A Marketing Roadmap for the New Normal: Part II

Michelle Marquis, Chief Revenue Officer of Lexicon Travel Technologies
Jason Sprenkle, CEO of Key Data Dashboard
Paul Hanak, Digital Marketing Director of InterCoastal Net Designs
Kyle Buehner, CEO of NAVIS
Joel Inman, CEO of Lexicon

Chief Revenue Officer of Lexicon Travel Technologies, Michelle Marquis, began the webinar by addressing simple leading indicators such as government “roll-out” plans, relaxed stay at home mandates, and hospitals opening up non-emergency surgeries/procedures. Marquis believes that the new normal for vacation rentals will include drive markets, vacation rentals, and a level of fear, uncertainty, and doubt from guests that will need to be addressed accordingly. “Americans look at travel as I have a right to travel,” stated Marquis. One can also assume that booking windows will become shorter throughout the year.

CEO of Key Data Dashboard, Jason Sprenkle, provided a multitude of graphs with booking data to show the increase in bookings for many markets. Guest reservations for Baldwin County, AL have increased dramatically since their beaches reopened. Outer Banks, NC also had an increase in reservations after they reopened to visitors. Georgia has had an increase in bookings, but the increase was more pronounced in the North Georgia Mountains due to the ample amount of private home rentals. “There has been more willingness to book places that are more private,” stated Sprenkle.

The Digital Marketing Director of ICND, Paul Hanak, discussed the importance of advertising, SEO, and marketing as markets begin to reopen. Hanak first discussed the usefulness of “pay per click” – a tool that can attract new audiences, target specific locations or audiences, and lower the cost of your advertising campaigns by narrowing down the audience your company is trying to reach. As past customers begin dreaming about their vacations, Hanak recommended to start remarketing your old ads to re-book past customers when your market opens - this helps keep your brand in their mind. One cheaper option for advertising would be social media ads. “The ad space and the cost can be less competitive,” stated Hanak. Before launching old ads, make sure to look over the copy – some amenities might be unavailable currently. 

The CEO of NAVIS, Kyle Buehner, explained how their company has combated the effect of COVID-19 on bookings with helpful marketing techniques. NAVIS has had a large increase in bookings and high website traffic recently, but many customers are still abandoning their shopping cart. Beuhner referred to this as the “dream phase” revealing that many are planning their vacations, but are not quite ready to commit. A targeted email campaign can help these guests remember their vacation plans, prompting them to follow through.  Buehner explained that it is time to take an aggressive approach by reaching out to previous guests, using email marketing, and sending out direct mail to create demand. A “we miss you” theme has been extremely helpful for their company in the current climate – lighthearted messaging rather than sympathy messaging. “It is a great time, while people are in this dream phase, to send out something that has a bit of a shelf life,” stated Buehner as he discussed his direct mail campaign sent to previous guests. 

The CEO of Lexicon, Joel Inman, discussed how to capture and create demand, while diving into the topic of online travel agencies. 

Top Ways to get the most out of OTAs:

1. Listings are Ads – in order for a potential customer to click on the listing, it has to be branded, look good, and include great photos. 
2. Billboard Effect – OTAs will help drive traffic to your own website.
3. “…64% of vacation rental searches start with an OTA,” stated Inman. Customers usually go to the company website after reviewing an OTA listing, then book through the company website. Your company will only pay for the OTA if the customer books through the OTA website. 
4. Cost Sharing – splitting the cost of the OTA with your owners can help lower advertising costs and boost revenue.
5. Cluster – this means to put similar units into one listing on an OTA – this promotes an efficient search, so your potential customer does not have to look through hundreds of listing pages. Cluster listings tend to book six times better than regular bookings. 
6. Use a channel manager – you have to be strategic with your OTA bookings to achieve positive results. A channel manager can manage all of it for you! 

For more information on “A Marketing Roadmap for the New Normal: Part II” - including detailed graphs, marketing strategies, and advertising techniques – watch the recorded version of this webinar to learn more.