The holidays will be here before you know it, and the steps you take now will position your business for success in one of your busiest seasons. Here are three easy strategies to implement prior to the holiday rush.
Create relevant holiday content.
Make your brand a trusted expert by providing content relevant to travelers during their dreaming and planning stages. What exactly is relevant content, you might ask? It’s content that provides information travelers need in order to click the “book now” button. Since we’re talking about the holiday season, utilize your blog and event pages to show the reasons your destination and listings are a great choice for holiday vacationing — and be sure to highlight insider tips travelers won’t get anywhere else:
- Showcase properties that support social distancing
- List out the “best” restaurants in your area for takeout and holiday dinners
- Promote properties with amenities people want for the holidays (think: slopeside properties for skiing)
A great example of relevant content comes from our Bluetent Insiders, Rent Key West Vacations. They created an event page specifically for “Key West Thanksgiving 2020” that includes options for Thanksgiving dinner (including a buffet on boat!), best sports bars for watching the big games, and a selection of available socially–distant properties. Because Google rewards content with purpose, it’s not surprising that the Rent Key West Thanksgiving page shows up first in Google search results!
Send targeted emails for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Email inboxes are full to overflowing at the holidays — with messages from every kind of industry. There’s a reason for that: emails sent during the holiday season get results! In fact, studies have shown that email is responsible for 20% of online holiday website visits. Even better, consumers who purchase through an email are likely to spend 138% more than people who didn’t.
With numbers like that, you can see that crafting holiday email promotions just makes good sense. Bluetent Insiders have seen great success with Black Friday and Cyber Monday email campaigns, starting with preview emails to build excitement (try attention-grabbing subject lines like “Exclusive Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals only available here” to increase open rates) and progressing all the way to emails declaring that “Time is running out on great deals.” Position your brand above your competition by going the extra mile: for example, drive urgency by including a countdown timer — showing exactly how many hours, minutes, and seconds are left in your promotion — in your email message. Check out these top 5 emails to send at the end of the year for more ideas.
Ensure your OTA listings are ready for last-minute bookers.
Not every traveler plans their vacation months before their departure date. Listing your properties with online travel agencies (OTAs) like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo is a proven strategy for capturing the attention of those last-minute bookers. Here are a few things your business can do to ensure your OTA property listings are bookable and desirable:
- Adopt COVID-19 safety practices recommended by each OTA, and make sure to highlight those safety practices in your listings. Some OTAs, like Airbnb, reward listings with these adapted standards in the search results.
- Consider offering last-minute discounts to make your listings even more desirable to travelers with a short booking window.
If these ideas make you want to learn more about the steps you can take NOW to ensure your business thrives during the upcoming holiday season, Team Bluetent would love to help!