For many small businesses, online touch points are created as afterthoughts and quickly become outdated. However, as some have discovered, size needn’t be a disadvantage when it comes to marketing a guesthouse or B&B online. To make sure that all the rooms at the inn are full this festive season (and long after the fairy lights have been put away); follow these five simple steps for making online an effective channel for your guesthouse.
Abbey Manor- Cape Town. Image Credit: Abbey Manor
1. Research and strategise
Just as Santa Claus spends 11 months of the year reading wish lists and monitoring child behaviour, you should start by getting to know your audience and looking for ways to stand out and improve by evaluating your competitors. Find out what others in your industry (particularly if they’re in your area) are doing to grow their base or generate leads and look at how well it’s working. More importantly, examine what your holly-decked halls could offer to help your guesthouse find its way to the top of every traveller’s wish list. Find this point of difference and make it the focus of your efforts.
2. Diversify and link
Stick to the same strong and differentiated themes and messages, but aim to reach the most people by diversifying across multiple platforms online – anywhere that your audience might be. Create a website, create a blog and start optimising by employing effective Web PR tactics. List your guesthouse on directories and create an active Social Media presence on Twitter and Facebook. The measurability of online means that you'll be able to track which channels offer you the best results and adjust your efforts accordingly. Be on the lookout for opportunities to link content – for example, monitor conversations on Twitter that are related to travel or to the area you are situated in (tools such as Hootsuite allow you to have up to 10 columns of saved searches) and involve yourself in the conversation wherever you can add value. If you have a blog, add a Facebook “Like” button. If you have a Facebook page, integrate this on your website. If you build it, they won’t come unless they know it’s there, so publicise your online profiles and let them work together in the same way that Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Blitzen and… all the others do.
3. Offer value
Make sure that your online presence is adding value for the people who are visiting it. Update your content frequently and monitor any feedback or questions (using Google Alerts or other online reputation management tools) so that you can respond promptly and efficiently. Look for opportunities to reward engagement and advocacy – for example, offering deals exclusively to those who are fans of your Facebook page. Try to find a unique style or tone of voice that will entertain potential guests and encourage them to share your content with others. Content that is overly promotional will be seen as disingenuous, so provide links to useful content in and around your area, such as surrounding attractions, photographs and videos and try and start building relationships instead of just leads. Once you’ve established a fan base, tools such as Facebook polls can be useful in finding out which content your consumers find most valuable and how you can improve, both online and offline.
4. Be easy to find
Make sure your business is optimised for the search engines – unless you can arrange a bright shining star in the sky above your guesthouse, people need some way of finding you easily online. Search Engine Optimisation is all about content. Name and designate all your profiles accordingly (e.g. facebook.com/welcomeinn, twitter.com/welcomeinn, welcomeinn.com). If your desired URL is unavailable, keep it as close as possible. Add as much focused profile information as possible and, as mentioned above, add as many inbound links as possible via other social pages and directories. Inbound links highlight the credibility and popularity of your website or blog to the search engines. Keep your page updated with content that is relevant to your industry and be mindful about the type of information that your target audience is looking for and include the terms they would be most likely to search for in your content. You can also investigate paid search options to move your name higher up Google’s list.
5. Be persistent and use your size
As any elf will tell you, small is better. Use your small size as an opportunity to offer incredible customer service by responding to every person that mentions you. Tactics such as building Twitter lists to categorise your customers will enable you to offer a more personalised service, which large hotel chains often don’t have the time or resources to support. It takes time to build a strong online presence, particularly on social networks, but stay persistent and use any feedback to help in refining and developing your strategy.
For many years, the big red and white man has trumped both the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny. This is because positive reviews about amazing services, which truly add value, spread quickly – so use these tips to demonstrate how your guesthouse can give the gift of hospitality best this festive season.
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Neat lil article with some neat points! Will have to try and test the Facebook poll integration, sounds the a great way to get the crowds engaged
Posted by Wiehan on 2010/11/30