The Newsletter, a powerful communication tool for your vacation rentals

With the advent of social media and a host of new ways to market your brand, many vacation rental owners are forgetting about the power of a Newsletter as a marketing channel. According to recent surveys, nearly 9 out of 10 adults check their email online, more often than they shop online or use social networks.

Yet, according to our findings, many owners are still hesitant to use this communication vector. Here are some of the most common objections we found:

I hate writing,
I’m not good at writing,
I don’t know what to say,
How the hell am I going to know what to say month after month after month?
I don’t have time for that,
I have so many other things to do,
And if nobody reads my newsletter.

If you currently recognize yourself in one or more of these situations described above, this post will prove to you that it’s not that complicated and that you don’t need to be a talented writer or even a marketing genius to make a newsletter.

For your vacation rental, your presence on Facebook is indeed essential to attract more customers and also to develop the visibility of your website. To do this, if you already have a personal page, it is easy to create a company page that will give you many options that personal pages don’t have. Be aware, however, that it is against Facebook’s terms of service to operate a business via a Personal Page.

If you’re not yet familiar with social networking, here are some links to help you through all the steps of the creation process, in image sizes for your profile picture, the cover picture, and those that will enhance your future posts.

Here are, in our opinion, the 5 reasons why your presence on Facebook is necessary for your vacation rental.

A newsletter is usually addressed to your customers (those who have already stayed with you) or people who have subscribed via your website (if you have chosen to install this option on your site).

As far as your customers are concerned, it’s very simple. You already know them! Whether they came with the help of a reservation made by your site or an OTA, you must systematically keep 3 elements: their first name, their email address of course, and their language (generally English and the language of your site if it is different). It is always easier to write to people you already know.

It is generally accepted that a newsletter sent twice a month is more than enough to keep in touch with your community or customers. Thinking quietly, and with a sheet of paper, prepare in advance the main content themes for each of your future newsletters. Ask for help from your spouse, manager, family and friends.

Once you have created the 12 themes, start writing your newsletter a few days before it is sent out. This will give you plenty of time to refine or rework it. Again, if you hate writing, ask for help. But know that, in general, you should use the natural tone, the one you use every day. Again, you don’t need to be a writer, just be yourself (while of course avoiding spelling mistakes, which is unacceptable).

You don’t need to be a novelist either. A newsletter doesn’t have to be too long (because it will be tiring) or too short either. But you still need to tell a story. Here are some ideas for content and themes:

• Pictures of your home taken during the coming season (for example, as winter approaches, consider adding pictures of your property under a new layer of snow). Don’t hesitate to show yourself having fun in the snow with your family.
• Details of anything you have added new to your home (new garden furniture, a barbecue, a work desk with a high-speed wifi connection, etc.).
• Discounts or special offers you use for off-season periods (for example, you can encourage former clients to book well in advance by offering this year’s rates for next year).
• A list of upcoming events or festivals in your area,
• Current airfares to your destination from major ticketing sites,
• Personal touches such as greeting cards, recipes, etc…

This is a question our customers often ask us.

In most cases the ideal frequency is 2 newsletters per month so that your customers don’t forget you. Once a month is a frequency too far away from each other, your customers may lose interest and finally not open it. Don’t forget that each one of us receives dozens of emails a day, so one more is a sure risk to leave in the trash if you choose too much frequency.

There are several things to consider now that you have chosen your frequency. The first is when to send it? A lot of posts have been written on this subject and it seems interesting to take this into account. The ideal is between Tuesday and Thursday.

Once you have chosen your day, keep it always and don’t change. You readers will get used to it and it may well become a date.

Stimulate the interest of your readers with a catchy title, but not too much either, because you don’t sell cars or socks. Here too we invite you to read this excellent post « How to write a good headline for your next newsletter« .

The content of your newsletter should be a story every time. For example, we are subscribers to Ann Handley‘s newsletter. She writes and speaks about how businesses can escape marketing mediocrity to achieve tangible results. She sends her newsletter every Sunday and every time she tells a story. Subscribe and you’ll read, it’s always very interesting and inspiring.

At yourwebsite.rentals, we love Mailchimp, because it’s a powerful tool and, as we said earlier, it’s free to use up to 2000 subscribers. This leaves you a bit of leeway before reaching that number. Mailchimp is in English and you will find many tutorials on YouTube for example. Here are some links to watch: video 01, video 02.