Marketing Tips To Turn Your Winter Getaway Into Hot Property
Summer destinations get their fair share of love. However, promoting a winter getaway may require slightly more effort. This isn’t because winter holidays aren’t beautiful and rewarding—because they are. Rather, hosts, travel agents, and tour operators oftentimes don’t know how to promote these destinations.
Fortunately, with a mix of social media strategy, smart marketing tactics, and the appropriate online tools and resources, it’s possible to turn a winter wonderland into the hottest seasonal destination. Here are five tips to get you started:
1. Play Up the Visuals
It’s no secret that social media is one of the most cost-effective and convenient ways to find potential clients. But with so much competition, it’s hard to grab attention.
This is where the power of attractive visuals comes in. Who wouldn’t be enticed by images of snow-covered slopes, a cozy cabin, or a warm drink by the fireplace?
To get more travelers to your winter getaway, don’t just promote a property, sell an experience. Granted, not all of us can be skilled graphic designers, capable of conveying emotion in posts. But that’s where the power of the internet comes in. Using an online design app, you can browse millions of holiday posters for inspiration, or even design one from scratch with easy-to-use tools.
2. Optimize OTA Listings
If you’re struggling to get noticed even with a solid social media game, maybe it’s time to focus on other platforms—such as online travel agencies (OTAs).
OTAs, like Booking.com, or Airbnb, are an excellent source of potential clients, but only when used correctly. To get more clicks, you need to optimize your listings page.
Revisit existing information and implement various marketing strategies to increase the number of people who see your profile. This could involve deep research into winter-related keywords, studies into the demographics of popular winter destinations, or rewriting descriptions to include more relevant end-of-year phrases.
Simultaneously, be mindful of the images you upload—no low-quality, blurry images —and highlight positive reviews and testimonials.
When you take a systematic approach to optimizing your listing, you don’t just get more clicks, you target relevant audiences and earn conversions.
3. Offer Discounts and Package Deals
Sometimes, all it takes is a little encouragement for potential clients to become actual vacationers at your winter resort. If you’re looking to get more bookings —and get them fast—a promising strategy is rewarding prompt and loyal clients with discounts.
This could be in the form of early-bird discounts, family packages, free breakfasts, or even discounted tickets to a show. Feel free to get as creative as you like. It doesn’t have to be exceptionally generous—but just enough to win over the undecided.
There’s a lot to gain from making such concessions. You’ll see a significant rise in bookings and gain a competitive edge. But more importantly, you’ll build loyalty. In a fickle industry like holiday rentals, loyalty is hard to come by. To make the most of these offers, ensure you promote them across social media profiles, listings pages, and websites.
4. Partner With Influencers
It’s common knowledge that travel influencers command significant followings across social media. So, why not leverage their popularity to promote your winter getaway?
Various studies have found that 75% of social media users use it for advice and 70% trust influencer recommendations. Moreover, research suggests millennials and GenZ are twice as likely to listen to influencers than their older counterparts.
That’s a massive audience to tap into! Not only do influencer partnerships enhance visibility, they offer credibility and give the destination a more trendy appeal.
There are several tools to aid research and pinpoint trendsetters who share the same values and goals. To make this situation a win-win, it’s crucial that ayou offer something in return such as a free weekend package or a holiday hamper.
If you’re still struggling to find and partner with the most relevant influencers, check out this website’s comprehensive guide to influencer marketing.
5. Create Email Lists
In this social media crazy age, email marketing may sound like a quaint concept.
But when it comes to promoting vacations and getaways, it’s still one of the most effective marketing strategies. Emails are cost-effective, customizable, targeted, and measurable. Plus, when you’re promoting something as visually appealing as a winter getaway, recipients are only too happy to get related offers in their inboxes.
Moreover, an expert suggests that direct emails are trusted more than social media ads, making them far more effective than you’d think.
To make the most of this marketing strategy, start by creating an email list. This must include users who’ve already shown interest in your destinations, people who frequently travel to your locations, and previous guests. Once that’s done, segment the users based on priority and use a tool to automate personalized email updates.
These emails could be used to highlight specific offers, discounts and packages, or generate a sense of urgency before winter sets in. They must also be accompanied by high-quality images of your property so they grab attention in seconds.
The level of creativity you use is really up to you. But if you need a design partner, check out PosterMyWall. Our app has a library with over a million templates to inspire the graphic designer in you. Moreover, it is super easy to use, allowing you to create unique social media posts, flyers, emails, and more without hiring a graphic artist or spending a lot of time on your winter-themed collaterals.