marketing plans for vacation rental managers

VRMADIY MarketingBoot Camp2015 Marketing Planning Workshop

10/29/2014

Amy Hinote

VRMIntel

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WELCOME TO YOUR VACATION RENTAL MARKETING PLANNING WORKSHOPBe prepared for brainstorming and hands-on fun.

Hello, Vacation Rental Peeps!Welcome to the first VRMA Marketing Boot Camp

One of the most important steps you can take in implementing an effective and efficient marketing strategy is developing a written marketing plan.

This plan will guide your marketing decisions and assist in allocating marketing resources such as money and personnel time.

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SESSION BASICS• Your vacation rental marketing planning process:

1Where are

we now and

where do we

want to go?

2What tactics

do we use to

get there?

3How will we

monitor and

measure the

results

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TIMELINE / AGENDA• THIS IS WHAT WILL WE DO THIS AFTERNOON

Overview and IntroductionsBoot camp overview, getting to know each other

and get into groups

Marketing Objectives and Market AnalysisDefining your marketing objectives and looking at your

market dynamics

Break

01:00 – 1:30

01:30 - 02:00

02:00 - 2:10

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Competitive Analysis and SWOTSetting the foundation of your marketing plan

Determining your Marketing BudgetRange of marketing spend

Break

02:15 – 02:45

02:45 – 03:00

03:00 - 03:15

Identifying your Target DemographicFinding your customers

Marketing TacticsIdentifying and prioritizing marketing channels and

evaluation metrics

03:15 – 03:25

03:25 - 04:00

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Break

Marketing Tactics and EvaluationContinued…and evaluating resources

2015 Budget ToolkitHow to monitor your budget and ongoing reporting

04:00 - 04:15

04:15 - 04:25

04:25 - 04:45

Putting it all together04:45 – 05:00

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VACATION RENTAL MARKETING PLAN• Just like any other industry, there are basic steps to creating an intentional and

actionable marketing plan.

Objectives

What do you

want to

accomplish this

year?

Analysis

Market Analysis

Destination Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Internal Analysis

Identify Channels

Distribution

Online

Offline

Email

Remarketing

Direct Mail

Alternative Media

Social

Partnerships

PR/Branding

Budget &

Resources

Determine Budget

Prioritize Channels

Add into budget

Create a backup plan

Systems

Reporting

But first..let’s get to know each other.

Evaluation

Identify KPI Metrics

Monitor Performance

Make Adjustments

based on data

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2015 MARKETING OBJECTIVES -EXAMPLES

• Increase overall rentals• Increase occupancy rate• Increase revenue and

profitability• Increase market share• Increase number of

rebookings from past guests• Increase number of referrals• Increase number of new

visitors

• Increase number of quality properties in rental program

• Decrease distribution costs• Decrease marketing costs• Accumulate more data on

prospects and past guests• Increase real estate sales• Increase brand awareness• Identify additional sources of

revenue and profitable expansion opportunities

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MARKET ANALYSIS

• Analysis of your area, your market’s pricing, your competition and your company’s SWOT analysis

Area

Analysis

Size of your market

Your market share

Economic

conditions

Government

regulation

Tourism behavior

Pricing

Historic changes

Your market

position

Discounting

Revenue

Management

Internal

Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Competitive

Analysis

Top competitors

Your competitive

position

Competitive pricing

VRBO

Competitive

advantage

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AREA ANALYSIS

Market

SizeMarket Share

Economic

Conditions

Government

Regulation

Tourism

Behavior

1How many

vacation rentals

are in your

market?

2How many

properties do

you manage

and what is

your market

share?

3What are

the

economic

conditions in

your area?

4Are you

facing any

regulatory

issues?

5Has tourism

behavior

changed in

your area?

• An in-depth look at your area’s challenges

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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Top

competitors

Competitive

position

Competitive

PricingVRBOs

Competitive

Advantage

1Who are your

top

competitors?

2What is your

competitive

position?

3How is your

pricing

different from

your

competitors?

4Are you

competing

against

VRBOs?

5What are

your

competitive

advantages?

• Let’s look at your competitors

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PRICING ANALYSIS

Historic

environment

Your market

position

Owner

contractsDiscounting

Revenue

Management

1Has the pricing

paradigm

changed in

your market?

2Where do

your prices

rank in the

marketplace?

3Do contracts

with your

owners limit

your setting

of prices?

4Do you

regularly

discount?

5Does your

company

have a

revenue

management

strategy?

• Your vacation rental company’s pricing strategy

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SWOT

Your company

STRENGTHS

For example:

Awareness

Market Share

Longevity

Technology

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

For example:

Remarketing

Acquisition

Distribution

For example:

Awareness

Market Share

Technology

New company

For example:

Weather

Economy

Ebola

Regulation

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DETERMINING YOUR MARKETING BUDGET

Typically vacation rental managers spend 5%-12% of rental revenue on marketing.

• If your budget includes salaries, distribution costs and marketing technology, you might be on the higher end.

• If your budget does not include salaries, distribution costs and marketing technology, you might be on the lower end.

Properties Rental Revenue Marketing Budget

Average Annual

Rental per Property

$15,000 $27,000 $35,000 $15,000 $27,000 $35,000

Low (5%) High (12%) Low (5%) High (12%) Low (5%) High (12%)

50 $750,000 $1,350,000 $1,750,000 $37,500 $90,000 $67,500 $162,000 $87,500 $210,000

100 $1,500,000 $2,700,000 $3,500,000 $75,000 $180,000 $135,000 $324,000 $175,000 $420,000

250 $3,750,000 $6,750,000 $8,750,000 $187,500 $450,000 $337,500 $810,000 $437,500 $1,050,000

500 $7,500,000 $13,500,000 $17,500,000 $375,000 $900,000 $675,000 $1,620,000 $875,000 $2,100,000

1000 $15,000,000 $27,000,000 $35,000,000 $750,000 $1,800,000 $1,350,000 $3,240,000 $1,750,000 $4,200,000

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DETERMINING YOUR TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC

HouseholdFamilies

Girl Getaways

Golfing Trips

Business Travel

IncomeHH $75k+

GeographyTop Feeder Markets

Secondary Feeder Markets

New Markets

Gender/AgePrimary market

Secondary Market

Other

BehaviorOther

Destinations

Products

Media

Your vacation rental

company

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DETERMINING YOUR TARGET GEOGRAPHIC MARKET

Outer Banks

Gulf Shores

Lake Tahoe

Mt Hood

• Are you in a drive-to market or a fly-to market?• What is your primary market area?• What is your secondary geographic target market?

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TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC

Household

Makeup

Families

Girl Trips

Golf Trips

Singles

Business Travel

Gender/

AgeBehavior

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

What media do they

see?

Activities

Where they travel

What products do

they buy

Income

Level

HH Income $100K+

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CONTENT MARKETING

Content creation: Key to all marketing channels and the most critical part of your vacation rental marketing plan.

Offline

Online

Technology

DistributionContent

Website

SEO

PPC

Social

Email

Blog

Titles

Descriptions

Responses

Non-text content

Direct Mail

PR

Print Ads

Catalogs

Sponsorships

Area Info

Autoresponder

Communications

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MARKETING CHANNELS• How we will look at potential marketing tactics

LogicWhat is the logic behind using

the tactic?

1

ObjectivesWhich of your objectives does

this accomplish?

ElementsWhat are the elements of the

tactic?

What is newWhat are the new elements

and considerations for 2015?

What are you doing now?And what would you like to do?

CompetitionAnd what would give you a competitive

advantage in this element?

Current SpendWhat are you currently spending on this

channel?

Proposed SpendDo you want to increase or decrease

your spend on this element? How much?

ResourcesWhat resources do you have in place?

What resources do you need?

Evaluation MetricsWhat metrics can you use to evaluate

performance?

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

9

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ONLINE MARKETING• Online Marketing Channels

Website PPC Blog/Area Info

SEO Social Email

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OFFLINE MARKETING

PR Catalog/

Collateral

Partnerships

Print Ads Direct Mail Sponsorships

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MARKETING -DISTRIBUTION

Payment

ThresholdIntegration Channels Response

Remarketing/

Data

1What are you

willing to pay?

2Which

channels can

you integrate

with?

3Identify 3rd

party

channels.

4What is your

process for

response to

inquiries?

5What is your

plan for

collecting

data and

saving the

customer?

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MARKETING -TECHNOLOGY

CRM -

Segmentation

Social Big Data

Lifecycle Autoresponder Mobile

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Tools

Marketing Workshop

Online Tools

MARKETING PLAN WORKBOOK

MARKETING BUDGET TOOLKIT

FILL IN THE BLANK MARKETING PLAN

MARKETING WORKSHOP PRESENTATION