An absolutely essential component in our villa rental strategy is dynamic marketing. As part of our ‘Ten steps to villa rental success’ series, this is the second. The events of the pandemic have proven that you can’t simply rely on tried and tested marketing strategies. It’s about adapting, evolving and using a marketing approach that is clearly communicated and caters to a wider audience.

Consistent marketing is a powerful communication tool

As discussed in our first article, communication was extremely important to us throughout the pandemic. Marketing, after all, is simply about effective communication. For SandyBlue, regular updates sent to both our owner partners and guests were a big priority for us.

Even when it wasn’t great news, such as sudden travel restrictions, keeping customers up to date meant loyalty and trust was maintained. We recognised early on that fast and honest marketing was going to be very important throughout the pandemic.

As we look ahead, our approach to communicating developments and updates in the villa rental sector will continue to be about speed, clear messaging and the use of multiple marketing channels.

Key marketing channels

At SandyBlue, we have always put investment into our marketing. Not only do we know it works, it allows us to try new things to attract even more guests.

Email marketing and paid social media campaigns have proven invaluable when answering frequently asked questions or sharing developments as they happen. We have a database of 21,000 past guests who responded positively to these frequent updates, so keeping them in the loop is a winning tactic. It is a channel that is a proven success for us.

Social Media has been another success story, with our follower count growing 234% in just four months. This is thanks to an interactive approach and targeted paid social campaigns.

Acknowledge customer insights to identify successes

With so many different campaigns across multiple channels running, our marketing approach didn’t stop there. It was important for us to analyse who was seeing our content and how they were digesting this. It helps streamline a content strategy, identify key locations and consistently diversify the marketing strategy accordingly.

After seeing a huge increase in guest enquiries across territories such as Germany, Switzerland and Portugal itself, our team used these customer insights to deliver the right messaging to the right audiences. Our multilingual team definitely helped with this and in turn, our social media audience grew significantly as mentioned! It’s not just about throwing your messages out there and hoping for a return...it’s about understanding each audience and personalising the marketing strategy.

The customer journey matters

We believe the customer journey begins as soon as a potential guest enquires. As we generate all of our own enquiries through marketing and our website, it gives us full creative control of this journey.

We can recommend the best villa for the guest, in-villa experiences and tips on what to do when they arrive. Once guests get excited about a property, they will never quite forget it, which is evident in our database of returning guests.

Marketing will continue to be an important channel in the villa rental market and for SandyBlue, with dynamic and adaptable approaches being the key to ongoing success!

For more information contact us on;

Telephone: +351 289 392 236
Email: listwithus@sandyblue.com