you how to optimize your presence on social media and how to incorporate your fall photos and updates into your email marketing plan. This episode is packed with tips, so grab a pumpkin spiced whatever and get ready to learn how to make your property stand out and get more bookings this fall! Get ready to become a savvy host! Let’s dive in.
Key Topics:
– Adding amenities to enhance the guest experience
– Creating a cozy atmosphere with throws and blankets
– Decorating for fall with tasteful touches
– Updating game collections for indoor entertainment
– Providing TV packages for sports enthusiasts
– Mentioning and highlighting value-added features in OTA headlines and listings
– Creative calls to action
– Taking photos and videos to update listings and social media
– Tips for capturing effective photo and video shots
– Utilizing b-roll for creating reels and TikToks
– Reaching out to previous guests via email marketing
– Black Friday ideas
SO MUCH GOODNESS!
Marketing Links & Tools For Hosts
Group Coaching Waitlist – The Savvy Host Marketing Roadmap
Coolors – Color generating tool
Instagram Action Plan – Free Audio & Workbook
Canva – Facebook Cover Collage
Transcript
Y'all, it is hot as hell down here in Texas, and I
Speaker:know it's hot or hotter in some places. It's a 109, even for Central Texas.
Speaker:That's hot. So I haven't been outside much. I'm an outside person, and I've really
Speaker:been sad about it. So even I, a summer lover, a total summer worshiper. I'm
Speaker:looking forward to fall. I'm looking forward to Halloween. I bought fall decorations at the
Speaker:grocery store the other day. And when people start looking forward to fall and they
Speaker:start talking about pumpkin spice, and football games and sharing their photos of decorations. Now
Speaker:is the time for you to start thinking about what you can do, what changes
Speaker:you can make, to ensure that your previous guest and your future guests and the
Speaker:people who are looking at your property on the listing sites how they know what
Speaker:kind of experience they can get from you if they book from you this fall
Speaker:or winter. So stay tuned for this episode all about marketing and getting your property
Speaker:ready for fall bookings. even for Central Texas. That's hot. So I haven't been outside
Speaker:much. I'm an outside person, and I've really been sad about it. So
Speaker:even I, a summer lover, a total summer worshiper.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to fall. I'm looking forward to
Speaker:Halloween. I bought fall decorations at the grocery
Speaker:store the other day. And when people start looking
Speaker:forward to fall and they start talking about pumpkin spice,
Speaker:and football games and sharing their photos
Speaker:of decorations. Now is the time for you to start thinking about what you can
Speaker:do, what changes you can make, to ensure
Speaker:that your previous guest and your future guests and the people who
Speaker:are looking at your property on the listing sites how
Speaker:they know what kind of experience they can get from you if
Speaker:they book from you this fall or winter. So stay
Speaker:tuned for this episode all about marketing
Speaker:and getting your property ready for fall bookings.
Speaker:Hey there. You're listening to the savvy host podcast. If you're
Speaker:a vacation rental host struggling with branding, marketing,
Speaker:automations, and, well, all the things, then you're in the right
Speaker:place. I'm Jody Born, a vacation rental coat, marketing
Speaker:strategists and a guest at more than 50 vacation rentals
Speaker:and counting. And I'm excited to open the door to my office
Speaker:share practical tips, tools, and strategies that will help
Speaker:you differentiate your property, attract more bookings, and
Speaker:create raving fans So if you're ready to become a
Speaker:savvy host, let's hang out. There is a
Speaker:reason that stores start decorating for fall
Speaker:and for other seasonal holidays for Christmas and for
Speaker:winter and for spring break and beach season. There's a
Speaker:reason for that. it's subliminal messaging. It makes people
Speaker:realize that it's coming. It makes people anticipate. It makes
Speaker:them spend more time shopping and thinking and
Speaker:any. It works for all sorts of retail, and you can do that
Speaker:too. You can do that with your listing. You can do that by
Speaker:the images and videos that you're sharing, the words that you're
Speaker:using. I'm gonna go through several different things you can do to make
Speaker:them stand out as different and more marketable. I'm gonna talk
Speaker:about amenities that you can add or update headlines and
Speaker:calls to action. photos and video ideas, email
Speaker:marketing ideas, and ways you can optimize your social
Speaker:media. So I've got a lot going on in this episode. I'm gonna get right
Speaker:to it. Everybody, it seems, has a coffee bar now
Speaker:or some sort of coffee station, live in it up
Speaker:and get it ready for fall. Show some flavored coffees, several
Speaker:different varieties of hot cocoa, a variety of teas. Get an
Speaker:electric tea kettle. Maybe get some apple cider
Speaker:and add those yummy delicious creamer, Irish cream, and a
Speaker:pumpkin spice. Get all that together, near your coffee
Speaker:pot, and make it look like a special thing. Just
Speaker:having a coffee pot and a and a Keurig side by side on
Speaker:a kitchen cabinet. That's great. Those are amenities that everybody wants
Speaker:to have, but it super easy just to add a little bit of
Speaker:flair by providing a few extras, and it doesn't have to cost
Speaker:that much. You might wanna also consider adding a small coffee
Speaker:bar upstairs or downstairs, depending on where your kitchen
Speaker:is. We stayed at a property last summer, and my parents were on the
Speaker:bottom floor, but the the kid and dining area and living
Speaker:area were on the the 2nd floor, and they had a coffee bar
Speaker:right outside of my parents bedroom just curate with all the
Speaker:different coffees and things. It was great for my parents who could get up in
Speaker:the morning, get their coffee, go out in their balcony right there at their
Speaker:bedroom, if you have a property where you have an upstairs and a downstairs, it's
Speaker:a good idea to add coffee bar where people can
Speaker:enjoy their coffee away from the rest of the group.
Speaker:Another thing you can do is get cozy, throws,
Speaker:and stage them around your house on the sofa, on the beds,
Speaker:people when they see those throws, it automatically makes them think
Speaker:of cuddling and being cozy. It's just subliminal
Speaker:messaging. If you have fire pit outside. Get some of those
Speaker:big warm Mexican blankets and lay those out over the
Speaker:chairs. You might also want to think about updating
Speaker:your game collection. In the fall, the the days
Speaker:get a shorter obviously, it gets dark outside and
Speaker:families start thinking about things that they can do inside.
Speaker:Games are so much fun, but think beyond just
Speaker:a monopoly board. I've been to so many places that all they have is like
Speaker:monopoly and scrabble. Think about some games that people can play
Speaker:together out on the lawn, but also maybe could bring inside
Speaker:the large dice, jinga, the big connect for
Speaker:Be sure and get footballs and get the nerve footballs and
Speaker:regular football. The point is you're gonna get these things, and you're
Speaker:gonna take pictures and the video Don't just get them and forget about them
Speaker:and stick them in a corner. The purpose of every all of these
Speaker:amenities that I'm telling you about is you wanna get them so that you
Speaker:can market them. Another thing that you can do that I personally love
Speaker:if you have a place where people can get together and watch the
Speaker:games, watch sports, is get ESPN, get
Speaker:the NFL Sunday ticket, get some of the college
Speaker:channels, like the SEC channel, depending on where you
Speaker:are. If your target market is families,
Speaker:Then I guarantee you that somebody in that family wants
Speaker:to watch a football game this fall while they're staying at your property.
Speaker:So show them how they can do that. If you have large TVs,
Speaker:it's a great opportunity to put a picture of a football game on the large
Speaker:TV. Then when you have all these done, you want to
Speaker:mention and you wanna add value to the
Speaker:people who may potentially book your home. You wanna mention
Speaker:that you have 10 different varieties of teas, several of the
Speaker:creamer's or apple cider. Maybe you wanna mention that
Speaker:you give free firewood. for the fireplace and the fire
Speaker:pit. Maybe you have fresh eggs, maybe wine
Speaker:tasting coupons. You wanna make sure that all of that value
Speaker:is is mentioned in the headlines in the listing descriptions.
Speaker:One thing you wanna do is you want to decorate for fall
Speaker:depending on where you are, what kind of decorations you wanna do. Maybe that's
Speaker:just a nice wreath with a little bit of fall, decor, in the entryway.
Speaker:You can go all out. Hey bales or whatever pumpkins everywhere. You
Speaker:don't wanna go crazy crazy. You want to be tasteful. Check
Speaker:out a few things on Pinterest if you need help. The key to all of
Speaker:this is to get photos and get videos. You
Speaker:want photos to update your listing You want to
Speaker:update your website. You want to update your social media
Speaker:videos on social media in your Facebook and Instagram
Speaker:stories just reels for your Instagram. If you
Speaker:haven't done that yet, you really need to start thinking about how you can use
Speaker:video better. because it is really becoming
Speaker:essential to standing out, walk through your property
Speaker:very slowly with your phone camera. You want
Speaker:landscape view. That's the long view, but you also want
Speaker:plenty of up and down the portrait views. You wanna walk
Speaker:through slowly. Take shorter clips. 30
Speaker:second clips. Take a clip of you coming into the entryway
Speaker:of the proper and seeing your fall wreath on the door and the
Speaker:door opening. Maybe take a video's, the sofa
Speaker:with the new throws on it or a fire in the fireplace
Speaker:or in the fire pit. Think about 20 second, 30 second
Speaker:clip rather than long videos. This is called b
Speaker:roll. What that means, this is just footage that you're going to
Speaker:use over and over again in little clips. Then you
Speaker:can talk over it when you're sharing the clips. So when you create
Speaker:a reel in Instagram or a TikTok, you can create
Speaker:it and then talk over this background video. When
Speaker:you're recording, you wanna move things around a bit, like, You may have
Speaker:a throw across a a couch. Then maybe you have
Speaker:it across as the the end of the armchair. Think about
Speaker:things like that. Be sure and turn lamps on
Speaker:and off, show the different views shows that what
Speaker:it looks like in sunset in the daytime, in the nighttime,
Speaker:romantic bedroom shots. All of these things, you may even
Speaker:think about having people there at the extras
Speaker:ask a friend to come over and act out some of your ideas. Maybe
Speaker:have somebody in the rocking chair on the porch. Kids playing in the
Speaker:yard with the football, a a group of couples gathered
Speaker:around the fire pit. A family playing a board game at the table.
Speaker:Dogs running in the yard or sleeping in the sun. There's so many
Speaker:opportunities for some great videos. If you're in an area where it's raining
Speaker:and that's part of that cozy feel, take a video of the rain or
Speaker:the snow falling outside of a large window. Maybe you have a
Speaker:book and a mug in front of the fireplace or
Speaker:on the corner in a on a side table. Fall leaves on the
Speaker:trees. If you're a view, it includes any changing leaf
Speaker:color, you definitely want those photos. Maybe it's from the
Speaker:balcony. Maybe it's just from big picture window, whatever that
Speaker:is. Maybe show stacks of firewood on the snowy front
Speaker:porch, and this is a great way to show off your hospitality.
Speaker:you're sharing with people. If you've checked into my
Speaker:Instagram action plan, I talk about sharing your
Speaker:hospitality on Instagram quite a bit in that. So this is a good
Speaker:opportunity to take these videos and share them on
Speaker:Instagram, share them on Facebook, Share them in
Speaker:your email marketing and put some of these, like I said, take big
Speaker:photos too, create a shot list, flip through, do some
Speaker:research on Pinterest, do some research on Instagram, and you can get ideas,
Speaker:and you can create the shot list of what you want. And it I know
Speaker:this sounds a little intimidating if you've never done it before, but I
Speaker:promise if you just start looking at what other people are doing,
Speaker:look at interior designers. those are the kind of people that
Speaker:you can look at what they're doing, and you can see how they do it.
Speaker:Then go to Airbnb and VRB Facebook YouTube channel, they
Speaker:are really good at advertising. So one thing you
Speaker:definitely want to do is change out your headlines on your
Speaker:OTA listings It's crazy to me that people don't change out
Speaker:their headlines seasonally. You need to
Speaker:be sure that in your headlines, you talk about how close you are to
Speaker:the hacking you wanna focus on fall events is that if you're in a
Speaker:football town or concerts that are coming up, you can change out your
Speaker:headline daily, weekly, go in there and
Speaker:make changes. Maybe a headline would be watch the game
Speaker:on our 72 in TV. Enjoy downtown Austin in
Speaker:the off season. Empty beaches are here. Visit and explore our empty
Speaker:beaches. Our fireplaces waiting for your family movie night.
Speaker:add value, mention free firewood and firepit,
Speaker:or, discounted lift tickets. Anything that you
Speaker:could add to your headline that is different from your competition. Go
Speaker:look at your competition. Think of how you can be different. What is
Speaker:your differentiator? and put that in your headlines and
Speaker:make some noise with your headlines. You can also, in your
Speaker:headlines, remind people that your booking.
Speaker:So if you can say booking for the holidays,
Speaker:booking for ski season, that plants this
Speaker:idea in people's heads that you're already
Speaker:looking. They better make a decision. My husband and I are looking for
Speaker:a place in Caddo Lake in Northeast Texas where he grew up, we're
Speaker:gonna go fishing, and we're going to a family reunion in October. And
Speaker:we've been looking at properties already And we found a property
Speaker:that we love, and the very first line of their listing
Speaker:description, not their headline, but the listing description
Speaker:says, we book quickly. Take
Speaker:advantage if your dates are That's in the first line of their
Speaker:listing description. If that had not been in their listing description that they book
Speaker:up, then I we wouldn't have contacted them right
Speaker:away. We would've just put it in in our wish list. We just would've taken
Speaker:note of it. So those things definitely work. Now you have to
Speaker:back it up. You have to They have to click on your calendar and see
Speaker:that maybe you do have some bookings already, but it's a good just
Speaker:a good idea of something that you can do to add that subliminal
Speaker:messaging that you that fall is a great season for
Speaker:you. Don't let them think that just because it's a off season,
Speaker:that they don't have to take action. Now own your social media.
Speaker:What can you do to optimize for the season.
Speaker:I already talked about videos and creating reels. Other things that you
Speaker:can do, like on Facebook, change out your cover
Speaker:photo. That's the big image that goes at top of your Facebook
Speaker:page. You can share autumn highlights. If you go into
Speaker:Canva, there's a whole bunch of different templates, that will you can use
Speaker:to share multiple views, multiple photos. You
Speaker:wanna be sure that you're sharing your property's USP. That's your
Speaker:differentiator In Facebook, create a new photo album.
Speaker:So go into Facebook, click on photos, click on create
Speaker:album, and create an album just of fall photos.
Speaker:Everybody that follows you will see that you have this new album. Photo
Speaker:albums get a lot of views, and then you can continually share
Speaker:that You can pin it to the top of your page. You can share
Speaker:it in other ways. So what that means is if it's pinned and if
Speaker:somebody comes to your Facebook page, it's the first thing that they're gonna see at
Speaker:the top if you have your page optimized for that. Use fall
Speaker:colored background images be subtle. You don't wanna go all
Speaker:out with orange and everything. You don't wanna go
Speaker:crazy, but you can go into
Speaker:Canva. Go into some of the apps. There's one that I really
Speaker:love called Coolers. I'll put it in the show notes. You can go into that,
Speaker:and you can deepen your color scheme. just a little
Speaker:bit. So, again, you've got that subliminal messaging in your
Speaker:imagery. Now on Instagram, you want to also
Speaker:just start sharing all of your reels that you're
Speaker:creating with your b roll video. You wanna do stories where
Speaker:you're talking about the things to do in the fall. You can
Speaker:also start doing, like, an itinerary, like,
Speaker:maybe every Monday you're sharing, but your favorite fall
Speaker:hike. You're sharing the football calendar and which dates you still have
Speaker:available for football and reminding people about your big screen TV.
Speaker:Share holiday happenings? share ideas for
Speaker:things for people to do in the winter or in the fall. If it's
Speaker:cooler, there's lots that you can do with your social media to
Speaker:get people in the mood for fall. Follow some of the bigger
Speaker:accounts and see what they're doing. If you are marketing to your
Speaker:previous guests, via email. If you have
Speaker:Mailchimp or Convertkit, this is a great opportunity,
Speaker:especially if you've updated your amenities or your decor
Speaker:gotten some new photos. This is a great opportunity for you to share
Speaker:that in your email. Share that you now
Speaker:have. a coffee bar in the downstairs area or or that you've
Speaker:added firewood as part of your amenities package or that
Speaker:you now have cozy blankets by the fire pit.
Speaker:Whatever it is. Think about what you've added. Think about how
Speaker:you've upgraded. And that's a great reason to send an
Speaker:email to all of your previous guests and let them know you've got
Speaker:a new experience. or just remind them of
Speaker:what's going on in fall. Another thing you might wanna think about doing in
Speaker:your email marketing is to have a
Speaker:Black Friday sale or an end of season
Speaker:sale. I know you may not wanna give counts, but if you're hurting for
Speaker:bookings or if you're worried about your calendar not filling up,
Speaker:there's no reason. Everybody else is having a Black Friday
Speaker:sale. There's no reason that you shouldn't. Everybody
Speaker:else has clearance sales. There's no reason that you
Speaker:can't do that. A clearance sale would be if you have fill in
Speaker:dates. So a clearance sale would be, let's say
Speaker:you're October is already booked, but you're trying to fill
Speaker:in 1 weekend. Send out an email.
Speaker:Whatever your booking window is, if it's 3 weeks away,
Speaker:send out an email 2 weeks away, and just say fall
Speaker:clearance or or last minute getaway discount.
Speaker:something that encourages people to open up the email and
Speaker:see what it is. When I have done this with clients in the past, What
Speaker:we've done is picked several dates over the
Speaker:coming couple of months and highlighted those particular
Speaker:dates and then found something nearby that there was to
Speaker:do. The art festival's coming up, and we have
Speaker:3 dates during the week. You can book now
Speaker:for 20% off. Maybe your Black Friday sale could
Speaker:be the same. You could sell your fall dates, your, winter
Speaker:dates, or You could just say book now and
Speaker:save over next summer because we're gonna be raising our prices
Speaker:next summer. And so now is your opportunity to go ahead
Speaker:and book in May June. And remember, you can have blackout
Speaker:dates when you send these emails out. You don't have to open up
Speaker:your 4th July at the same rate it is this year. Just have it. Show
Speaker:it as already being booked, or you can just say it's not good for
Speaker:holidays, or it's not good for certain weeks. There's blackout dates, whatever it
Speaker:is. If you're still relying on OTA bookings,
Speaker:the most important thing that you can do is change out your
Speaker:photos to showcase either new amenities
Speaker:or to showcase the fall, the feelings of fall, the fall
Speaker:decor or the fall views, or anything that gives
Speaker:people that cozy feeling. Change out your headline,
Speaker:change out the first, like, little snippet. The first couple
Speaker:of sentence, be sure and update with why they should stay with you
Speaker:while they should choose you this fall. Remind
Speaker:them or just be sure and add all of your new amenities
Speaker:or the upgrades and updates you've made. Then in
Speaker:the location details, you may wanna talk about some of the
Speaker:upcoming fall and season events that you're
Speaker:nearby or that are happening in your area,
Speaker:that's in your OTA listing description. On your
Speaker:website, if you have a lot of website traffic, it's just as important
Speaker:to change out your photo album, change to
Speaker:a selection of fall themed photos. If you have an entire photo
Speaker:gallery of fall themed, I wouldn't use it all in
Speaker:your listing because you still want people who are thinking about winter or thinking
Speaker:about next summer to to see what it looks like
Speaker:then, but you do want to update a good portion
Speaker:of your folk. If you understand SEO, then you may wanna think
Speaker:about changing out your meta description on Google I'm not
Speaker:gonna go through what all of that means. You either understand it or you
Speaker:don't. It's your meta description should be a call to action, and
Speaker:you can change that out seasonally. Your action item,
Speaker:if you're still here with me, look at your event calendar for the next
Speaker:4 months, and anything that is coming
Speaker:up, start marketing those now.
Speaker:Maybe you even shared the entire calendar on your website.
Speaker:create a graphic for Instagram. Your carousel post
Speaker:is a different date for a different event and then talk about how they
Speaker:can book with you by clicking the link in your profile.
Speaker:Start talking about those things now. Christmas light displays.
Speaker:school breaks, what's going on, shopping concerts,
Speaker:football games, festivals, oktoberfest,
Speaker:Wine Festivals, seasonal hiking trails, sees
Speaker:anything seasonal that gets people in the mood. Start talking
Speaker:about that on your social media today. 2nd action
Speaker:item is if you're emailing previous guests, then
Speaker:send an email and let them know why they should book with you this fall.
Speaker:and let them know of any updates that you've made or are planning to
Speaker:make to your property so that they will have an amazing fall
Speaker:getaway. And then 3rd action item, I've gone over it. Change out your
Speaker:listing photos and update your headline and description as
Speaker:soon as possible. Another action item is you can
Speaker:sign up for my live group. It's all about
Speaker:marketing strategy, destination, marketing, I'm giving
Speaker:you lots of tips and ideas, but how do you put
Speaker:things together so that's an actual cohesive
Speaker:marketing plan. I've done this several times. I believe this will be
Speaker:my 5th or 6th time that I've done this group
Speaker:coaching. You can join the wait list jodieborn.comback/waitlist.
Speaker:That'll be in the show notes as well. I would love to have you join
Speaker:me for this It's gonna start in October. It lasts 6
Speaker:full months. You get group lessons, support, videos.
Speaker:It's a lot of fun. You'll be in a group with all the same people.
Speaker:So you get to know other hosts and where they are and the
Speaker:struggles that they're facing. You'll get to see what they're doing. I give
Speaker:feedback on all the homework, and we really become
Speaker:a group that's focused on up leveling
Speaker:your marketing. So I would love to see you here. That's it for today. I
Speaker:hope you enjoyed this. I hope you put some of this into place. Email me
Speaker:or send me a DM. or tag me on Instagram.
Speaker:If you make any of these changes, I would so love to see what you're
Speaker:doing, what changes you've made, if I've sparked any ideas, helped
Speaker:you in any way. I would love if you could also leave a review for
Speaker:this podcast because I have gotten a few reviews
Speaker:and I got a negative one last week, and it broke my little
Speaker:heart. And the positive reviews make me so happy, like,
Speaker:ecstatic. I called my husband. I'm so excited So if you have
Speaker:positive words to say, please share them. And if you have
Speaker:negative words to say, well, you can just KMA if you know
