When it comes to marketing your holiday rental property, it's impossible to reach everyone in an effective way.
Your marketing message will simply get lost in the thousands of other similar broad-scattered attempts.
Niche marketing has become common parlance nowadays - when you operate a small business of any kind, but especially in the travel industry, you can expect to be asked: "What's your niche?" Here are 4 questions to help you define a niche market for your gite business:
For example, will it be on Facebook or LinkedIn? The latter is used mainly by business professionals and Facebook has a growing user profile within the over 50 age group.
Ardent sportsmen or hobbyists tend to buy or visit online offerings related to their interest so you can direct your promotions there.
If you suspect that your chosen clients make use of the computer infrequently then take this as a prompt to research other channels such as snailmail newsletters or postcards.
Think about your past employment and hobbies.
Are you an avid cyclist or kayaker? If you previously worked in computers, with cars or as a photographer then these are all valuable skills that other people are keen to learn about.
This interested group of people could be the beginnings of a niche.
Are you snuggled amidst the French vineyards? Then folk interested in wine and vineyard visits are a potential market.
Nowadays, if you have a fast and reliable internet connection this represents a valuable marketing tool.
TripAdvisor recently revealed that Britain's workforce is under increasing pressure to stay connected to the office, even while on holiday.
Since 2010, the proportion of British workers checking emails on holiday has increased to 48%, up from 38%.
Now whether or not we condone this practice is irrelevant.
The fact is that catering for this market is a win-win situation; you attract bookings and the holidaymaker can continue to work whilst away from home if they so wish.
What can you see that would appeal more to certain groups? Well equipped gites with Egyptian cotton towels and all mod cons put you in the luxury gite bracket.
Also: listen.
If all you hear is silence then play around with the words "destressing", "peace and quiet" and "rural escape" until you come up with a handful of good keywords for your website.
You get the idea - think outside the box.
Once you've selected a niche for you to target, the next question to ask yourself is "Where can I direct my marketing efforts in order to find them?"
Your marketing message will simply get lost in the thousands of other similar broad-scattered attempts.
Niche marketing has become common parlance nowadays - when you operate a small business of any kind, but especially in the travel industry, you can expect to be asked: "What's your niche?" Here are 4 questions to help you define a niche market for your gite business:
- What sort of people would you most enjoy hosting at your property?
For example, will it be on Facebook or LinkedIn? The latter is used mainly by business professionals and Facebook has a growing user profile within the over 50 age group.
Ardent sportsmen or hobbyists tend to buy or visit online offerings related to their interest so you can direct your promotions there.
If you suspect that your chosen clients make use of the computer infrequently then take this as a prompt to research other channels such as snailmail newsletters or postcards.
- What do you know about?
Think about your past employment and hobbies.
Are you an avid cyclist or kayaker? If you previously worked in computers, with cars or as a photographer then these are all valuable skills that other people are keen to learn about.
This interested group of people could be the beginnings of a niche.
- What is special about your property?
Are you snuggled amidst the French vineyards? Then folk interested in wine and vineyard visits are a potential market.
Nowadays, if you have a fast and reliable internet connection this represents a valuable marketing tool.
TripAdvisor recently revealed that Britain's workforce is under increasing pressure to stay connected to the office, even while on holiday.
Since 2010, the proportion of British workers checking emails on holiday has increased to 48%, up from 38%.
Now whether or not we condone this practice is irrelevant.
The fact is that catering for this market is a win-win situation; you attract bookings and the holidaymaker can continue to work whilst away from home if they so wish.
- Who would most enjoy a holiday in my gites?
What can you see that would appeal more to certain groups? Well equipped gites with Egyptian cotton towels and all mod cons put you in the luxury gite bracket.
Also: listen.
If all you hear is silence then play around with the words "destressing", "peace and quiet" and "rural escape" until you come up with a handful of good keywords for your website.
You get the idea - think outside the box.
Once you've selected a niche for you to target, the next question to ask yourself is "Where can I direct my marketing efforts in order to find them?"